Desktop Tools

Desktop Takeover enables you to easily customize your desktop by embedding photos anywhere on your screen. You can design your desktop layout by simply dragging pictures into the desired position and resize them to your preference. In addition to static photo displays, you can also create picture channels that will rotate through a selection or folder of images. Your custom desktop designs can be saved and also shared with other users. If you choose to register a free user account, the program will also provide access to online picture albums and live webcam channels that can be added to your desktop.

Desk Drive is a handy software that adds convenient shortcuts to USB thumb drives, removable drives and DVDs to your desktop. When you first insert a USB drive or DVD, the Windows autoplay feature will provide you with quick access to the media content, however subsequent access to the drive usually requires you to go through Windows Explorer to find the mapped drive and open it. Desk Drive overcomes this inconvenience by adding a shortcut to the desktop that provides one-click access to the drive for as long as it is inserted. The program runs in the system tray and detect a new drive as soon as it is inserted. It automatically removes the shortcut when the drive is ejected.

DS Clock is a digital desktop clock that displays variable date and time information. The program allows you to customize its look and feel, and can synchronize your clock from a list of Internet time servers. You can select any combination of date and time, pick custom colors and fonts and optionally set a custom sound to play at the top/half of the hour.

Dexpot allows you to create multiple, virtual desktops to increase the work area of your screen by up to 20 times. Each virtual desktop is independent from the others and can have its individual wallpaper, resolution, and icons (or no icons at all). You can easily switch between desktops from the tray icon, or via hotkey, or even use an automatic desktop slideshow that rotates all virtual desktops. In addition, you can move and copy windows from one desktop to another among the desktops, set up rules to automatically move, copy or close windows and more. Dexpot is one of the most advanced desktop managers out there, that is easy enough for beginners, but offers some great flexibility for more demanding users as well.

A Ruler for Windows is an on-screen pixel ruler, that allows you to perform measurements on your screen. It comes with to skins that resemble a wood ruler and a transparent plastic ruler. You can customize the length of the ruler, use it vertical or horizontal, and even magnify the screen up to 4x for more accurate measurements. A Ruler for Windows only supports pixel units.

Stick enables you to organize your desktop with screen tabs, that allow you to access folders with a single click. You can create a new tab for each folder you want to access; the tabs are placed along the top edge of your desktop and can be accessed from anywhere. The program also includes a very simple notepad-like tab that allows you to quickly write down a note., as well as a handy quick launcher (Windows Key + Space bar) that lets you just type in the first few letters of an application to launch it.

Any Wallpaper is a simple wallpaper changer that can automatically update your desktop wallpaper with images from one or more folders. You can set the wallpaper position, as well as a time interval (e.g. every 15 minutes) or choose to change your wallpaper every time you start your computer.

Taskbar Shuffle is a small and simple program, that add a handy new functionality to your Windows taskbar - it enables you to rearrange the taskbar buttons by simply dragging them around. This feature can be quite useful if the order and arrangement of your taskbar buttons is of importance to you. Makes you wonder why the taskbar did not come with this feature in the first place.

Visual Task Tips is a handy Windows shell enhancement that displays a thumbnail snapshot of any Windows that was minimized to the Windows taskbar. Just hover your mouse over a taskbar item and instead of the standard info tip, you will see a small snapshot of the Window. Visual Task Tips works with minimized folder, applications and web pages.

EvJO Wallpaper Changer enables you to automatically change your desktop wallpaper on a regular basis. You can change it whenever the program starts or closes, set a time interval (e.g. every X minutes) or change it at a specific time of day. You can load images from a folder or create a list of selected images that should be used in order or at random. The program supports BMP, JPG, PNG, TIF, PCX and TGA images and can stretch, tile or center the wallpaper.

WatchMe is a simple timer program that can be used to time multiple tasks or events independently of each other. You can assign a custom name to identify each timer and also store personal notes for each. The program can display the time in hours:minutes:seconds or in fractions of an hour, depending on your preference and you can also adjust the time by adding or removing minutes. Standalone, no install needed.

Atmosphere Lite enables you to bring the sounds of nature to your desktop. You can choose from various sourroundings such as tropical, thunderstorm, nighttime, summer, fireside and several others or customize your own soundscape from the sounds provided. In addition, the program includes a simpla alarm clock feature.

CursorFX enables you to apply special effects to your Windows 2000/XP mouse cursor. It includes several themes that are semi-transparent and feature more advanced shadows and alpha blending. CursorFX is configured directly from your Control Panel/Mouse Properties dialog. Additional themes can be downloaded. A Pro version with additional features is also available.

Adolix Wallpaper Changer enables you to change your desktop wallpaper automatically every X minutes, hours, days or on demand via hotkey or tray icon. You can create multiple image lists and load them or combine them, and optionally have the program shuffle the images to display them in random order. Adolix Wallpaper Changer supports all popular image formats and can size images to fit your display, or place them in a custom position on your desktop. It also includes a simple screen capture utility.

WallShuffler is a simple wallpaper changer that allows you to alternate between a selection of desktop backgrounds. The program can update your wallpaper every time you start Windows, or manually from the system tray. A feature that makes this (otherwise mediocre) application stand out, is the ability to apply various image effects to the wallpaper, without changing the original image.

