Desktop Wallpaper-O-Rama

Wallpapers, the pictures that give desktops their personality, come in different shapes, sizes and, most importantly, you can find anything you want. The Internet is full of websites containing vast databases with numerous wallpapers to choose from, but only some of them have become well known for their high quality and astonishing items.

So, why don't you stop searching the Internet for the pictures you like and instead have them delivered automatically to your desktop with a push of a button? Here comes Pic-a-POD into action. This little application will relieve you from the task of searching multiple websites for the right picture for your desktop and will instantly download it without your even touching the mouse.

The application is freeware, which means you can use it for free without any time or limited functionality. This is a big plus especially for the National Geographic fans that will have the daily pic delivered straight to their desktop without accessing the website.

The interface is as simple as it gets, with concise buttons and menus created with the average Joe in mind. In the upper part, there are four tabs corresponding to the four categories of wallpapers you will get every day. Underneath them, you can view a small preview of your daily picture along with its name and size in pixels. You can easily set the current picture as your default wallpaper by clicking on it.

If you want a more compact interface, you can use the Mini button that will transform Pic-a-POD in a small window displaying only the daily pictures. In this mode, you will be able to view a small preview of the pictures and set them as your current wallpaper by picking the desired image. To return to the normal display mode, just press the Full Size button.

From the lower part of the main window, you can easily Get the picture of the day with a push of a button. If you want to download only a few pictures, you can choose the websites you like by ticking the desired checkboxes (you can choose from National Geographic, Astronomy, Earth Science and Wikipedia).

Pic-a-POD will automatically check and download the pictures of the day for each website you select every time you start it. The application can set the displayed picture as your default desktop wallpaper by pressing the Set as desktop picture button.

If you want to view or download pictures from a specific day, you can achieve this from the Choose a date option in the main window. A small pop-up will appear with a calendar that will allow you to select the date you want to view. Or you can simply press the buttons for the previous and next day to quickly browse through the daily pictures.

If you just want to change your default wallpaper with a random picture, you can do just that by pressing the Change button. Pic-a-POD will randomly select a previously downloaded picture and change your wallpaper accordingly. To delete the current desktop picture, press the button with the same name from the bottom right corner of the main window.

To view all your downloaded pictures, access the Picture Browser window from the File menu. Here, you can search for your favorite pics and quickly review old ones that you might want to put on your desktop. The files can be sorted by file name, caption, date and source to quickly find the ones you need.

In the lower part of this window, you will find five buttons as follows: Show, Set, Delete, Refresh and Done that will help you view the selected picture, set it as your default wallpaper, delete it or refresh the current list. When having finished your work, simply press the Done button to close this window.

If you ever get bored of Pic-a-POD’s looks, the program comes with a few built-in themes that will change its appearance. If you get tired of these too, simply customize the way you want it to appear via the Themes->Custom option. Here, you will be able to setup the color of the main window and the default color of the displayed text, Pic-a-POD giving you a quick preview of the changes made in a small window.

The Good

Pic-a-POD is a light and easy-to-use application that will drive away monotony from your desktop, bringing you fresh content every day. This software will automatically download daily pictures from National Geographic, Wikipedia, Astronomy and Earth Science. It has a user-friendly interface, multiple themes and comprehensive controls suitable for everyone.

The Bad

The app doesn't offer users the possibility to choose the picture position on the desktop; instead, it will setup the desired picture according to your current desktop background settings. During our tests, we found Pic-a-POD not so stable, the program crashing randomly without any warning.

The Mini Mode should have more functionality than just displaying the daily pictures to become somewhat useful. We also encountered some issues when running Pic-a-POD on Windows 7 x64; in this case, the program was not able to display any pictures in the designated window; however, this didn't happen on Windows XP.

The Truth

As a conclusion, Pic-a-POD can be a good addition to your software list bringing you fresh wallpapers every day. Apart from the occasional crashes and bugs on Windows 7 x64, Pic-a-POD surely needs some tuning to satisfy users’ requirements.

This article is also available in Spanish: Infinitosfondos de pantalla

Here are some snapshots of the application in action: