Weekly Download Section

from Jim McGorry

Welcome members and visitors alike to this new section I hope it will be of interest and use to you.

Each month I will try and have interesting and useful programs for you to download and try on your systems as you see fit. Some are free and some may have a nominal fee.

A brief write-up and link to download page will be displayed here so you can determine if you wish to get it and use it.

ALSO NOTE: Some web addresses may not be a direct link. If not, then just copy and paste the address into the “Address Location” window and hit enter.

WALLPAPER MASTER

Have you ever wanted to change your desktop wallpaper, but had trouble choosing between different images?

Wallpaper Master is a free program that will cycle through a series of desktop wallpapers saved on your computer at periodic intervals. All you have to do is select which images you want it to cycle through and it will regularly change your desktop wallpaper after a period of time that you decide.

There is a “Pro” version of Wallpaper Master that costs $20 to download, but for now we will concentrate on the freeware version that has all the features you need.

To download the freeware version, log onto: http://jamesgart.com/wallpaperchanger/ and click on the download link at the bottom of the page. Click on the freeware option, then click Run after downloading the .exe file.

Click Next when the Setup Wizard pops up and select an appropriate file destination on your hard drive. Select the option to create a desktop icon (or not; whichever you prefer), click Install, then it's finished.

Wallpaper Master should launch the next time your start up your PC, and you will notice an icon in your toolbar. You can launch it manually by right-clicking on the toolbar icon and selecting Wallpaper Master.

You can begin selecting a series of wallpaper images by clicking the Add Files button and browsing images on your hard drive. Hold down the Ctrl key while using your mouse to select multiple files.

When you are finished, a list of files should appear in the white box on the upper left-hand corner. To make these images change during regular intervals, click in the box next to Change Every under the Interval tab, and type in the number of minutes you wish each image to remain as your wallpaper for. So if you want your wallpaper to change to one of your other images every ten minutes, just type “10” in the box provided, then click on the Apply button.

You can also modify the appearance of each wallpaper just like you can in Windows. Click on an individual file in the white box and then click on the Position tab. You can decide whether or not this wallpaper will be tiled, centered or stretched to fill the screen. Clicking the Color tab can alter the background color of your screen if you click the User Defined option, before selecting a color from the drop-down box. Or you can allow your computer to select an appropriate color for each wallpaper by selecting Auto-Analyze.

Clicking the Order tab will present you with the option of each wallpaper appearing in a random order, with no repeats, or in a certain sequence that you decide.

These are the basic functions of Wallpaper Master. When you are finished, click Done, and your new sequence of wallpapers should start immediately. If you can't be bothered to wait for your wallpaper to change to the next image, a simple left-click on the Wallpaper Master icon in the toolbar will change it immediately to the next one in the sequence.