Top 10 Free Screensavers

10. Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

Compatibility: NT4.0, Windows 9x,Win2K, WinXP, and Server 2003

For each of these systems, this screen saver takes information off of your computer and uses this in the BSOD. After displaying the BSOD on the screen for nearly 15 seconds, the computer will restart with the respectable windows boot up screen. This cycle will continue with the errors changing each time. This screen saver can even be used fool people into thinking the BSOD has hit their computer. Download

9. Soundstream

Compatibility: Mac OS X, PowerPC or Intel

This Mac only screen saver responds to sound input. It can be used with iTunes, Keynote, and also as a desktop background. Pretty much it is like the visualizations in Windows Media Player except as a screen saver or desktop background. Download

8. SETI@home

SETI@home still continues with their search for intelligent life outside of Earth. With this screen saver it puts your idle CPU time to good use. You help in their search by processing all the data received over the years from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. If this isn’t cool enough, the screen saver looks cool and makes other people think there are important things being done on your computer. Though there are a host of other distributed computing screensavers that can help look for cures for AIDS and cancer, finding the next ET always takes a higher priority. Download

7. Flying Toasters Screensaver

Remember back in the good ole days when you saw the flying toast screen saver on all those Macs? The classic Flying Toast is now available for your PC! If you do not know this screen saver then you must download it now. Download

6. RSS Screensaver

This screen saver allows you to subscribe to one or more RSS feeds, and select a directory for background images. You can use the right and left mouse buttons or the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the feeds. Or you can just watch the screen as it automatically looks through the list of RSS feeds. Download

5. PacketFountain: Network Sniffing

This screen saver is written in VB 6.0 using the WinPcap wrapper. Pretty much it says what it does; it sniffs for packets on your network and displays them on your screen. Now you can check for potential hacks while you should be doing your homework. Download

4. hotDigg

Windows only

This screensaver will cause all the latest diggs from the social networking site, Digg, to scroll across your screen. Stories are can be seen in different colors and sizes. The stories are not links just titles of the recent stories. You can adjust the speed that the story titles scroll across your screen as well. If you see a story you want to read, a quick move of the mouse will close out the screen saver and you can go read the story. Download

3. Webshots

This is pretty in that it displays photos as your desktop background or screen saver. But it is also nice because it can automatically download new pictures every day. You can also include your own photos with this software and upload them through the Webshots community. Many people complain that Webshots is loaded with spyware, but this is apparently not true and therefore made it on our list. Download.

2. Really Slick Screensavers

Perhaps the most CPU intensive, these screen savers are “really slick” as the name says.There are a variety of different choices including Solar Winds, Hyperspace and Plasma. It uses OpenGL, so if you do not have a great video card then you are SOL. Not only does it have a lot of choices for screen savers, it has a plethora of options for each saver. Download.

1. Motion Picture Screen Saver

Compatibility: Windows 95/98, XP, 2000
Requirements: GeForce 2 or better, DirectX 8.1 or better

This is a windows version of the apple OS X slideshow screensaver. It will zoom in and out as you pan through your jpeg images. You can add music from iTunes, mp3s, and CD's. It is compatible with multiple monitors. Download.