I originally wrote that After Dark was first written for the Mac. If you saw it in After Dark, it's probably here. This video purports to include 281 individual After Dark modules for Windows.

The 'Marquee' screensaver just scrolled text across the screen - much to the consternation of nearby cats. In certain versions of Windows, the 3D Text screensaver had some interesting easter eggs that were apparent if you typed special phrases into the text box. I also recall it blowing my mind: semi-random 3D pipes?! What will they think of next?! Windows - 3D Text Easter Eggs I seem to recall this coming out with Windows 98.

With this one, you could pretend you were on the Starship Enterprise. This one was popular among Microsoft employees. It's like Wolfenstein 3D minus the gameplay, plus a horrible red brick color scheme. Windows - 3D MazeĪnd I always thought this was horrible. I always thought this was the classiest Windows screensaver. (Hat-tip to Allison Keene for finding this and inspiring this post!) Mac SE/30 - Starry NightĪnother After Dark favorite, Starry Night worked nicely on the black-and-white Macs that were still very common in the 90s. After Dark (or 'AD,' as we called it) allowed you to select from a bunch of screensaver options, but the most popular was, at least among my friends, 'Flying Toasters.' Here's a variant including a fight song! It was originally called 'Magic ScreenSaver' before adopting the After Dark name (note: see the bottom of this post for a bit more on the history here). Enjoy! Mac LC 575 - Flying ToastersĪfter Dark was a popular screensaver package developed in 1989. Here's a roundup of some screensavers I remember from the Good Old Days of computing - the 90s - when screensavers were delightfully corny, 3D graphics meant 'the future,' and flying toasters invaded our dreams. But what started as a pragmatic solution quickly turned to the realm of entertainment: if you're going to display some random stuff on the screen, why not make it fun? Screensavers were programs that kicked in when you weren't using the computer, in order to prevent 'burn-in' of constant onscreen elements like menu bars. In the early days of CRT monitors, we had real technical reasons requiring screensavers for our computers.

3d old screensavers