2Flyer Screensaver Builder Pro Review and Walkthrough: Making Web Page Screensavers

The 2Flyer Screensaver Builder Pro (http://www.2flyer.com/) simplifies the process of making screensavers. There are many tools for creating screensavers from photos and music, but I wanted a program with a few advanced features, particularly in using web pages as screen savers. 2Flyer Screensaver Builder Pro worked well for that project.

I do some web programming and design, but am not at all a software programmer, so when I thought that a big clock would be nice as a screensaver, I was disappointed with the selection available. I realized I could make a program that would do what I wanted, but the program would be in the form of a web page. I attempted first to make an HTA (HTML Application) and use free software, but I couldn't get the control I wanted. That's when I stumbled upon 2Flyer Screensaver Builder.

The Pro version of 2Flyer costs $39.95, but there is a functional free trial so you can play with the program and see if you like it. The trial version places ads for the 2Flyer software on finished screensavers, so it's a good idea to purchase a license if you're going to be distributing these screensavers. After the trial version runs, and after any screensavers created with the trial version run, a prompt pops up asking you to upgrade. It's a little annoying, but the company does have to make a living.

The program downloaded and installed quickly without any problems.

When 2Flyer starts, there are four tabs across the top of the screen: Image Saver, Flash Saver, Video Saver and Web Saver. Since this article is about making screensavers from web pages, the last tab is the one that we need.

Under "Web Saver," the first section that you will see will be a list of web pages that will show in the screensaver. Click "Clear List" to empty the list of predefined websites.

Click "Add URL" and enter the URL to the website you want to use. You can add more than one page and tell the program how long to show each page.

Although you can link to HTML pages on your computer, I'd recommend that, if you are designing your own page, you load your page onto a free host. I had some trouble when I moved files around on my computer, so linking to a live website worked better for me. It's also helpful if you plan on sharing your screensavers, since you won't have to worry about where the files are installed.

On the left side of the screen, there are icons with other customizations for your screensavers. The first one, "Pages," is the section we are in.

The "Music" section enables you to add music to your screensavers. This can be either individual music files or internet radio stations.

The "Options" section has a lot of choices to customize your screensaver. These options include showing or hiding the scrollbar, auto-scrolling the page and showing the status bar.

There are two other tabs in the "Options" section. "RSS Options" controls what RSS information is displayed. The "Saver Exit Options" section controls how the screensaver closes, whether by mouse movement, clicking, key presses or pressing ESC. This is important because you have a choice whether the web page displayed is interactive or not.

The "Build" section has tabs for naming your screensaver, installation options, drafting a Readme file and exporting your screensaver.

You can save screensavers that you are still working on by navigating to Project > Save Project in the top menu.

To export the final screensaver, use the Build button. It is located both on the bottom of the "Build" section and under Project in the top menu. There are two export options, an EXE installer and a SCR file. I use the EXE installer because it makes it easy to distribute the files to other computers.

The 2Flyer Screensaver Builder Pro software works well for making screensavers. The trial version has some annoying prompts, but the software works well and those prompts will be gone as soon as you purchase a license. Overall, I found the 2Flyer software to be useful and functional.