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| Spice up your desktopAre you tired of looking at the Windows logo all day long? Does the "flying through space" screensaver make you feel like Santa on December 26 th? Well cheer up, this article is for you. There are several areas of your computer that can be customized to personalize your workspace. In case you didn't know, wallpaper (similar to that found in your home) is a pattern or picture used to visually enhance an area (here, your desktop). A screensaver is a moving or changing picture that loads after a set number of minutes of not using your computer. Screen burn or “burn-in” is what happens to a monitor if a static picture is left sitting too long, day after day. A shadow of this image will burn itself into the face of your monitor. As long as the picture is always changing, it cannot burn the screen, hence the name "screen saver". In addition to being a visual improvement to your system, it is actually acting as insurance for your monitor (that gives you an excuse to browse and download some of these!) Themes are complete collections which include matching wallpaper, icons, screensaver, and sounds. webshots.com takes the cake for the best wallpaper site. Photos by professional photographers abound, as well as amateurs and kids with their digital cams. Search by keywords, or download complete topic-related collections. softseek.com/Desktop_Enhancements/ <http://www.softseek.com/Desktop_Enhancements/> String rows of festive light bulbs around the edges of your screen with their Holiday Lights program, or stunning, colorful, complex geometric art with Hot Ice. You'll also find 2000th FireStorm screen saver. It is an animated, realistic fire imitation, which can be displayed on your active desktop. Santa’s workshop is also terrific! The unregistered version shows 1 elf, and if you register, up to 5 elves will be hurrying about getting things ready for the holiday. christianet.com/christianbusinesses/christianwallpaper/animals/sample.htm <http://www.christianet.com/christianbusinesses/christianwallpaper/animals/sample.htm> offers 36 nice Christian backgrounds at no charge. Many are nice scenic shots with Bible verses typed across them. These might add a nice touch to your church's computer. freewallpaper.virtualave.net/ <http://freewallpaper.virtualave.net/> has beautiful scenic wallpapers to enhance your desktop. Mountain, sky, waterfall and sea are a few of the categories listed. This is a computer-age version of stress relief. snap-shot.com offers over 3,000 assorted wallpapers and 1,000 screensavers. Have youever wanted to travel? They have images from all over the world. Niagra Falls, New Zealand, or the Mexican pyramids could embellish your screen, just click and pick. brightnet.themes.tucows.com/index.html <http://brightnet.themes.tucows.com/index.html> is a portion of tucows specializing in just themes. You'll find startup screens, wallpaper and screensavers, many for assorted holidays. They also provide a theme installer you'll need to load the desktop themes. free-n-cool.com/freecthm.html <http://www.free-n-cool.com/freecthm.html> is a list of links to tons of themes and wallpapersites. Newest finds are listed first, but scroll down for some more established sites. celebritydesktop.com is the place to visit if like famous people. Actors, actresses, musicians and models grace the pages and your desktop. If sports hold your interest, grab a shot of Jeff Gordon, although I doubt it will speed up your system. If you want something unique, take a digital picture or scan anything you'd like to use for your own personal touch. Better yet, create your own site and share them just like these people did. While you're doing your holiday decorating, don’t forget your computer! |
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