Users can pick one of the predefined colors, enter the colors red, green and blue values or use a color chart to pick a color by selecting it.

The issue here is that it is not comfortable to experiment with different colors as the background color is not updated automatically when a new custom color is selected.

The free portable software Colortypist offers a better way of experimenting with different background colors. The main feature that it adds is realtime updates of the background color. Add to that the ability to enter color by their name, HTML code, RGB triplet or integer value and you end up with more versatile options to enter colors as well.

The program displays a simple form on startup which you can use to enter the new color that you want to use. Once you start typing you will notice that background colors change while you do that.

You can click on Copy, Save & Wallpaper to set the color as the new background color of the system. Users who want some inspiration can use the Random button to get random colors presented to them.

A right-click on the window opens a context menu with options to make the current color the new wallpaper color of the system, or to copy the color code or the color code as an image.

A right-click on the desktop closes the program automatically.

Windows users who would like to test different background colors for their system can use Colorypist to do so. The program can be downloaded directly from the developer website. The application is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

Wally, a cross-platform software for Windows, Linux and Mac is different as it is compatible with many popular Internet image hosting services.

The list of services includes Flickr, Photobucket, Google Picasa, Pikeo, Panoramio, Yahoo, SmugMug and Bing. Wally adds to that the ability to select local folders and files as well.

Wally will launch itself minimized in the system tray. A right-click on the icon displays the available choices. The user can configure the various remote and local desktop wallpaper sources in the settings of the program.

The supported sources are listed on the left side. It is possible to configure one or several sources which will then be mixed in the rotation of new desktop wallpapers on the system.

All remote wallpaper sources are configured the same way. The user selects one of the image hosting sites first, clicks on the green plus icon on the right and adds a search term for a full text or tag based searched.

The general options are displayed on top of the program. Wallpapers will be centered and changed every 2 minutes by default. Photos will not be saved by default but an option at the bottom of the screen can be activated to save the desktop wallpapers locally.

Detailed settings are accessible in the left sidebar below the remote and local photo sources. Several important settings can be configured here. It is for instance possible to select a minimum size for the desktop wallpaper images (does not matter, at least 1/2, at least 3/4, bigger than), use Exif information to rotate the image, only use landscape oriented photos or start the changing of wallpapers immediately after program launch.

A click on Play in the context menu will start the wallpaper rotation. Wally will query the configured photo hosting sites, download the images (and save them if configured to do so), and rotate them according to the user’s preferences.

Wally is an easy to use program with an incredible functionality. It might be the ideal program for you if you are looking for a desktop wallpaper changer that supports local and remote sources.

Three options are provided to find wallpapers: Random, Toplist and search which is further divided into a keyword and color search.

Wallpapers are displayed as thumbnails on the screen with a filter bar on top of them. This filter toolbar is displayed on all pages. It can be used to filter wallpapers by resolution, ratio, board (general, anime and high resolution) and type (sfw, nsfw and sketchy).

The filters can therefor be used to find wallpapers for the exact resolution of the computer monitor. Available wallpaper resolutions range from 800×600 to 2560×1600 which should be sufficient for the majority of computer users.

A click on a wallpaper opens a preview image of the wallpaper. The wallpaper can be downloaded from there to the computer system (there is no option to download the wallpapers directly from the search results listing). A link to find similar wallpapers is provided on the individual wallpaper pages as well.

The sheer size of the desktop wallpaper resource ensures that every visitor should find wallpapers that fit the computer’s screen resolution and the user’s personal taste. Visit wallbase to start searching and download wallpapers right away.

The interval can be changed to display a new wallpaper after specified time has passed or when a certain time of the day is reached. Wallperizer can resize wallpapers automatically based on an if else statement that might confuse users who do not code.

There is also a tab for basic effects that include normalizing the brightness and setting a gamma level of wallpapers.

More interesting than the previously mentioned options that are more or less integrated in most wallpaper changers are the following features. Wallperizer can display a calendar on the wallpaper. The calendar can be defined in detail including its position and detail level.

