The photos above were taken by me. The free Panorama program switches my desktop background every half-hour for me.

Rotating Wallpaper
via
Panorama

Every once in a while, you run across a piece of freeware on the Internet that makes you say, "Wow, this is free?"

Shaun Ivory at www.ivory.org created Panorama, an exceptional Windows 95/98 program that will rotate your wallpaper as often as you'd like. I personally have saved 20 different wallpapers, and every half-hour, a new wallpaper appears on my screen. Every time I show this to a friend, they ask where they can download it.

Keep in mind that this is not a screensaver. This is a wallpaper program that actually changes your desktop's background. The photos above are some screenshots of some of my backgrounds.

Listed below are step-by-step instructions on how to use this program, written for a beginner. If you're an expert, of course, you can skip through much of what is below.

Pre-Step: Very important. Please print this page before starting. There will come times when you can't keep going to your browser during certain parts of the installation. You'll need the printout.

1. Create a folder on your hard drive. Call the folder "Wallpaper" (without the quotation marks, of course). If you know how to create a folder on your hard drive, then skip ahead to Step #10. If you don't know how to create a folder, go to Step #2.

2. To create a folder on your hard drive, double-click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop.

3. Then double-click on your hard-drive icon, which is usually the icon that says "C Drive (C:)"

4. A new window should open.

5. Go to "file" in the top, left-hand side of the new screen.

6. After clicking on "file," scroll down to "new." Then choose "folder."

7. A folder should appear. Its name will be "New Folder."

8. Click ONCE on the name "New Folder." Don't click on the icon itself. Click on the name.

9. Wait 3 seconds. Then type "Wallpaper" and hit the "enter" key on your keyboard.

10. Okay, you've now created a new folder called "Wallpaper" on your hard drive.

11. Before we can install the Panorama program, we must get some wallpaper ready for it. Keep in mind that for the best results, you need to have wallpaper that is the right size. Panorama will stretch wallpaper for you but if the wallpaper isn't the right size to begin with, the stretching process can warp the picture.

12. So let's go ahead and get three wallpapers downloaded into the wallpaper folder. You can always delete the wallpaper later when you choose other ones. (By the way, Panorama has no limit on how many wallpapers you can have.)

13. Go to http://www.ronald-dupont.com/trip2w.htm. Wait for the entire photo to load up. This is important. Wait for the entire photo to load up.

a. Click on the photo with your right mouse button.
b. A small window will appear. Choose "save picture as" or "save image as."
c. Another window will pop up. At the top of the small window will be the words "Save in." To the far right of that will be a small black arrow pointing down. Click on that.
d. Click on your hard drive - usually the "c" drive.
e. Then scroll through the list until you see that "Wallpaper" folder you created.
f. Double-click on it. It will open.
g. Click on "save."
h. Okay, you've saved your first photo. Let's save two more photos.

15. Go to http://www.ronald-dupont.com/cyp1w.htm. Repeat steps A-G in #13 above.

16. Taaa-daaaaa. You now have three wallpapers waiting to be used. You're now ready to download "Panorama."

17. Okay, in order to use Panorama, you'll need to have Winzip. If you have it, go to the next step. If you don't have Winzip, go http://www.winzip.com to download and install it. It's free. (Get the evaluation version.) Once you've installed it, go to the next step.

18. Okay, so now you have Winzip. Now you need to download Panorama. When you're asked where you want to save it, remember where you saved it. (The desktop is the most convenient place.)

19. Okay, go to http://www.ronald-dupont.com/panorama.zip to download it. (It's only 491K, so it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to download.)

20. Once it is downloaded, go to where you saved it.

21. Double-click on "panorama.zip."

22. When Winzip opens (you may have to click on "I agree" if you're still using the evaluation version), go ahead and click on "Install."

23. Winzip will tell you that it will put the files in a temporary folder. Click "OK."

24. The installation process will start. A welcome screen will appear. Click "next."

25. The next screen will select a destination directory. Click "next."

26. The next screen will have you select places to put the Panorama Icon. Choose "Start Menu" and "Start-Up Folder." After you've chosen, click "next."

27. It's says you're ready to install. Click "next."

28. Taaaa-daaaa. You'll get a window saying that installation is completed. Click "finish."

29. Go back to "winzip" and click the "ok" button.

30. Then close "winzip" completely (by clicking on the "x" in the top right-hand corner of the winzip window).

31. Now let's open Panorama. To do this, click on your "Start" button in the bottom, left-hand corner of your screen. Then scroll up to "Programs."

32. Another window to the right should open. Scroll through that until you come across "Panorama." Keep in mind that it may not be in alphabetical order and may be at the very bottom of the list.

33. Once you find Panorama, click on "Panorama 32" to the right.

34. Panorama will open. It should look like the graphic below.

35. Click on "edit." Choose "add files."

36. Use the dropdown menu to go to the Wallpaper folder you created on your hard drive. Once in the wallpaper folder, hold down the "ctrl" button on your keyboard while clicking on all three wallpaper files in the folder.

37. Then click the "open" button.

38. You have now saved the wallpapers into Panorama.

39. Now go to "Options" at the top of the Panorama screen. Then go to "Preferences."

40. Under the view tab, make sure the following features have checkmarks next to them.

• Minimize to system tray
• Start in system tray
• Show toolbar
• Show tooltips

42. Under the options tab, make sure the "in sequence" is checked.

43. Under the options tab, make sure the "change wallpaper at start-up" is checked.

44. Under the desktop key, make sure "scale all images" is checked.

45. Under the JPEG key, make sure "no dithering" is checked. (If you have a really, really old monitor, you can check "dither to 256 colors." But that will make a lot of wallpaper look bad.)

46. Leave the "Hot Keys" tab alone. Now click the "OK" button.

47. Presto!!!!! You're done. Simply double-click on trip2w.jpg in the Panorama window to begin your session.

48. Minimize Panorama by clicking on the "minus" sign in the upper right-hand corner of its window.

49. Restart your computer. Once your computer has restarted, a new wallpaper should appear and the Panorama symbol should appear in your tool tray at the bottom, right-hand side of your screen.. The Panorama symbol looks like this:

50. If you double-click on the icon in your tool tray, Panorama will open, letting you add or delete photos.

48. You can go to http://www.ronald-dupont.com/wallpaper.htm to add more wallpaper.

48. And if you ever find any other wallpaper on the Internet, simply repeat steps 13 A-G, and then steps 33-35.