If you're anything like me, you get bored of your desktop wallpaper very quickly. And like me, you'll be interested in testing tools like Wallpapers from MSN.

This app is a complete wallpaper manager that includes a collection of more than 50 images you can use as desktop background right away. You can also add you own photos to the Wallpapers from MSN collection and comfortably browse through them thanks to a thumbnail list and a small preview window.

What makes Wallpapers from MSN different from other similar applications is the fact that you can add special effects to the images. By "special effects" I mean you can add clipart on top of the image, insert a line or two of text and, of course, crop, resize and adapt the image to make it fit your computer monitor.

On the downside, there's no clear indication if you'll be able to download more wallpapers apart from the ones that come already bundled with the program. Also, Wallpapers from MSN is certainly a bit too heavy on resources to have it permanently running in the background – a requisite if you want it to cycle through your wallpapers automatically.

If you're a wallpaper collector, Wallpapers from MSN is made for you: a wallpaper manager that includes more than 50 images and also lets you edit them.

Download Wallpapers from MSN Beta in Softonic

Wallpaper Master offers a number of options to renew your desktop background image. Create categories to organize your wallpapers and order your different images in a list on the interface. Individual Overrides, like style, alignment or border can be modified directly from the program window. Images can also be set up on multiple monitors in one click.

Despite a good deal of options, we were slightly disappointed with Wallpaper Master. There's no drag and drop, which means you have to browse and select all the pictures you want to use as wallpapers. The effects you can add to them, mirror, black and white and mosaic, are fairly limited and do not add much to your images.

Once you chosen the image you'll use as wallpapers and set up the rotation you can let Wallpaper Master take care of the rest. The program could be a bit more intuitive and offer more effects, but on the whole is a good piece of software to manage your wallpapers.

Download Wallpaper Master Pro 2.16 in Softonic

Do you get bored frequently of your desktop background or wallpaper? If variety is your thing - and they say variety is the spice of life - then this might be for you.

Any Wallpaper works by allowing you to set up a list of folders containing your favorite images that the program will rotate through on your desktop. Any Wallpaper lets you change the background when you decide, every set number of hours or minutes or at a random timescale of your choosing. The program isn't very flexible in terms of the formats it supports but it does handle BMP, JPEG and PNG files. It can automatically search wallpaper folders (including subfolders), search through random or sequential selections of wallpapers and add a wallpaper change on Windows startup. The program also offers additional wallpaper positions that allow you to fit backgrounds horizontally and vertically but it also auto detects the best size and position according to your screen size.

A very useful little program for all those that get bored with same old desktop background every day but needs to support more formats.

Download Any Wallpaper 1.1.1 in Softonic

UltraMon is a utility for multi-monitor systems, designed to increase productivity and unlock the full potential of multiple monitors.

Features:

• Efficiently move windows and maximize windows across the desktop
• Manage more applications with the Smart Taskbar
• Control application positioning with UltraMon Shortcuts
• Multi-monitor support for desktop wallpapers and screen savers
• Mirror your main monitor to secondary monitors for a presentation

Download UltraMon 3.0.3 Beta in Softonic

PicPerk is an image viewer and editor that supports most common graphic formats, including JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PCX, WMF, and TGA. The application enables you to open a specific image file and also enables you to open a folder and easily view and edit it. Along with the usual assortment of file operations, such as convert, copy, move, rename, delete, and print, PicPerk features thumbnails and full-screen viewing, zoom functions, and 33 image-edition effects, including crop, resize, and red-eye removal. In addition, PicPerk features tools to display slide shows, to set and remove the desktop wallpaper, and to associate file types with it.

Download PicPerk 7.0 in Softonic

There are many programs that can automatically refresh your desktop wallpaper but an increasing number are turning to Flickr to do so.

Fleace is one of the most discreet because it simply runs automatically at your system startup then terminates. Most other wallpaper changers minimize to the System Tray which can hog your RAM or use valuable resources but not Fleace.

Fleace chooses images at random based on Flickr tags that you specify, and usually it throws up some pretty interesting results. However, it can also display some real rubbish and occasionally, retrieval of the images can use up system resources, if only for a moment anyway. However, it does give you a preview Windows so you can choose whether to accept an image before it's used on your desktop.

