I discovered John's Background Switcher in the excellent Donation Coder forum where the user y0himba posted a review of it. John's Background Switcher is a software that can easily switch background images, also known as wallpapers, in a set interval on the users computer. What makes this software special is that it not only provides access to local images but incorporates several online services as well.
The online services it makes use of currently are Flickr, Phanfare, SmugMug, Picasa, Facebook and Yahoo. That's a lot of additional - and may I add optional - content for the desktop. Basic controls are always the same. The user pics an interval which can be anything from 1 minute to x days. A border can be chosen for images that do not fit the full screen and settings for multi-monitor systems can be configured as well.
The user can then add pictures or folders from the local computer or pick one or multiple of the services. Wallpapers will be mixed from all sources and one will be randomly selected for each interval.
Several services provide access to free content. The top 250 Flickr photos from the last seven days, from a specific group, or using specific tags can be selected without authentication. The amount of photos can be edited and it is possible to change the time interval as well.
John's Background Switcher is highly configurable. If you open the advanced settings you can configure pretty much everything. Selecting a minimum width for images, stopping image switching when running specific applications and a hotkey for immediate changes of the wallpaper are only three of the manifold options.
The application is compatible to all Microsoft Windows operating systems starting with Windows 98 including Windows XP and Windows Vista. Even the 64-bit editions are supported. It also requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0.
John's Background Switcher
The online services it makes use of currently are Flickr, Phanfare, SmugMug, Picasa, Facebook and Yahoo. That's a lot of additional - and may I add optional - content for the desktop. Basic controls are always the same. The user pics an interval which can be anything from 1 minute to x days. A border can be chosen for images that do not fit the full screen and settings for multi-monitor systems can be configured as well.
The user can then add pictures or folders from the local computer or pick one or multiple of the services. Wallpapers will be mixed from all sources and one will be randomly selected for each interval.
Several services provide access to free content. The top 250 Flickr photos from the last seven days, from a specific group, or using specific tags can be selected without authentication. The amount of photos can be edited and it is possible to change the time interval as well.
John's Background Switcher is highly configurable. If you open the advanced settings you can configure pretty much everything. Selecting a minimum width for images, stopping image switching when running specific applications and a hotkey for immediate changes of the wallpaper are only three of the manifold options.
The application is compatible to all Microsoft Windows operating systems starting with Windows 98 including Windows XP and Windows Vista. Even the 64-bit editions are supported. It also requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0.
John's Background Switcher
