My Better Desktop

My Better Desktop lets you create custom wallpapers with pictures from your hard drive, an online photo album, or a Webcam. The program runs from the system tray and is fairly easy to use.

The layout designer allows you to drag and drop your own photos onto a mock-up of your wallpaper, resize them (to some extent), and move them around. You can add slide shows or Webcams and also import other user-created desktops from the My Better Desktop site and share your own desktops with others. To display Webcam feeds and other online content, however, you need to register the software and obtain an account with My Better Desktop.

This demo version does not expire, but any desktop that you create has a large "Please Support Independent Software Developers" notice imprinted on it, and you cannot import content from the Web. One warning, however: The trial version that I tested ran so slowly on my Windows XP Pro laptop that it ultimately crashed. Be sure to test the software on your own system before paying for the $20 license.

--Kim Saccio-Kent