You don't have to be a werewolf or vampire to get excited about Halloween. What other holiday lets you dress up as a triceratops and snort at passersby or flashback to your grade-school years with a pretty pink ballerina tutu? Your Halloween festivities don't have to stop at the front door. Slap a virtual holiday jack-o-lantern or spooky scenes on your Windows desktop with this collection of Halloween screensavers.
If your idea of magic is a spell that turns a painting of an ugly old crone into a vivacious, attractive, young woman, this screensaver has the trickery that you're looking for. After bursting from the prison painting, the buxom beauty points out her window to a witch performing somersaults, then kisses you a very magical Halloween message. Her winking eye turns into the full moon, and the scenario is repeated.
Cascading Candy Corn screensaver
Some find it delicious; others think it tastes atrocious. Regardless of your personal taste for the colorful confectionary, Halloween is the only time of year when it's acceptable to eat this seasonal treat. Put the high-fructose delight on your desktop en masse with a 3D collection of falling, twirling candy corn pieces.
Haunted House Horrors Screen Saver
I'm not sure that I'd take my trick-or-treating activities toward this creepy domicile. Floating ghosts, bats, and a screeching cat are just a few of the scares that you'll find in and about this classic haunted mansion. Sound effects add an extra spooky dimension, and you'll never know what you'll find around the next corner.
Jack-O-Lantern.com Screen Saver
Using actual pumpkins carved by experts and community members, this free screensaver from Jack-O-Lantern.com offers up a cornucopia of jack-o-lantern delights. The shareware version is free to use and distribute; e-mail registration allows you to disable image-label tags and enable or turn off the music.
A spooky cemetery is the setting for this ghostly scene. Specters and wraiths appear from tombs and mausoleums while creepy music ensues. Various customization options let you change the color of the scene or the number of apparitions.
This young enchantress hasn't tucked herself away in a forest cottage or creepy cave--she's showing off her style in the city as she walks her pet spiders. As the city witch strolls through the urban environment, the city backdrop scrolls behind her. A pesky black cat scares her and her spiders away from the scene in a hurry, but don't worry. She'll be back.
If the City Witch screensaver doesn't tickle your aesthetic bone, you may prefer the calm, quiet, peacefulness--and pure creepiness--of the country. In this spooky pastoral scene, a haunted farmhouse is visited at dusk by bats, jack-o-lanterns, and a black cat. A mysterious white specter appears from time to time, performing a mysterious ritual.
This free animated screensaver from American Greetings shows a variety of cartoon jack-o-lanterns in the process of creation. Eyes, nose, and mouth all pop out, accompanied by seasonal music, to create spooky, goofy, or terrifying pumpkin faces.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Some cats are known to be skittish, but not this big, black fellow. He'll quickly take over your whole desktop with his furry, dark face, and his yellow, beady eyeballs that seem to follow you whenever you leave the computer. If you're looking for something creepily unique, Mr. Cat In Your Face might do the trick.
Accompanying the All Saints Day and All Souls Day Catholic holy days following Halloween, this primarily Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead in English honors family and friends who have passed away. Believing that communication with the dead is enhanced at this time, participants build shrines, pray, and visit graves. This screensaver uses symbols from ancient Aztec rituals to create a graveyard celebration.
Halloween is the one day of the year when it's OK to go all-out on a geeky costume. CNET News.com reporter Caroline McCarthy gave us 10 suggestions for techie Halloween costumes this year.
While we editors didn't see any dancing Mark Cubans or software pirates (believe us, we kept our eyes peeled), we did see a pair of LOLCats, a Nintendo Wii avatar, and...Facebook. Brace yourself for our techie Halloween slide show, and start your planning for next year.
Well-built software that can inspire projects and streamline productivity is powerful indeed, but ill-conceived programs, too, can haunt your dreams. In this week's, CNET Top 5 video (also see below), editor Tom Merritt shares five terrifically bad apps you'd most likely encounter in a dark alley of your computer's recycle bin. This Chuck Norris Facts Widget is particularly chilling.
Plenty more ghoulish and gleeful downloads are standing by to ease you into the Halloween spirit. Three skeletons in pointed hats boogie down by moonlight (and UV lamplight) in Halloween Dance 3D Screensaver, a personal favorite. Your browser can also get into costume. Developer Ed Hume has updated his bewitching Halloween Firefox theme, where broomstick-borne hags replace the "forward" and "back" arrows and bat icons adorn the tabs. Responsible pranksters can also find five joke downloads for spooking friends into thinking their computer's been possessed.
And for those who still aren't sure which costume to call their own this All Hallow's Eve, this slideshow suggests ten freaky tech-geek getups. Yes, you too can make the RIAA quake in their boots as a rough 'n' tumble software pirate.
So let the festive fall season begin with a howl! Which is your favorite holiday download?
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