Fleace is a really useful desktop wallpaper changer than takes advantage of the huge Flickr database without taking advantage of your system resources.

Download Fleace 0.2 in Softonic

EarthView is a dynamic desktop wallpaper and screensaver, which displays beautiful views of the earth with daylight and night shadows. It produces colorful, high quality, high resolution images for every screen resolution - even beyond 1600x1200. The program supports map and globe views, urban areas, city lights, atmospheric effects, clouds, local time display and much more.

EarthView supports different maps that show our planet earth in different ways, like photographic or artistic. Many options allow total customization of all view parameters. EarthView has won many awards for its absolutely breathtaking images.

Main features:

• High detail view of the earth
• Day and night view
• Atmospheric effects
• Urban areas and city lights
• Clouds (internet download possible)
• Map and globe projection
• Several beautiful maps to choose from
• Location and local time of more than 3000 cities worldwide
• Wallpaper and screen saver support
• Multiple monitor support
• Many options for full customization

Download EarthView 3.9.2 in Softonic

If you work with two monitors you probably have some trouble with finding the right wallpapers for them and also with managing both of them properly.

With DisplayFusion these problems will be over. This neat tool makes double monitor handling much easier by providing you with a single interface where you can select new background images for your two screens, adjust the way they appear on the monitor and even look for more wallpapers on the web thanks to its Flickr integration.

DisplayFusion is very easy to use because it displays the wallpapers just as they'll appear on the actual monitors. Also, there's a wide array of options to adjust the photo size, position and aspect ratio. The program features a wallpaper timer as well, with which you can schedule an automatic wallpaper rotation – but unfortunately this only works in the Pro version.

One last tip: if you'd like to have more dual wallpapers to use in your two-monitor installation, have a look at Dual Screen Wallpapers, a wallpaper website specializing in widescreen images for two – or even more - monitors.

With DisplayFusion you can easily manage and customize wallpapers in two or more monitors, but if you want more extended functionality you'll have to switch to the Pro version.

Download DisplayFusion 2.1.1 in Softonic

Bitpim allows you to transfer and edit data from your mobile device to your computer and back. The application works with most CDMA phones but will interact best with specific models from brands like LG, Samsung or Motorola.

Once your phone is connected to your computer simply select the option to synchronize the device. A little pop-up window will allow you to select what data to choose from your phone. It normally lists everything, from your calendar to contacts and messages to music and wallpapers. Transferring is fairly quick.

Once the data is uploaded to the Bitpim program you can edit it and make any changes. Send it back to your device and Bitpim will ask you whether you want to replace or add the information.

I did find Bitpim's interface a little sparse and didn't really like how it opened numerous windows at startup.

Bitpim will not always work properly via Bluetooth, so its best to connect your mobile phone via a USB cable.

Need to transfer and edit data from your mobile device to your computer? Bitpim should get the job done.

Download BitPim 1.0.6 in Softonic

Vista Manager is a powerful software tool to tweak, optimize, maintain and tune up your Windows Vista, it bundles more than 20 different utilities in one. It will help your system to be stable, fast, secure and personal.

Information

Get detailed system and all hardware information on your system; show all detailed information of running processes and threads on your machine; Vista Manager offers 1-clicking and cleans your system automatically.

Optimizer

Tweak your system to improve windows startup and shutdown speed; tweak your hardware to increase system speed and performance.

Cleaner

Find out which files or folders engross your disk space and shown with chart; Find and clean junk files to increase Hard Disk space; Duplicate Files Finder can scan your computer for files with the same size, name and modification time; Registry Cleaner can easily checks your registry and repair incorrectly linked registry entries, automatically remove invalid entries; Registry Defrag rebuilds and re-indexs your registry to reduce application response time and registry access time.

Customization

Control what is started on Windows startup; edit context menus of mouse Right-Clicking; customize system desktop, menus, toolbar and notifications settings; automatically change your desktop wallpaper on background.

Security

You can improve desktop, menus, Windows logon securities, and enable numerous hidden performance options of system, disable system updates and error reports; hide and restrict to access drives, specify which applications are not allowed to be executed on your computer; encrypt/decrypt and shred files, change the location of system folders; Privacy Protector can maintain your personal privacy by eliminating the tracks that you leave behind; create lots of randomization password once.

