Get Active (Desktop)

Find Good Active Objects to Embed

Now that you have Active Desktop up and running, it's time to add some fun stuff to your Windows desktop.

If you're looking for an all-purpose research tool, try entering the URL http://www.itools.com/research-it/research-it.html in the Location field of the New Active Desktop Item dialog box. Research-It is a handy site that contains a variety of dictionaries, a thesaurus, foreign language translators, a people search, and geographic map tools.

To embed a live Webcam object in your Active Desktop, open the New Active Desktop Item dialog box and enter the URL for the Webcam. You'll find a number of interesting links at EarthCam.com, including views of the Earth from space; feeds from aquariums, night clubs, and zoos; and images of the traffic in many U.S. cities. If you're an on-the-go commuter, you may want to check out the Etak Web site and install one of their real-time traffic maps.

Touring the Active Gallery

We skipped Microsoft's Active Desktop Gallery when we first stepped through the process of embedding objects in the desktop, but if you're online you can visit the gallery by answering Yes after clicking the New button on the Desktop Properties Web tab (in Windows 98), or by clicking the Visit Gallery button (in Windows Me/2000).

Microsoft was more zealous about keeping the Active Gallery up-to-date in the days of Internet Explorer 4, but you'll still find a number of useful and entertaining tools there, such as the well-known Investment Stock Ticker in the News category, the AudioNet Jukebox in the Entertainment category, and the 3D Java Clock and Microsoft Search Component, both in the Cool Utilities category. Add any of these items to your Active Desktop by clicking the Add to Active Desktop button next to the object in the Internet Explorer description. Couldn't be simpler, right?