We love a good thunderstorm, and the sound of one can be quite relaxing, even if it's fake. Lightning Bolt Screensaver is an easy way to bring some stormy weather to your computer screen. It's not the best such screensaver we've seen, but it's not bad, and we enjoyed both looking at it and listening to it.

The screensaver consists of three static images: a dark sky with a large thunderbolt shooting out of it, a grassy meadow during the day with some hills in the background, and a moonlit island scene with a spooky purple sky. The screensaver automatically switches images every few minutes. Although the images themselves are static, falling rain and periodic lightning flashes add some movement to the scenes. These aren't the most realistic-looking virtual storms we've seen, but the images and animations are of fairly high quality. The audio was quite pleasant, with a gentle rain sound punctuated by occasional rumblings of distant thunder. (We appreciated the fact that the screensaver didn't include any of those bone-shattering thunderclaps that drive the cat under the bed.) The thunder sounds do vary in intensity, a realistic touch, and they occur at a frequency that's calming and not distracting.

Lightning Bolt Screensaver doesn't have much in the way of options, although users can set the display mode and also adjust the volume or mute the sound effects completely. Overall, we found Lightning Bolt Screensaver to be a pleasant addition to our desktop, and we recommend it to nature lovers and anyone else who enjoys the calming effects of a good storm.

Lightning Bolt Screensaver installs a desktop icon without asking and leaves a folder behind upon removal.