How to get the After Dark Classic screensaver for macOS Ventura

Long-time Mac users may remember the After Dark screensaver. There is a way to use some of them on a modern Mac — here's how.

When the Mac was new, one of the first hits on the platform was a little screen saver called After Dark from a company called Berkeley Systems. After Dark featured a Control Panel with screensaver plugin modules, each displaying a separate animation when the screensaver kicked in. The most popular of these modules were Starry Night, Flying Toasters, and Fish.

Later editions of After Dark featured Lawnmower Man and other quirky modules to delight Mac users.

Now a Japanese company called Infinisys is offering a re-creation of 3 of the most beloved original After Dark modules in a product called After Dark Classic Set 1.2. The product is available for download on the company's site, and will work with most modern Macs including M1-based Macs.

The new modules include all 4 generations of Flying Toasters, Lawnmower Man, and Boris. The 3 new modules reportedly use original graphics and sounds from the original After Dark modules, but there are less familiar icons such as teddy bears in amongst the flying toasters.

Flying Toasters... and teddy bears...

The downloaded After Dark modules automatically go into macOS's System Settings app on the Screen Saver pane. To run them, it costs $8 for the three-module collection.

Version 1.2 of the screensaver is a free upgrade to all buyers of version 1.1 released in 2021 - your original 1.1 passwords will work with version 1.2 also.

For $8, After Dark Classic Set 1.2 is a fun and inexpensive way to get that vintage After Dark feel on your modern Mac.

And, if you just want a trip down memory lane, an interesting web view of some of the original After Dark modules, Bryan Braun has implemented most of them entirely in CSS.