Decent Screen saver for XP/Vista

[Arkaign]

Heh, amazing how many people call their desktop wallpaper/background a 'Screen Saver'!

Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone had a lead on a freeware screensaver that meets the following :

Decent looking (some kind of 3d routine, whatever)
Free
Compatible with XP, Vista compability would be a plus as well
Runs on midrange/low end hardware (let's call Intel 845G the minimum that this would be installed on)

I refurb/repair/upgrade PCs, and thought it might be nice to give people a choice of a different screen saver, as the built-in ones are pretty basic. I've done some light searching, but seem to find crippleware, really lame screen savers, and after digging through crappy webpages jammed full of adware/popups that I just give up.

So, thought I'd check with the crew here, any recommendations/ideas? Thanks guys!

 

[secretanchitman]

the ever popular "matrix" screensaver by kelly software (totally free)?

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
the ever popular "matrix" screensaver by kelly software (totally free)?

I've used that before, but I'm aghast at the idea that nothing new has been made in years in this area 🙁

 

[Peter]

The only screensaver that makes sense is built-in, "turn off monitor after X minutes". Saves your screen, and saves power!

This message brought to you on Live Earth Day.

 

[bsobel]

I like this one. However, I havent' tested it with Vista...

 

[agibby5]

I like this one

http://www.matrixscreensaver.150m.com/

But it seems like it uses alot of GPU resources. Best matrix one that i've found yet...

 

[bruceb]

I prefer Webshots myself .. not sure if it's Vista capable yet
I think it works with Vista,but not sure .. it is also Free unless
you want to be able to upload your own photos .. also has a
nice calendar

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: Peter
The only screensaver that makes sense is built-in, "turn off monitor after X minutes". Saves your screen, and saves power!

Yeah, but for as long as I remember screensaver software on a PC's there has been a strange sub-species of humans who actually like to stare at them. 🙂

Anyway, whether this makes sense I think depends on the way you use your machine. I go screensaver after 5, LCD's off after 15 and hibernate after 1 hour. If I'm not back in 15 then I won't be for a while. Call me-old fashioned, but I want to avoid as much wear on the lamps as possible.

This message brought to you on Live Earth Day.

A friend who I hadn't seen in two years asked if I still left my machine on all the time. I was sort of surprised remembering that I had been THAT wasteful no so long ago.

 

[Noema]

I like the bubbles in Vista 😛

 

[bassoprofundo]

Here are some of my favorites:

GxTS- Very professional looking & useful, works great with multiple monitors
The One Ring- Very pretty, and helps me get my Inner Earth geek on
Eye of Sauron- Another pretty one for the "precious"... Works great with multiple monitors
Lantern- Pretty, and a bit hypnotic

All of these are free, although the not-so-free ones that 3PlaneSoft develops are very nice, too (although no multmonitor support- Geez, is it really that hard to add multi-monitor support?). Also, check out DreamAquariumXP if you don't mind paying.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: bassoprofundo

Eye of Sauron- Another pretty one for the "precious"... Works great with multiple monitors

It's pretty sad that I had to disable my 2nd monitor to get this one going faster than 10 FPS (this is an old Socket A system with a Radeon 9600).


The Mac OS X one that everybody had a hardon for last year, there's a Windows version that I used to have or know of but I can't find or remember it now. It's the one that slideshows your pictures with panning, zooming, fading, etc.

EDIT: I just thought of something funny. I live in a 3rd floor (top floor) apartment. I could put this monitor up to the Window on Halloween and run that screensaver all night.