Showing posts with label Desktop Fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Desktop Fun. Show all posts

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Create Your Own Windows DreamScene with Windows Live Movie Maker


For some users, changing Windows desktop wallpaper to a personal photo is one of their first tasks after a new install. Today, instead of using a photo, we’ll look at how to create a personal video with Windows Live Movie Maker and then set it as a Windows DreamScene.

Installation:-
Download and install Windows Live Movies Maker. The software itself comes bundled as part of Windows Live Essentials. However, you don’t have to install any of the programs you may not want. You’ll find the download link below.
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On the You’re almost done screen, make sure to uncheck boxes for any unwanted options before hitting Continue.
 
Open Windows Live Movie Maker and add your video clip by selecting the Add videos and photos button on the Home tab, or by dragging and dropping the clip onto the storyboard.
First thing we will do is edit our video by clipping out unwanted sections. You can navigate through the video by dragging the slider on the storyboard, the slider under the Preview window, or one frame at a time with the Next frame / Previous frame buttons.
You can remove unwanted portions two ways. Split the video and delete sections, or Trim the video and keep the area within the trim. To Split the video into sections, move the preview slider to the location in the video clip where you’d like to split it, and select Split.
Select that unwanted section and click Delete.
If you want to “Trim” the video and keep the area within the trim, select the Trim button on the ribbon.
Drag the sliders below the preview windows to select the are you wish to keep. The area outside the sliders is removed from the movie. The area inside is the section that is kept in the movie. Since our DreamScene will be looping repeatedly, try to trim the beginning and end of the video in a way to make playback as seamless as possible.
Audio
If you’d like to remove or reduce the background audio, select the Edit tab, then the Video volume button. Move the slider all the way to the left to mute all sounds.
You can add music to the clip if you’d like. Click the Add music button on the Home tab and select Add music.
Note: If you want to add music and don’t want to audio from the video itself, mute the audio before adding the music.
You’ll see the music track added to your project on the storyboard. You can fade the music in and out by selecting the options on the ribbon.
 
When you are finished, you’re ready to output you video. Select the icon at the top left, then select Save movie and click one of the options. Since we are using our video for desktop wallpaper, selecting Standard, widescreen, or one of the HD options (if your recorded in high definition) is best. All video are exported as WMV files and thus will work as DreamScenes. 
Enable DreamScene
Now, we are ready to set our video as wallpaper. First need to install a little application called DreamScene Activator. This free portable utility enables DreamScene in both 32 & 64 bit versions of Windows 7. Once we have it enabled, we can output the WMV file we created in Windows Live Movie Maker as desktop wallpaper.
Download and extract the Windows 7 DreamScene Activator. You’ll find the download link below. Once extracted, you’ll need to run the application as administrator. To do so, right-click on the .exe and select Run as administrator.
Click the Enable DreamScene button. This will restart Windows Explorer.
After DreamScene is enabled, right-click on your WMV file and select Set as Desktop Background.
And enjoy your Windows DreamScene.
 
If the text under your icons is is darkened out, right click on the desktop and select Personalize.
Then select Desktop Background.
  
Select Fill as your Picture position and Save before exiting. You’ll need to restart your DreamScene after these changes.
Now you’ll be able to read your icons and enjoy the show. When you’ve had your fill of your DreamScene, simply switch back to your old wallpaper.
 
Conclusion
This is a really cool way to bring action to your windows desktop while adding some of your own creative touch. You don’t need a long or action-packed video. A short and simple video that loops easily is ideal. You may want to try something like waves rolling in at the beach, a local stream, or a fire in a fireplace. You also don’t need to use Windows Live Movie Maker to create your video. However, the video file you use must be WMV or MPG. Have you created your own DreamScene? Let us know in the comments.
If you are new to Windows Live Movie Maker you might want to check out our detailed review of WLMM.


Windows 7 Logon Background Changer


This cool app is free, Open Source, and lets you change the wallpaper on the Windows 7 Logon screen. It doesn’t require installation, and won’t change any of the system files. The download is a small zip file that contains an executable you can run from a flash drive, and also an installer in the Setup folder if you choose to install it.
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After launching Background changer, you can browse through the standard Windows backgrounds to get an idea of how it will look.
 
If you don’t want to use the standard Windows backgrounds, you can add your own folder of images.
After you’ve selected the background you want, click on the Apply button in the upper right hand corner.
Click Yes on the authorization screen.
Click Yes to User Account Control if it comes up.
The wait a bit while the background is applied.
 
Now you can log off to see how the new background will look when you or another user signs in. 
There are some different settings you can select like resetting back to the default pictures folder, preventing other users from changing the background, and adjust shadows.
Conclusion
There are several apps out there that will tweak the logon background, but this one from Julien Manici is one of the better ones that I’ve found. It’s easy to use and has a nice amount of features for tweaking the background. If you like to tweak and customize your Windows 7 interface, you’ll definitely want to take a look at this app.

Bump Your Desktop Into 3D With BumpTop


Your desktop doesn’t have to be a boring graveyard for lost and forgotten files anymore! Transform it with BumpTop into 3D desktop that help you keep organized. Like a real desk. Create the desktop that suits your needs and style.
There’s nothing about the installation, you just keep on pressing “Forward” and you are done. When you launch BumpTop for the first time, you’ll be taken in tutorial to show you how to use BumpTop efficiently, it doesn’t last more than a minute so make sure you watch it.

Features:

Right after the tutorial you’ll see you shiny new 3D desktop. Let’s start using the new desktop by learning  some basics.

Right-Click Options:

You right-click menu is now replaced by BumTop’s menu, but you can still access your normal menu by choosing more.

Piles:

You can make piles of files, photos and folders just like how you do in real life. You can do this by selecting them and drag across the pile icon that appears without letting go of the mouse as described below:

Walls:

You can pin stuff to the walls, like photo frames or TO-DO notes and when you want to have better view of the wall, simply double-click it.

Setting Window:

BumpTop comes with plenty of setting you can choose from including the infinite desktop mode that allows you to have no boundaries or fixed size for your desktop.

Themes:

The best thing in BumpTop is you can customize it with themes. It makes you feel like you are in a different room or went to somewhere else! You can download themes or you can create your own room.