Network

Optimize your Internet connection speed, manage all shares items; tweak your Internet Explorer easily.

Download Vista Manager 1.5.6 in Softonic

Active WallPaper is an intelligent wallpaper manager with a flexible calendar and programmable alarms.

Unlike of many similar programs, Active WallPaper never distort your pictures. Many options and parameters, like Maximum deformation's factor and enlargement rate, give you always the best result on the screen.

With Active WallPaper, you will also be able, to write notes in the calendar and then define an alarm for them. Don't forget appointments and birthdays ever again!

Download Active WallPaper 1.07 in Softonic

Do you get bored of your background wallpaper? John's Background Switcher periodically changes the background image on your computer to ensure it's always looking fresh.

John's Background Switcher allows you to configure when you want to change the background (such as every hour or every day) and you can specify which pictures to use in a number of ways. For example, one way is to select a list of specific pictures on your computer. Alternatively, you can direct John's Background Switcher to point at a particular folder such as 'My Pictures' and it will select random pictures from there.

It doesn't stop there though. John's Background Switcher also allows you to use Flickr to choose pictures by person, tags, sets or just randomly. There are several options that allow you to customize the look of images, such as by narrowing down the pictures or increasing the quality of those chosen.

John's Background Switcher is a simple but effective way to choose different backgrounds from a huge range of sources.

Download John's Background Switcher 3.5 in Softonic

These days there are so many more things you can do with your photographs than just putting them in albums, which are then stored in the loft. Software such as Microsoft AutoCollage allows you to get more creative with your images.

It may look very simple when you first launch the application, but actually, a lot of research and development has gone into Microsoft AutoCollage. The project is an advanced computer vision and imaging program that gathers a selection of your photos and knits them together seamlessly to produce eye-catching collages.

The level of automation in Microsoft AutoCollage means that you don't really have to lift a finger. You just select the folder you want the program to collect the photos from, choose how many images you want incorporated into the collage using the slider, then click 'Create'. You can then save, email or even set the picture as your background wallpaper, directly from within AutoCollage.

The technology in Microsoft AutoCollage is certainly very impressive, particularly the face detection element, which automatically picks out peoples heads, allowing you to draw attention to these. If anything though, I felt AutoCollage was a little too hands-off as there are no real image editing tools for you to refine your collages yourself, or add text, frames, etc. What's more, there were a few bugs that cropped up in testing, such as when setting the image as a desktop in XP.

Microsoft AutoCollage is a powerful collage-rendering tool, it's just a shame it doesn't give you more control over the finished output.

Download Microsoft AutoCollage 2008 1.0.2008.0716 in Softonic

Getting copyright free desktop wallpaper is sometimes not easy, with those available often having time limits or requiring fees for permanent use.

TyphoonWallpaper, however, is a free tool that offers access to hundreds of high resolution wallpaper images. TyphoonWallpaper allows you to select a range of images that it will later cycle through automatically while you are using your PC so that you'll always have a fresh desktop.

What's particularly nice about TyphoonWallpaper is the fact that the images are not only incredibly high definition but it also supports dual monitors meaning you can have alternative desktops on different monitors attached to your PC. This even extends to three monitors connected - great for video editors. The wallpapers don't contain adware although they do feature links to try and lure you to buy more products from the developers but it's a small price to pay for some great images.

There might not be many images to choose from when compared to other desktop wallpaper sites but TyphoonWallpaper offers great images on as many monitors as you need to cover.

Download TyphoonWallpaper 1.00 in Softonic

Sometimes having just one single desktop image is not enough. This is the right moment to use Desktop Takeover.

Desktop Takeover enables you to display several photos on your desktop, embedding them right onto your current wallpaper. Simply select the images from any folder on your PC and drag and drop them on the program's interface.

You can then arrange and resize them as you like, though I must say the resizing tool doesn't work very well. The final result obviously looks better when displayed over a neutral image, rather than a highly detailed wallpaper.

