# Now Vintage Screen Savers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048 "2005-01-22T05:29:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/1 "2005-01-22T05:29:49Z")
Back when Windows 98 was all the hype, I remember two distinctive screen savers that everyone loved: the flying toasters, and the one where the dog runs around the screen, tearing holes and ducking in and out of them. Anyone know where I can download these today? ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/2 "2005-01-22T06:29:05Z")
Looks like the Flying Toasters one was made/distributed by a group called “After dark”. Googling for \ got me a bunch of links to download it for Macintosh. ---
**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/3 "2005-01-22T06:54:21Z")
> [@wolfstu](#): > > Looks like the Flying Toasters one was made/distributed by a group called “After dark”. Googling for \ got me a bunch of links to download it for Macintosh. Yeah, the Toasters one I know came from an AfterDark package made by Berkley Systems (which was later bought by some other company). I think the Mac version is free nowadays, but finding the PC version from circa-1998 is proving difficult. Come to think of it, was the dog one also part of the AfterDark package? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/4 "2005-01-22T10:08:26Z")
> [@caphis](#): > > Back when Windows 98 was all the hype, I remember two distinctive screen savers that everyone loved: the flying toasters, and the one where the dog runs around the screen, tearing holes and ducking in and out of them. > > Anyone know where I can download these today? Umm , just thinking about this makes me wonder if its actually on the win98 disk itself , even if you no longer have yours , probably enough of them around to snag one for free. Declan ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/5 "2005-01-22T10:22:42Z")
The “Flying Toasters” screen saver was originally Mac. Mac’s ad campaign was that the Mac was as simple to use as a toaster. It was “The Computer for the Rest of Us.” ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/6 "2005-01-22T18:27:14Z")
Sounds like \*\*caphis \*\* was watching _I love the 90’s_ on MTV yesterday? After Dark was definitely a user-purchased add-on piece of software. At the time, it was a tremendous improvement over the built-in message scroller or “warping through stars” effect. The aquarium was also nice and IIRC, they also had a “marbles” saver where marbles would drop in from the top and bounce down. Sort of like Pachinko but with no scores or prizes. The dog running around the screen was called Dogz and unrelated to After Dark. It too, was sold separately. IIRC, it was not so much a screen saver, but interactive widget where you could play with the dog by tossing a ball for it to fetch and using the mouse to pet the dog. When it was time to get back to work, you’d pick up the dog by the scruff of its neck and plop him back into the doghouse. If your speakers were on, he’d whine for a bit when you did this. And yes, I’d love to see someone ressurect the Flying Toasters for XP. ---
**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/7 "2005-01-22T18:27:17Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > Umm , just thinking about this makes me wonder if its actually on the win98 disk itself , even if you no longer have yours , probably enough of them around to snag one for free. > > Declan No, I snooped around a bit and found out that the two were part of a separate package from Berkley Systems called AfterDark. Someone, somewhere must have a copy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/8 "2005-01-22T18:57:35Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Sounds like \*\*caphis \*\* was watching _I love the 90’s_ on MTV yesterday? 😃 > [@](#): > > The dog running around the screen was called Dogz and unrelated to After Dark. It too, was sold separately. IIRC, it was not so much a screen saver, but interactive widget where you could play with the dog by tossing a ball for it to fetch and using the mouse to pet the dog. When it was time to get back to work, you’d pick up the dog by the scruff of its neck and plop him back into the doghouse. If your speakers were on, he’d whine for a bit when you did this. Ah, yes, that’s the one! What was “Bad Dog,” from AfterDark, then? > [@](#): > > And yes, I’d love to see someone ressurect the Flying Toasters for XP. I’ve read on a few sites that AfterDark 4.0 will install on XP and run just fine; it’s just the 16-bit versions that won’t work at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-vintage-screen-savers/286048/9 "2005-01-22T19:12:32Z")
In the 3-D Text screen saver in 98, if you typed the word ‘Volcano’ the names of different volanos would be used as the screen saver. I think that also worked with the word ‘Beer’ in Win95.