All work and no play makes for a boring computer session. I work on computers all day, and I hate to be bored.
Computers should not only be fun, they should also allow a user to express his or her own personality. Webshots is a program that allows you do just that. There are screen savers and wallpaper creators galore on the Internet, but the quality and variety of Webshot's beautiful images and its ease of use make this program stand out from the crowd.
To spice up your computer, download the free Webshots Desktop at www.webshots.com. Installation is easy. To start your Webshots collection, you are asked to select a small collection of photos to transfer to your computer. The choices include animals, surfing, rock climbing, and a space collection. Once installed, these photos become the background for your computer desktop as well as your screen saver.
After installation, one of the photos will appear as the background, or wallpaper, of your Windows desktop. A small camera will also appear in the system tray at the bottom right of your Windows desktop. Click on this icon or on the Webshots icon on your desktop to set up your preferences. By default, the program cycles daily through the photos you selected, so you get a new wallpaper image each time the computer is restarted. Click on the settings tab where you will have the option of changing the automatic cycle so that the wallpaper changes every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, hour, four hours, day, week, or never. Other adjustable settings include the ability to choose transition effects, tile pictures, specify the length of time that images are viewed, show image titles, randomize image order, and add password protection. You can create some artistic wallpaper by displaying photos in black and white, add a calendar to your desktop wallpaper photo, and customize shortcut keys for starting the screensaver and changing the wallpaper. The program is easy to use and amazingly powerful in its customization capabilities.
The Webshots program also offers the ability to organize the photos that you download& . and you will download photos. With a collection of millions of photos, there are pictures for every taste. Yet, the real power of the program rests, not in the quantity, but in the remarkable quality of the photos. The animal photos seem to come alive on the screen, the flowers make it seem like spring in the dead of winter, and the scenery pictures make you feel like you are there. Part of the fun is in exploring the site for photographs that interest you. Search for shots by keyword or by theme. Collections include Flowers, Adventure Sports, Dogs and Puppies, Religion, Space, Travel, and many more.
While there are endless professional photos, users can upload their own pictures to the site as well, and it's quite interesting to see the types and variety of user pics.
The Webshots photos adjust to the size of your screen, so you can use them at any resolution. I changed the resolution of my screen, which included a beautiful floral Webshots photo. I expected the picture to be messed up, but was pleasantly surprised to see the photo correctly adjust to the new resolution without any user intervention.
The Webshots program and Web site is free. Of course, there are ads to ignore, but most are not too obnoxious. Be aware that during download you are also asked if you want to download Gator, a form filler program. Mercifully, you can simply uncheck a box to keep Gator from installing. Webshots would like you to visit their Web site every day, so after installation you will notice that the camera in the system tray flashes to remind you to download their daily photo. While the daily photos are quite attractive, I appreciated having the ability to turn off the reminders completely.
If you do like the daily photo, with or without the reminder, you simply click on the photo. It will automatically become your wallpaper and be added to your Webshots photo collection. Browse the Webshots site and download any photo or, just as easily, download an entire collection. It's nice to have two different ways to download photos.
Webshots provides online FAQs and technical support via e-mail. A Mac version is also available. Computers should be fun, and Webshots can make that happen.
