Xearth

There are plenty of customization options for your computer, both provided by default, and found as third-party components. These can simply serve as a means of aesthetically modding your desktop, or even come with some practicality. For instance, Xearth can place a representation of Earth directly on your desktop, with various details to show.

Since it requires no installation to function, you’re free to take it for a spin as soon as download is done. This not only saves you some time and effort, but makes it possible to carry it around on a thumb drive to use on any other computer, without worrying that the health status gets affected, because registry entries remain intact.

The configuration window shows up on launch, and sent to the tray area when not used. There’s quite the variety of options you can go through, each found in individual tabs like image, viewpoint, sun, labels, display, time, shading, dots, and quakes.

Your background is replaced on the spot with the default view of Earth. It rotates according to sun movement, based on your settings as well. The projection can be orthographic, mercator, or cylindrical. You can adjust size values of the display, apply magnification, rotate, and shift on the two axis.

There’s the possibility to set a fixed viewpoint, sun-relative, or orbit. The actual Sun position can be used, or you can edit latitude and longitude for more effects. The application allows you to have popular locations around the world displayed as the planet rotates. The refresh interval is set in minutes. A custom timezone can be used, and this has an instant effect on the overall view.

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that Xearth is a cool desktop enhancement which creates an animated, cool desktop environment. Various details can be configured, including timezone, cities, and more.