Abstract: Activation and deactivation of a screen saver in a video conferencing system is based on detected presence of a person in the room wherein the video conferencing system is sited and the current status of a videoconferencing session. The video conferencing system processes a screen save message received from an operating system and informs the operating system not to launch the screen saver if the video conferencing system detects that there is an active video conferencing session or if a presence detection technique has detected a presence in the room or area wherein the video conferencing system is sited within a predetermined time period. When a videoconferencing call is connected or a presence is detected and the screen saver is active, the screen saver is terminated. The presence may be detected by motion, sound, or other techniques.