The images used in Desktop Takeover can be either static or turned into channels, which means they rotate according to a user-defined period of time. It's a nice way to show off your best shots, don't you think? Also, whenever you grow tired of your multiple-photo desktop background, you can go back to the regular wallpaper from the program itself. Strangely enough, the wallpaper appears then as tiled.

If you ever wanted to be able to use more than one wallpaper on your desktop, you should definitely give Desktop Takeover a try.

Download Desktop Takeover 1.0 in Softonic

RegToy is a small application that enables you to tweak a variety of hidden settings in Windows XP, customize your system and improve its performance.

The tweaks offered in the program are conveniently organized into categories. You can also search for an specific tweak by using keywords in RegToy's built-in search tool. Besides tweaking, you'll be able to remove invalid registry keys, change your wallpaper according to a scheduled period of time and clean your hard drive, amongst other utilities.

Download RegToy 0.7.2.1 in Softonic

If you get easily bored of your desktop or your desktop background, Dream Wallpaper is a free and easy-to-use solution that changes your computer desktop wallpaper.

With Dream Wallpaper, the developer has left 80,000 high-quality free wallpapers at your disposal, ranging on themes from Movies to Stars, Nature, Cartoons, Art, Animal and Games. Dream Wallpaper automatically cycles through your wallpaper too, so that you have a different image every day if you want.

Alternatively, if you don't like the selection on offer at the developer website, you can use your own images and Dream Wallpaper will cycle through the wallpapers automatically. The selection of images on the developer website is truly outstanding including high-quality images and even widescreen options. However, there don't seem to be many tweaks that you can perform such as adding fade-in and fade outs to changes but this is no big drawback.

Dream Wallpaper is an excellent solution for those that can't be bothered changing their wallpaper manually and want something that spices up their desktop a bit.

Download Dream Wallpaper 1.2 in Softonic

Photo Collage is a full featured, easy-to-use application with which you can create beautiful photo compositions in no time. No technical skills required!

The program contains just about anything you need you create the collage – that is, everything except images themselves. The featured material includes background images, frames, clipart, borders and masks, all of them is such a large and colorful variety that you'll find it hard to choose just one. Besides, the program is extraordinarily easy to use: simply drag and drop the different elements of your collage on the interface, resize and rearrange them any way you want with your mouse and you're pretty much done. It's like scrapbooking, but without scissors and glue.

The only drawback I found to this great app is the fact that some frames don’t blend with the background properly, meaning they show a white border around the frame instead of being transparent. Also, I'd like to be able to save my work in other formats (HTML, EXE) rather than just as an image file, but at least I have a few graphic formats to choose from.

Photo Collage enables you to create amazing collages with your digital pictures, but only save them as image files.

Download iFoxSoft Photo Collage 2.06 in Softonic

Fractal Forge is an application written in Delphi that lets you easily explore the branches of the Mandelbrot set. If you use Fractal Forge generated images you must acknowledge it. Features include:

• Export images, with JPG, PNG or BMP format
• Create and edit your favorite colors sequences or import
• Fractint Palettes
• Avi creations to document your fractal tours
• Print Poster-size image tiling smaller ones
• Julia and Orbits floating windows
• Post-processing graphic filters
• Wallpaper exports
• Several generating and coloring formulas coded in assembler
• Supports up to 4 CPU
• Print Poster-size image tiling smaller ones
• Full screen mode
• Help and tutorial included

Download Fractal Forge 2.8.2 in Softonic

I don't know about you, but I quickly grow tired of a Windows appearance. This is why I was happy to find MyColors, a simple theme manager with which you can completely customize the way Windows looks.

MyColors is another product from the Stardock company, which seems to have specialized in customizing software. MyColors features a sleek interface divided into several tabs, from which you can manage your themes, adjust the program's settings and select the wallpaper, among other options.

MyColors includes a few themes and allows you to easily download a few more from the Stardock website. Be aware though that only a few of them are free, while the most attractive ones are only available after paying 20 bucks.

The best thing about MyColors is how easy it is to install new themes. Simply click on the "Apply" button and wait for it to complete the process. Also, going back to Windows standard appearance is as easy as re-installing the Windows standard theme from MyColors.

If you'd like to give Windows a completely new look, you should give MyColors a go, although the theme selection is not precisely very wide.

Download MyColors in Softonic