If you’ve used a static Windows desktop wallpaper, you’re wasting valuable space that could be used for fun or work.
The Windows desktop is where you find yourself when you close all windows or when using a smaller Windows that doesn’t take up all of your desktop space.
So why not take advantage of this space with live wallpapers that are beautiful, animated, and in many cases can even help you be more productive?
Take a look at these 7 live wallpapers and try some. Once you start using live wallpapers, you will never go back to static again.
Personalize Windows
The definition of “live desktop” is a little vague. Many sites that offer free desktop wallpapers don’t offer anything other than a video background or a desktop slideshow app.
There is no need to waste time installing live wallpaper for slideshow if this feature is already built right into Windows 10.
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To enable the slideshow desktop:
- Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Personalize.
- Change the Background drop-down list to Slide Show.
- Click the Click the Browse button to select the folder where all your photos are stored.
You can also set up your slideshow to resize at specified intervals, randomly shuffle your photos and place them on your desktop.
Upload vacation photos, beautiful landscapes, or any other images that interest you. Using a wallpaper for your slideshow ensures that your desktop background never gets bored.
Rainmeter
If you want a highly functional desktop for real-time work, Rainmeter is your best bet. This app is renowned for its customizability and the many widgets and features you can add.
Basically, it is a tooling platform that allows you to bring the important information you would like to see right to your desktop. This can be various statistics about your computer system, social networks, stock quotes, and more.
It comes with a pre-packaged set of skins, or you can download thousands of other skins created by the huge Rainmeter user community.
A “skin” in Rainmeter is actually a widget or group of widgets. When you find an interesting file to download, it will appear as an .rmskin file.
To install and enable the new Rainmeter widget on your desktop:
- Double-click the .rmskin file to install it.
- Right-click the Rainmeter icon in the system tray and select Refresh All.
- Right-click the Rainmeter icon again, select Skins, select the installed skin, and then select the INI file (these are the individual gadgets you can use).
You will see a new widget appear on your desktop.
In many cases, customizing these widgets can require significant training. For example, in many cases, to add an event to a calendar widget, you need to edit the XML file to add these recurring events.
Despite the learning curve, Rainmeter widgets are beautiful, functional and very useful.
Sim Aquarium 3
People buy fish tanks because slow moving fish and gurgling sounds soothe any room.
You can have the same on your Windows 10 desktop with the Sim Aquarium 3 app (it is actually a fish tank screensaver).
When you install an app, it sets up your splash screen to use it. The screensaver is not just a small home aquarium. It is more like standing at a large window in a real city Aquarium, including all the sounds of water that accompany this feeling.
If you want to complete the theme, you can also download the Fish and Coral Wallpaper from the Microsoft Store. This is a live wallpaper slideshow depicting real aquarium fish.
Since the Sim Aquarium 3 app is free, you may see advertisements for updates from time to time.
Download Fish and Corals and Download Sim Aquarium 3
Fences
Windows users are constantly concerned that the desktop is difficult to organize documents, files, and shortcuts.
This is because these icons tend to reorganize when you restart your computer.
Fences takes your Windows experience to a whole new level or organization by allowing you to create boxes or “fences†where you can group all your important files and folders.
To customize fences, simply right-click anywhere on your desktop and select “Customize Fencesâ€. From there, you can customize fences in the following ways:
- Create new ones.
- Rename existing ones.
- Adjust size or caption.
- Change their appearance.
- Make it collapsible (collapsible).
Please be aware that Fences is not a free app. However, you can try it for free for 30 days before deciding if it will boost your productivity enough to justify the cost.
PUSH Video Wallpaper
PUSH Video Wallpaper is one of those apps where you will only realize how badly you need it after you start using it.
It is an impressive application that allows you to set live video as your desktop wallpaper. You can place your own video files (for example from home videos from your vacations or landscape videos downloaded from the Internet) into the PUSH Video Wallpaper app and then select it to display as wallpaper.
Controls inside the app let you pause, pause, rewind, or rewind the video. There are also audio controls to mute the video if you want it to be muted.
The coolest feature of this app is the ability to stream YouTube videos directly to video wallpaper. To do this:
- Launch the PUSH Video Wallpaper application.
- Click the Add URL link icon.
- Paste the URL of the YouTube video
- Click Add to Playlist.
- Click a video in your playlist to start playing.
It’s amazing how nice it is when certain videos play in the background as you work.
For example, add a URL link to a 7-hour scenic train ride from Bergen to Oslo, Norway, and include a soothing travel live wallpaper while you work.
Like Fences, PUSH Video Wallpaper is not free, but you can try the trial version to make sure it works well on your system before purchasing. It is actually available and one license allows the application to be used on three computers.
Download video wallpaper for push notifications
HD widgets
Remember what cool gadgets were in Windows 7? Well, you can get them again if you install Widgets HD from the Microsoft Store.
With this app, you have a choice of about 20 gadgets that you can place on your desktop. These include:
- digital or analog clocks;
- calendar;
- resource counters;
- Weather
- Sticky Notes
- RSS Feeds
Unlike Rainmeter, gadgets are not translucent, so they tend to cover your wallpaper and, if not neatly placed, can clutter up your desktop.
On the other hand, Widgets HD is much more user-friendly than Rainmeter.
Download HD Widgets
Desktop sticky notes
Many Windows users have not realized over the years that the very useful Sticky Notes desktop feature is built right into Windows 10.
To enable Sticky Notes, you need to enable Windows Ink Workspace.
- Right-click on the taskbar and select the Show Windows Ink Workspace button.
- Click the new Windows Ink icon. and select Sticky Notes.
- Use the Sticky Notes search tool to create new notes or find existing ones.
- Double-click a sticker to pin it to your current desktop.
Even in the early days of computers, users pasted stickers around the edges of their monitors. Many users still do this!
With the built-in Sticky Notes tool, you can attach these stickers to your existing desktop and keep them close at hand.
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