Smart Wallpaper Lite is a powerful and easy-to-use wallpaper manager which makes freshening-up your desktop that much easier.

The program will automatically change your wallpaper either on each Windows startup or at specified time intervals. There's no need to touch the control panel either - everything can be administered from the system tray. The developers claim they have stripped it down so that it doesn't use up system resources like the Windows wallpaper changer although I never really noticed the latter ever did anyway.

Nevertheless, it is very lightweight, easy to use and doesn't slow down your PC while changing wallpapers. You have some limited control over how your wallpaper in changed. You can set the program to random mode or "one-by-one". Random obviously means that wallpapers are picked to appear in a random order while "one-by-one" selects them in the order of your choice. When a wallpaper has changed, the program settings automatically pop up from the taskbar which can be annoying but it disappears after a few seconds if you don't use it.

Overall, this is a simple and useful program for anyone who gets bored of their wallpaper on a regular basis.

Download Smart Wallpaper Lite 3.2.0 in Softonic

AuraScope is a kaleidoscope-style screensaver that draws beautiful patterns that glow and softly fade away. AuraScope uses mathematical formulas to come up with a hypnotic display of complex images that never repeat.

There is endless variation in the patterns it displays. Unlike some other kaleidoscope screensavers, AuraScope doesn't rely on a pre-defined set of pictures to generate its images. It will relax and entertain you long after you've become bored with other screensavers.

Features of the screensaver:

• Complex computer-generated images that never repeat
• You can generate beautiful wallpapers for your computer
• AuraScope is highly customisable - you can make up your own patterns
• Full install and uninstall support

Download AuraScope Screensaver 1.06 in Softonic

The WhiteCap visualizer is a highly configurable add on for your media player with a wide range of impressive effects.

WhiteCap works with most media players out there, including the more popular iTunes, Windows Media Player or Winamp. The free version has a few limitations but you can still choose from a number of wave shapes and backgrounds. You'll only have one color scheme to work with though. From the settings menu you can adjust frame rate width and height and sound response scale.

If you pay for the Gold or Platinum versions of the program, you'll be able to save up to five presets.

Apart from the setup menu, which is really easy to use, I was well impressed by the effects themselves. The morphing wire frame effects really flow and manage to capture the essence and rhythm of different tracks really well.

Although the free version has its limitations, WhiteCap is an impressive visualizer for iTunes. Kick back and enjoy!

Download WhiteCap 5.1.2 in Softonic

The Royale Theme is a slick black theme for Windows XP which originally leaked out of Microsoft and onto the web in 2005.

There's no way to know but it seems to have come out of the new version of Windows Media Centre that Microsoft developed for XP. The Royale theme is remarkably similar to XP's default "Luna" theme but is a much sleeker shade of black. If you are tired of the default theme then you'll surely find something that appeals in Royale. It's also a remarkably small download at 2MB so there's no need to worry that it's going to slow down your machine although it does take up slightly more RAM so if you're on a slow machine, you might want to think twice before installing it. The installation is very simple - simply download the theme and run the EXE and it will ask you automatically where you want to install it. If you choose C:\WINDOWS path the files will automatically be placed in the Resources Folder on your computer. Once it's installed, you'll still need to activate the theme by right-clicking on you desktop, selecting Properties, then Appearance and finally Windows and Buttons. Select the Media Center Style option and click apply and the screen may go black while the theme is applied.

If you're bored with XP's default theme, this is an excellent free way to spice up your desktop and Windows itself.

Download Royale Theme for Win XP in Softonic

Vincent Van Gogh Painting Screensaver displays 118 oil paintings of Vincent van Gogh. Vincent Van Gogh is deemed by society to be one of our greatest and most successful artists.

All of the oil paintings in the screensaver are taken from the real masterpieces rather than from art reproductions. PaintingAll Art Gallery Van Gogh Art Screensaver will remind you about the famous oil paintings of Van Gogh like the Starry Night, The Sunflowers and Irises. Just put it on your screen and get the power of art from the picturesque masterpieces!

Download PaintingAll Vincent Van Gogh Screensaver 1.0.1 in Softonic

I'm about to convert to Mac myself but if I wasn't, I would definitely use Mac OSX Tiger Theme 1.3 to at least feel like I'd converted.

The skins feature the classic Aqua and Graphite schemes and the newly introduced Platinum scheme which you can find in the System Preferences and Mail programs in Mac OS X 10.4. They've also included Brushed with over 20 substyles added for good measure. The Apple menu is unfortunately, not an exact copy of the original but it's pretty close. It's basically a stripped down Start Menu that has been made to look like the Apple menu in Mac OS X. In addition, there are also left and right handed titlebar buttons for those that want their PC to look like a Mac but at the same time keep their right handed Windows buttons. The look and feel is remarkably Apple although Windows keeps creeping through especially with it's annoying sounds sometimes to spoil the illusion. If you have any widgets installed, you may also find that they don't show with this installed.