WinFlog eXTreMe adds several functions to the Windows Vista right-click menu that enable you to enable/disable Aero effects, turn off your monitor and eject your CD drive. You can also activate Flip 3d from the middle mouse button.

Walyk Wallpaper Changer enables you to automatically change your desktop wallpaper based on a selection of personal images. You can update the wallpaper on a daily or weekly basis, or every X minutes or hours. The program can also change your wallpaper whenever you restart your computer. The desktop wallpaper can be centered, stretched or tiled across the desktop and optionally resampled using a variety of algorithms.

Transform XP to Vista installs 3 applications that make your XP computer look a little more like Vista. It adds the Microsoft Zune theme, a ton of Yahoo! Widgets and the free version of Vista Start Menu (by the same developer). While the Zune theme and Yahoo! widgets deliver most of the Vista-like appearance and gadget functionalities, the additional start menu enhancement adds a finishing touch to it.

RealWorld Cursor Editor enables you to create and edit static or animated Windows cursors. You can create new cursor by editing existing .cur files or create new cursors from scratch by importing an image file. The program provides a variety of tools to draw lines, curves, rectangles and other shapes as well as predefined filters for color correction, sharpening, drop shadows and other effects. Other features include support for animations with custom frame sequence, batch processing of filters, cursor hot spot editing and more.

QuickMonth Calendar adds a small monthly calendar to your system tray, that automatically appears when you hover your mouse over the Windows clock display. It highlights the current date and allows you to switch between month and years to look up future dates.

Tidy Start Menu allows you to easily organize the programs in your Start/Programs menu, by sorting them into several categories, which will be created as folders in your Programs menu. Instead of having dozens of application folders and entries, you can reduce the initial level to 5-8 categorized folders and then directly navigate to the programs within that category. Of course this can be easily accomplished by using standard Windows features (creating folders and dragging items into them), and Tidy Start Menu only makes the task a little easier for novice users by using simple check boxes to assign programs to a category. The free version is limited to 8 pre-defined categories, which should accommodate the average user - if you want to create more categories, you will have to purchase an advanced version. (In this case however we would really recommend to invest a few minutes of your time and organize the Programs menu yourself)

Vista Eyes places a pair of google eyes anywhere on your screen, that will follow the mouse cursor wherever it goes. Add some fun to your desktop.

Roxio MediaTicker allows you to view a local folder of images, or images from an online RSS feed as a scrolling desktop ticker that can be placed at the top, bottom or along the sides of your screen. Clicking on an image thumbnail will show the full-size photo, along with an option to email or print the photo. In addition to photo feeds, the program can also displays various news feeds that contain thumbnail images, revealing the headline in a mouseover hint. The ticker may include some promotional messages from Roxio once in a while. User registration is solicited but can be skipped.

Sarbyx TrayClock is a replacement for the Windows System tray clock. You can choose to display the time in 12 or 24 hour format, display seconds and/or the current date and select from a variety of 50 skins to customize the clock display.

IconTweaker allows you to customize Windows with different sets of icon themes. It comes with several themes to choose from and additional ones can be added later. You can choose to change all icons according to the theme, and also set different icons for selected files and/or folders. The program provides an easy to use interface, and can restore your original icons at any time.

Flickr Desktop Wallpaper allows you to create a dynamic desktop wallpaper, using random images from a Flickr account of your choice. The images will be arranged in a tile pattern and can be updated automatically every X minutes. The program does not require lofin credentials, you can use it with any Flickr account name, not limited to your own.

InstantTimeZone enables you to show the current time and date of up to 9 time zones in your system tray, next to your regular system clock. The icon displays the current hour, and on mouseover or click the complete date and time are shown. You can choose between different time and date formats, select a color for the icon and add a custom comment for the time zone.

MuralPix is a desktop wallpaper changer that can automatically cycle through a selection of background images from one or more folders of your choice. You can choose to apply a new wallpaper every X minutes, every time your PC starts or during other times of the day. The wallpaper can be combined with a desktop calendar background that dynamically compliments the color hue of the wallpaper image. You can customize the image placement and sizing as well as the appearance of the calendar, exclude specific image from the display and manually switch to the next wallpaper from the tray icon. In addition to changing your desktop wallpaper, MuralPix can also run as a screensaver and display the same selection of images as a slideshow when your PC is not in use.

Desktop Christmas Tree is a small, digital Tannenbaum for your desktop. It can optionally stay on top and you can adjust transparency - a mouseover hint reveals how many days are left till Christmas.

Delgado Desktop is a simple wallpaper changer that allows you to set a different desktop wallpaper for every day of the week. You can choose to stretch, center or tile each image and also set one as the default wallpaper. If you want to distinguish your weekdays with the help of wallpapers, give it a try.

Frix QuickRes is a handy tool, that allows you to quickly switch between 2 desktop resolutions by simply double-clicking on the system tray icon. You can also use the program to access the regular display settings, and to launch WinDVD or PowerDVD (if installed) from the tray menu.

Desktop Graffitist is a small program that enables you to spray paint graffiti-style art onto your desktop. You can switch between colors, using the mouse wheel and quickly erase your creation with the Esc key. Unlike with real spray paint, Desktop Graffitist will not leave a sticky residue.