The 10 Best Classic Windows Screensavers, Ranked

Many of us have good memories of constantly looking at these nice screen savers that Microsoft offered in the 90s and early 2000s. In fact, I would go so far as to say that these colorful animations were part of the early IT experience, even if many of us were too young to understand their true practical objective.

Celebrate these nostalgic works of digital art by taking a look at some of the most emblematic screen savers that have honored our monitors, extending from Windows 3.X to Windows XP.

10

Star field

Initially called “Starfield Simulation”, Starfield made his debut with Windows 3.1. It displays many stars that are gradually increasing in size against a black screen, creating a feeling of traveling in a spacecraft. It was a fairly simple animation, but it was nevertheless fascinating to look.

Starfield could be changed to increase the speed of animation and the number of stars. The maximum of these two figures was one of the first things I did when I was a child, which had the impression of taking off in space, and it was probably the first time that I felt the disease induced by computer.

9

Flying windows

The flying windows look like and behave almost exactly like the Starfield screen saver, but with an important difference – the white squares representing the stars are replaced by colored Windows logos. It is a small change, but which completely transforms the general atmosphere of the screen saver.

Flying windows are just as fascinating as Starfield, but the vintage Windows logos add an additional layer of nostalgia and creativity, which is why I classify it slightly above Starfield. (And yes, it’s just as nauseating to look.)

8

Jungle

The jungle is a screen saver that you will recognize immediately (and you remember being afraid), that is, it is the one you have never seen before. Be that as it may, it is an emblematic screen saver featuring leaves and jungle animals appearing at random, with horrible animal sounds which could easily surprise an adult person, not to mention a child seeing him alone in his room for the first time.

I found it difficult to dig up all the basic information on this wallpaper, but it seems to have been one of the desktop themes grouped with Microsoft Plus! For children, alongside baseball, space, assistance under water and a few others. As far as I know, it also appeared in the Windows versions to XP. There was even a strange and limited wallpaper that accompanied the Lynchian screen saver.

7

Windows Mystify

Mystify, also known as “Mystify Your Mind”, is a minimalist screen saver with two four -sided polygons that change color (aka quadrilaterals, for mathematics heads) which bounce around the screen while constantly changing their shape and their dimensions. There is also a subtle 3D effect, the sides seem to be made of five thin lines that revolve around.

He is a simple but fascinating screen saver, perfect for associating with the aesthetics of a vintage hi-fi battery and electronic music in the background.

Funny fact: Mycy is one of the only old -fashioned Windows screen saver always usable on Windows 11, perfect for OLED monitors.

6

3D flower box

The 3D flower box represents a constantly transformer colorful object that floats through a black screen. There are several objects to choose, with the default value being a cube that pushes tips and petals, then forms in volleyball before returning to a cube quickly.

Other selectable objects included a tetrahedron, a pyramid, a cylinder and a spring. You can also change the animation itself, adjusting how each object turns and transforms.

5

3D flying objects

3D flying objects are very similar to the 3D flower box, but the abstract metamorphic object has been replaced by a single animated object. You can choose from several options: the Windows logo, explode (a red ball that breaks out), the ribbon, two ribbons, splashes, torsion and a personalized flag.

I particularly like the Windows XP iteration of this screen saver, which presented a modern animated XP logo for the flying time on the screen. Finally, it would stop in the center, revealing the complete logo of Microsoft Windows XP in all its glory. It was a cool thing at the time, and it’s still cool now, several decades later.

4

Aquarium / submarine

Consider it as a double entry, because the aquarium screen saver has changed and has evolved on the classic Windows and beyond. Depending on your age, you may remember the original version of Windows 95, called submarine, or more modern 3D iteration that appeared as part of Microsoft Plus! For Windows XP.

Whatever version you have experienced, all shared some key characteristics – many colored fish swimming through a screen filled with coral, accompanied by sound effects. Like a real aquarium, it is both soothing and fun to watch these swimming swimming fish.

There is surprisingly a lot of history behind the aquarium screen saver, with many official and popular third -party versions appearing over the years, such as the famous Serene Screen Marine aquarium. If you want to dive deeper (word game), consult this in -depth educational video by LGR:

3

3D text

The 3D text is exactly what it looks like – a short piece of flying text on a black screen. Conceptually, it is roughly as simple as a screen saver, but the real magic lies in its personalization potential. As you probably remember, you can make the text say almost everything, transforming it instantly into a silly way to make friends and classmates laugh each time the screen saver appeared.

In addition to that, you can change the animation, the police and even the color, the reflection or the texture of the letters. It is impressive to know how simple children can get such a simple screen saver, which is why I feel confident to place it in place n ° 3 on the list.

2

3D labyrinth

Aside from the aquarium, most conventional Windows screen savers were quite simple, and for a good reason, complex screen savers required a lot of graphic power, which could heat an old PC and become noisy, something completely useless for a feature designed to prevent CRT burning.

However, 3D Maze overturned the concept of screen savings on his head. It was a randomly generated labyrinth built in OpenGL which looked a lot like an FPS game from the 90s, as Wolfenstein 3D Or Loss. The camera would take you through the labyrinth, where you could meet images of rats, the OpenGL logo, a globe or a gray polyhedron that overturned the camera upside down. The “goal” was to find a smiling face, how the walls of the labyrinth would collapse and the screen economy would restart.

The 3D labyrinth was impressive for its time, both technologically and for the value of entertainment. It was like watching someone playing a game, frustration at their lack of “skill” included. That said, the quick movements of the camera and the towers were extremely nauseating to look at, at least for me.

1

3D pipes

3D pipes is the classic Windows screen saving par excellence; This is the one that most of us think when screen savering are mentioned. The screen saver represents a series of twisted, turned and colorful pipes which gradually fill the screen before disappearing and restarting the animation. Compared to the 3D labyrinth, the 3D pipes were simple enough to function gently on most machines, but much more entertaining than the simplicity of the 3D text and 3D flying objects.

Besides the pipes themselves, the other elements on the screen are the joints, most of which were elbows and simple balls. However, one of the possible joints was a teapot of UTAH, a common reference model in 3D modeling and a long -standing interior joke. I bet you never noticed it (I only discovered it myself when researching for this article). If you now want to start chasing teapots, there is a browser law that you can explore.

3D pipes and other original 3D screen savering (3D labyrinth, 3D text and 3D flying objects) also have an interesting history of origin – they were initially developed as part of a competition among the OpenGL team, with the intention of grouping a single screen saving with Windows. However, they were all so appreciated that everyone ended up in the final product.

There have been so many emblematic Windows screen servers over the years that you could exchange one of the first five on this list, and it would still be good. However, if I had to choose one who did the best job to be an entertaining screen saver who did not melt our old PCs, he must be 3D pipes!