Abstract: An apparatus and computer-implemented method are described for an interactive screen saver. For example, a method according to one embodiment of the invention comprises: initiating a screen saver on a data processing device; detecting keyboard input and/or mouse input on the data processing device while the screen saver is running; determining whether the screen saver is a keyboard interactive and/or a mouse interactive screen saver; if the interactive screen saver is keyboard interactive and/or mouse interactive, then performing interactive operations within the interactive screen saver in response to user input entered from the keyboard and/or mouse, respectively without quitting the screen saver; and if the interactive screen saver is not keyboard and/or mouse interactive, then quitting the interactive screen saver in response to detecting the keyboard input and/or mouse input.