This calendar might be interesting for users who would like to see these information on their desktop without having to use a desktop widget or software that is displaying it.

The calendar cannot display customized date or synchronize date with other applications. Users who are interested in downloading the application can do so at the developer’s website.

Display Fusion can be downloaded as a free version from the developer’s website with limited functionality. The pro version of Display Fusion can be ordered as well on the same website. The version comparison between Display Fusion and Display Fusion Pro list the features that are only available in the Pro version including wallpaper rotation, custom hotkeys or the fine tuning of the background image position.

The main feature of Display Fusion is to display wallpapers on multiple desktops. The user may display different wallpapers on each desktop or use one wallpaper that spans across all of them. Each computer monitor connected to the computer system is displayed in Display Fusion’s main interface.

The user can load wallpapers from his computer or Flickr and make them the default wallpaper for the computer monitor. Display Fusion Pro provides access to background image positioning which can be used to fine tune the location of the wallpaper on the monitor. It’s also possible to use one of the seven display modes that range from stretching the image to fitting the width or height while maintaining the aspect ratio of the image.

Users of Display Fusion Pro can enable wallpaper rotation in the same interface. They can either add a list of wallpapers from their computer or get their wallpapers directly from Flickr.

Images can be grabbed from Flickr users, groups or by searching for text. The wallpapers set will then be used to rotate the computer’s wallpaper in a time interval specified by the user. One interesting option is to freeze a wallpaper. This will stop the process of rotating wallpapers and make the current one the default wallpaper.

Display Fusion comes with window management features as well which have been specifically designed for multi-monitor systems. Windows can be easily moved between computer monitors including maximized windows. It is furthermore possible to position windows on the same computer monitor. It is for instance possible to center a window on the current monitor or to snap it to one of the monitor’s edges.

One main benefit of Display Fusion Pro is the ability to configure custom window sizing and moving hotkeys. Other interesting features include Window Snapping with the option to exclude applications from it or maximized window dragging between computer monitors.

The newest Beta of Display Fusion Pro enabled another long requested feature to the application. Users can enable a taskbar on every computer monitor. The feature is still beta but it already provides two possibilities for users. The first is to display a Display Fusion Taskbar on additional monitors that is showing all windows like the taskbar on the main computer monitor. The second option is to only display the windows that are open on each monitor.

Jon Tackabury is regularly updating his website Binary Fortress with new information about Display Fusion and other software projects.

Five licenses for Display Fusion Pro are up for grabs. Just reply in the comments and let us know that you want one.

That probably sounds more difficulty than it is. After starting Desktop Takeover the user is greeted with a blank screen. Desktop Takeover does not make use of the initial desktop wallpaper unless it is added in the application as well. This is done by clicking on Wallpaper > Load New Background Image. The selected image should be shown immediately as the new background.

Additional photos can be added by dragging them into the program interface or by making use of the Add Photos button on top. Photos that have been added can be moved around and resized easily to fit the screen. Photos are automatically resized if they are to large to fit the screen resolution.

The developer’s website contains a few examples of user desktops after adding photos to them, they show a world map and pictures of countries the user visited in the past, pictures of animal companions, trains, family pictures or cars.

The user can also drag and drop webcams or complete image folders on the desktop with ease. The build in desktop wallpaper rotator makes it possible to use different wallpapers and photos that get exchanged automatically.

Desktop Takeover supports the creation of picture channels. Picture channels are series of pictures that get rotated in a slideshow-like fashion. Local images or webcam feeds can be used for this feature.

The options provide access to customization like setting picture transparency and multi-monitor options. One feature did not work on my computer though. The program offers the option to immediately resize and move images on the “real” desktop by left-clicking and holding the mouse button. It could be that this is driver related though.

I also experienced two crashes of the configuration window. The program itself remained stable however.

Desktop Takeover provides an easy solution to users who would like to add photos to their desktop that are placed on the desktop wallpaper.