A great skin for those that either can't afford a Mac or those that simply prefer the elegant Mac look and style.

Download Mac OS X Theme 1.3 in Softonic

Creating the look of Vista on XP has become something of a cottage industry, mainly because most people know that Vista IS XP just with a few fancy skins on.

VistaXP v2 VS is an excellent Vista skin for XP which gives you all the benefits of the Vista look, without paying hundreds of dollars for the upgrade. The package is inspired by the original Windows Vista look (Codename Longhorn) and the package contains two Visual Styles - Black and Silver. The Start menu (which incidentally I hate in Vista) is very realistic and manages to compact all your programs into a shorter Star menu bar than you usually get with XP. There are only 3 different fonts to choose from which surely could have been increased although fonts are not the most important thing when it comes to the look and feel of your operating system. However, it does feature the original Segoe UI font although the wallpaper is limited to the now rather dated Vista Beta 1 wallpaper. It's a shame the developer chose not to include any widgets in this pack as that would really have made it much more realistic but combined with another Vista skin pack, this could make a really impressive Vista look.

A very good Vista skin for XP although it lacks realism in some aspects but for free, you can't complain.

Download VistaXP v2 VS in Softonic

Let's admit it: Windows Vista does have some graphical eyecandy that many of us would like to enjoy too, that is, if we could have it without having to give up on our beloved XP.

Well, who say we can't? Here's the trick: download TrueTransparency, copy it to any folder on your hard drive (no installation required) and you'll be able to add a sleek transparency effect to your windows. It's as easy as that! Just bear in mind that it may not work with all your apps (during my tests, for instance, Winamp didn't get the Vista look) but most system windows and standard applications will show off a shiny transparent look.

Like I said, the program doesn't require installation and hardly uses any system resources. From the little icon displayed on the system tray you can change between two different skins, set the program to be run on Windows startup and also close it when you grow tired of so much transparency and want to go back to traditional Windows XP windows.

TrueTransparency is a very quick, simple way to have the Vista transparency effect on your XP windows.

Download TrueTransparency 0.9.3 in Softonic

Ever wanted to have up to a 100 desktops instead of one? Well with Desk Illusion you can do exactly that.

This allows you to freely, and easily group launching programs, by any criterion. There is an illusion, like you are working on a multiscreen system, where on every screen you are launching different applications. Deskillusion is a fast/functional and small virtual desktop manager with a simple interface that gives you the option of using an amazing 100 different virtual desktops (not that you'd ever want that many!). You can switch between them using hotkeys which you can specify manually. What's more, you can assign a name to each virtual desktop such as work, leisure, games etc so you know exactly what each one contains. You can create a virtual desktop simply by right clicking on any desktop screen and creating a new one. Deletion is similarly very easy indeed. You can even send windows between virtual desktops for example, if you want to merge one desktop with another.

If you feel like you're running out of desktop space, then Desk Illusion gives you the power to create as many workspaces as you want.

Download Desk Illusion 1.1 in Softonic

Windows Explorer is not exactly the best file management system in the world but it does it's job and Windows users don't have many other options.

However, Emerge Desktop is an interface replacement for Windows Explorer that doesn't really change the fundamental structure but does change the shell. It works by providing a system tray called emergeTray which provides instant access to programs that are normally accessed with the Windows "Start" menu via a right-click on the desktop, As Microsoft have moved further towards opening up the code to Windows, Windows Explorer is one area that is undergoing improvement by various developers and Emerge Desktop takes advantage of this increased access to API calls.

Each part of Emerge Desktop (the tray and the taskbar) are individual executables called applets. These applets are all optional as part of Emerge Desktop and can be run individually on top of any other shell, including Explorer. Using the applets is a slightly slower experience than using Windows Explorer on its own but once you get used to it, it feels and looks a lot better. However, it can be annoying if you want to change back to Explorer because you have to reboot or log off to change back. To do this, just right click anywhere on the desktop and select "Settings" and "Change Desktop Shell".

Emerge Desktop has a lot of potential to advance Windows Explorer beyond that even available in Vista although if you find yourself switching between it and Explorer, it may be more hassle than it's worth.

Download Emerge Desktop 4.1.2 in Softonic

Aero Fox is a theme for your Firefox browser which I am sure many of you will like. It adds a black, glossy style to your favourite browser, but apart from the main navigation bar and icons, it doesn’t change the way menus look.

