Themes in previous operating systems could alter many visual aspects of the system including the taskbar, fonts and even the shell. Standard Windows 7 themes on the other hand have been limited by Microsoft to only change the color scheme, desktop backgrounds (wallpapers), screen savers and sounds.

A benefit of this approach is that it is possible to save and share themes without the need for patching system files first.

Windows 7 still supports themes that change those other aspects of the operating system as well but users are then forced to replace system files before they can do that.

Most of the basic options to personalize the theme are available in previous Windows operating systems as well with the notable exception of wallpapers. It was previously only possible to use one wallpaper on the computer system. Users who wanted to use more than one had to install a software program that would exchange the wallpaper in regular intervals.

Windows 7 comes with the option to use multiple wallpapers in a theme which can be automatically rotated.

Windows 7 comes with multiple basic themes that can be activated by right-clicking the computer desktop and selecting the personalize option.

Available are several Aero themes as well as basic and high contrast themes. Microsoft has created a personalization gallery that offers additional Windows 7 themes, desktop backgrounds and gadgets for download. Users can download all country specific themes from there for instance.

Personalization has improved in Windows 7 and Microsoft is regularly updating the personalization gallery with new themes and backgrounds.

This is probably the same line of thought that convinced Dario Volaric to create a back to basics edition of this Wallpaper Shifter application. This will probably appeal to many users who are looking for a lightweight wallpaper changer. The application picks a random wallpaper from a directory selected by the user and sets it as the active Windows wallpaper.

Once that has been done it closes down which means that it will not use any system resources from that point on. The application was designed to run during system startup but it can also be run when executed while Windows is running.

It comes with a few options to change the scale mode (automatic, crop, fit, center) and the background (default, blur, edge repeat) but that’s it. If you are looking for a one time a session wallpaper changer then this might be exactly what you are looking for.

Make sure to check out the wallpaper repositories Windows 7 Wallpapers or Windows Wallpapers.