This theme will probably look great with a Vista PC given the colours’ resemblance, but in computers with Windows XP installed, the blue bar at the bottom and at the top will not match at all.

What I also found strange is that when moving the cursor over an icon, instead of becoming brighter, as if you where ‘activating’ it, it becomes very dark, as if in some way you were switching it off – a counter-intuitive behaviour. Furthermore, if you have many bookmarks saved in your toolbar, you will have trouble finding the arrow which brings you to the links that don’t fit in the bar. That said, many users like it and it has become one of the most downloaded themes, so why not give it a try?

Aero Fox brings a black shiny look to your Firefox, and fits perfectly with Vista PC, but not necessarily with Windows XP’s bright blue style.

Download Aero Fox 1.0.5 in Softonic

Convert TrueType and PostScript Type1 fonts between Macintosh and PC platforms. Runs under Windows XP, 2000, 2003, NT and Vista.

This is what CrossFont has to offer:

• Convert PostScript Type 1 fonts to OpenType CFF format for Windows PC and Macintosh
• Convert PostScript Type 1 fonts between Windows PC and Macintosh
• Convert TrueType fonts between Windows PC and Macintosh
• Generate missing supporting font files (AFM, PFM, INF, PFA, etc.)
• Support for OS X data fork fonts (.dfont)
• Supports reading Stuffit (.sit, .sea) and Zip archives
• Preview fonts before conversion
• Character outlines, metrics and hinting are preserved between platforms
• Drop font files and folders onto main window for easy conversion
• Automatically search folders and subfolders for supported font files
• Automatically assigns kerning if it exists
• Create font families

Download CrossFont 5.3 in Softonic

Endless Slideshow Screensaver is really two programs in one and allows you to make the best of your photos while you are away from your PC.

Firstly, it allows you to display your photos or any other pictures from local or network folders in a slideshow mode with lots of cool transition effects, customizable delays between pictures, and a few other basic tweaks. Secondly, it can automatically download your desktop wallpapers from the Internet and display them in a slideshow along with your pictures. Simply select the kind of wallpapers you want to see and the program does the rest. The choices are rather generic and a bit cliched such as Nature, Animals, Animation, Cars etc but it does refresh regularly although after a while, you'll inevitably see the same old pictures repeated over and over. You can refresh pictures by pressing a key at any time although the problem with this is that if it's in screensaver mode, pressing a key wakes the computer from it's sleep and could end up abruptly ending your slideshow presentation.

With support for all major picture formats (JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP) and automatic downloading of pictures, you can be sure that Endless Screenshow Screensaver will provide hours of screen saving entertainment.

Download Endless Slideshow Screensaver 1.0.0.1 in Softonic

If you find your desktop is simply too small to handle everything you need to do on it then why not multiply it by four?

Deskwin gives you up to four virtual desktops so you can work with several programs at once without worrying about space. Scrolling through the desktops is simple - just click on one of the four panels of the main Deskwin interface and you can change it's characteristics by changing its size, location and screen colour. It may sound like a strange concept and at first it is because you'll constantly forget what you've got open in each Window and have to go back to them to remember what the hell you're using. However, once you get used to it, it's actually quite a handy way of flicking between different working environment - one for play, one for work and one for perhaps another user or task. The big problem however is that because the program creates 4 virtual desktops, it inevitably requires quite a bit of RAM to work. Therefore, you may find that your system operates much more slowly than you expect and it can be a bit slow ans painful skipping between each Window.

Nevertheless, Deskwin is an excellent option for those people working in multiple environments who simply can't affords to mix up their desktops.

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Download Deskwin 1.6.1 in Softonic

Around the World: London is an animated screensaver that displays a very well-known image of the British capital city while you're away from your PC.

The screensaver shows popular London landmarks such as Big Ben, the House of Parliament and the river Thames. The whole view is animated according to the passing of time, that is, it shows different light values and colors depending on the time of the day: sunrise, noon, sunset, etc. The animation also includes a nice background soundtrack and also some sound effects to represent rain, thunder and other weather conditions.

On the downside, I have to say that the image quality is a bit disappointing: I expected digital photos but got drawings instead. Also, the animation is far from realistic, not only because day and night last for about 30 seconds each, but also because Big Ben doesn't even move. No matter what time of day it is, it always says 9 o'clock.

Around the World: London displays a nice view from the European capital city, but unfortunately falls short of expectations due to low quality imagery and unrealistic animations.

Download Around the World: London 1.0 in Softonic

Sometimes it's easy to get confused between all the Windows components such as Start Menu, Taskbar and System Tray. Say System Tray and many users will say, "Uh?".

That's why you may find it more useful to tie all your components together under one umbrella such as NextSTART. NextSTART has been designed as a complete Start Menu, Taskbar and System Tray replacement that's more akin to the Mac or Linux style way of doing things. NextSTART provides you with a number of excellent options which keeps your operating system fully customisable while doing away with traditional Windows components. You have configurable menu structures which allows you to either drag and drop components or create your own menu using the built-in Menu Editor. You have a surprising number of ways to customise your menu and execute programs using what the program calls "hotspots" plus some extended taskbar and system tray management tools. It's also pretty handy at allowing you to browse your hard drive for files and it can even handle dual monitor usage - very useful if you're a video editor. It's also very light on resources so you won't find it slowing down your day to day usage. Note that NextSTART has been integrated into the Winstep Xtreme suite of applications but you can still download it individually here.

As an alternative to Windows traditional components, NextSTART is an innovative application but you're going to have a lot of patience to get used to it before you can say goodbye to your Taskbar and System Tray.

Download NextSTART 3.41 in Softonic

Tired of boring wallpapers on your desktop? Want to try something new? Want to have an adjustable calendar highlighning holidays, birthdays and other important dates on your desktop? Want to download regularly new high-quality wallpapers from the Internet? Then Active Multiwallpaper Changer is designed just for you.

Using Active Multiwallpaper Changer you can:

• Place the flexible adjustable calendar on your desktop
• Download new high-quality wallpapers within categories
• Change wallpapers using hotkeys
• Change wallpapers within the time interval
• Choose one of six methods to set a picture as a desktop wallpaper
• Specify picture background color
• Specify picture scaling quality level
• Automatically scan your folders for new images
• Vary your wallpapers collection using the high-quality graphical filters
• Make desktop icons text transparent
• Show a frame around wallpaper
• Use most popular graphical files formats as wallpapers without enabling Active Desktop

Download Active Multiwallpaper Changer 3.8.1.117 in Softonic

If you are a fan of C.S. Lewis’s timeless fantasy you will be probably be waiting for the forthcoming release of The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian, due in cinemas on the 26th of June. While you wait you can bring the magic and mystery of the film to your PC with these two beautiful wallpapers. Their resolution is set at 1280x1024.

According to the press release, the characters of Chronicles of Narnia come to life once again in this newest installment of the series, in which the Pevensie siblings are magically transported back from England to the world of Narnia, where thrilling, perilous new adventure and an even greater test of their faith and courage awaits them.

The four children will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Maraz plans to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne. With the help of various fantastic figures, the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical hold and restore magic and glory to the land.

While waiting for the film release due at the end of June, you can bring the magical powers and courage of the film’s main protagonists to you PC with these mysterious wallpapers.

Download The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian Wallpapers in Softonic

Icons are one of the main ways we identify programs and documents but they can often be bland and boring especially those default ones assigned by Windows.

One great way to personalise your desktop is to customise your icons. You can use IconChanger to change personal file icons by assigning an icon of your choice to each and every file on your computer. To use it, select the file you wish to personalize and right click it with your mouse. If Icon Changer can change its icon, you will see the Change Icon symbol but bear in mind that not all icons can be changed. You can assign or reset icons for multiple objects at once and to set or reset an icon for a file type, you can launch Icon Changer for any file of the desired type. In the IconPane you will see the content of the file containing the icon used for the current object. IconChanger allows you to automatically search for icons contained in various executable files and DLLs saved on your hard drive. Once you've selected the icon you consider the most suitable, press the "Set" button and you're all changed! Unfortunately, not every icon you select can be changed and in the end, it often becomes more tedious changing the hundreds of icons on your PC than just leaving them as they are.

If you love to personalise your PC and have the time to change your icons, IconChanger is an easy to use and fun program.

Download IconChanger 3.8 in Softonic

If you're tired of always having the same wallpaper – and tired of looking for more as well – then Desktoptopia is just the application you need.

This program runs in the background and connects to the online Desktoptopia wallpaper collection, downloading new background images for your desktop, either automatically (according to the time period you set) or manually, every time you click on the program's icon in the system tray.

The wallpaper collection is pretty impressive, not so much for the number of pictures included in it, but mainly for their quality and beauty. As they're classified into different categories, you can select those that you prefer and leave out those ones you're not interested in.

However, there's one important drawback to Desktoptopia, and that is its stability. I understand the program is still in beta, but it crashed a few times while testing it and sometimes didn't download wallpapers properly.

Desktoptopia features a beautiful collection of wallpapers you can download and use automatically in your PC. Sadly it's still quite buggy.

Download Desktoptopia 1.0.0.18 Beta in Softonic