this is really amazing to work on this.this is very comfortable to use.but the problem is i had downloaded this to my computer on the day of ur offer.i need to become a registered user. do i have to pay for that.

downloaded and installed fine but this program alone did consume 1/3 of my computers resources when the developer states "The wallpaper animation requires minimum system resources". It's not the case for me so it's a thumbs down and was uninstalled.

The software installed with no issues, However

The program is really limited in it's functionality

The animated background (supplied) can not be changed. I created several with the program and tried every combination of load animated background - Nothing worked. Note to programmers - when uninstalling windows said there was an illegal wallpaper address

Also I tried a few other tricks - The program is almost like SPYWARE in it's lack of ability not to phone home on the internet.

I lost my wireless signal, and the program was really annoying at not allowing me to run with out an internet connection.

I'm sure their well intentions were to assist the user with one line help ...... but you can't shut it off.

Also not if the program allowed creation of a EXE or SCR or animated gif. It would be a lot more usefull even with it;s limited capabilities

So to sum up

limited animation abilities
animated background doesn't allow change from default
basically doesn't work

Thumbs way down

Dear #21: I am glad you are so sorry for all the inconvenience. It is now August 10th, and when I turn on my computer, I get that infamous reminder, over and over again, to register my Animated Wallpaper Maker, that I downloaded 3 times on the 8th because it wouldn't register. I restarted the program numerous times on the 8th, to see if it would register. But no. None of what you said in your comment is true. Installation and restarting the software should be enough, but you fail to state that your computer needs to be turned off and restarted for a chance at activation, before the end of the day. Because it was free, this is not a case of fraud, but once again, thanks for nothing.

To those that got error message as #7 above, simply find and
install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package and
it should work fine then.

If all you want is a wallpaper cycling program, why not use the free Microsoft one? I had it for ages on my XP machine and it was great.

Winter Wallpaper Changer for Windows XP

Just to let you know I installed Animated wall paper and followed the instructions and it says activiated. However when you first go to run it, it says trail version and you must register it or it will stop working. Did anyone else have this problem. My understanding about the Giveaway programs is that if you dl and install it before the time period ends then it is registered. Please leave comment if it must be registered some other way besides what the instructions says.
By the way when do the games start again. I know that they have not been offered during summer vacation. Curious that the people who give the games away go on vacation but the people(companies) that give the programs away don't? I was wondering why it is different?
Thank You
Judy

As was mentioned by another:
downloaded and installed and activated fine on my XP Pro SP2 system with a 98meg video card, when trying to work with a picture after saving it this is the error message I get when trying to view the picture ….this sample functionality is not available on your Direct3D hardware accelerator switching to reference rasterizer,a software device that implements the entire Direct3D feature set, but runs very slowly…….. IN OTHER WORDS THIS PROGRAM DID NOT WORK :-(

oy. screensavers were worth more (in non-burn-in) and less (in power consumed) when more people had old CRT monitors. Newer CRT's use less (lots) power when on, and many there is *no* difference in power draw between standby and off. LCD's it depends on the backlight, but still- if you want to keep an eye on a computer to make sure it hasn't crashed or frozen, there are perfectly good reasons for screensavers.

Some of us actually work on these beasts.

Animated wallpaper, well, the concept is interesting but only for adding data to the wallpaper- and that sucks cpu. Oh, well.

Installed, activated, runs with no problems on XP sp3, 2 gb ram, Athlon dual core 2.2, Radeon X1650.

I got a fiery lake in a snowstorm in a rainforest. And lots of fish. And desktop icons with the old background color blocked around them.

When you guys actually finish making this program, please let us know.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Won't work on my computer even i have install direct 3D it still wont work

For like #59 ranting about screensavers, this program makes animated "wallpapers," not screensavers. Pay attention.

I'm using XP-Pro SP2.
I ran the activation.exe included with the software from GOTD.
If I attempt to register, it shows that there is already a license key that I assume was entered by the activation.exe.

There is no "Stretch" button as shown in their online instructions.

I can't change to an animated wallpaper that I created with their software. I click SET WALLPAPER but nothing happens.

When I go to Start/All Programs/Animated Wallpaper Maker
... "Turn On Desktop Animation" is an option.
However, the sample wallpaper of a cityscape with moving water is already my desktop wallpaper. It's already ON. There's no way to turn it OFF. I can't get rid of it to change back to everyday XP wallpaper. The only way I could get rid of this software without uninstalling it was to use MS Process Explorer to "Kill Task Tree" this software. XP wallpaper then appeared on my desktop.

After I installed it, I couldn't use DVDFab to back-up my DVDs. DVDFab rips my DVD but then hangs instead of writing to my other optical drive. The total time ticks off but the burn process time and time remaining remains at zero. Further attempts resulted in DVDFab reporting a sync error. Other attempts resulted in no disc detected in my burn drive. I tried to use the same drive to read and to burn but it still didn't see a blank disc in the drive to burn to.

I'm trying DVDFab now that I've "Kill Process Tree" this software.
I'm using one drive to read and a second to burn to.

according to the info the System Requirements is Windows Vista and Windows XP
I installed it and got this msg when clicking on the program

D3D8 Application
This sample requires functionality that is not available on your Direct3D hardware accelerator

switching to the reference rasterizer; a software device that implements the entire Direct3D feature set, but runs very slowly.

Disappointing. Installed and automatically adjusted my graphics card settings without my consent. Had to boot up in safe mode just to uninstall it.

program hijacked my desktop and couldn't get the old desktop back using control panel. Hate programs that hijack your computer. Had to uninstall program (for good). Major thumbs down.

left background behind icons blurry and I cant move them

So what does this do that the Microsoft's Wallpaper Toy doesn't do... for free AND with using very few system resources?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/learnmore/wallpapertoy.mspx

Great software selection! I have been watching for something like this. Just installed it but have some geeky ideas going through my head on what will be my first animated wallpaper.

I tried it and set it to the sample wall paper and it would not leave no way could I disable it and if you right click properties on the desk top it will give you the properties of the wall paper , and no way to access the settings for desktop It just sat there and no matter what I tried it would not leave so I uninstalled it and used revo uninstaller and got it all . nice soft ware for some, but not me . it was to much of a hassle to be good for this one . I will keep checking back because every now and then there is very good and useful soft ware and you can't put up good stuff all the time I am surprised this web site has lasted as long as it has , not anything bad about the web site but you will run out of free stuff after a while . I think the staff has done an excellent job of keeping it clean and free .

Works good but stays a trial version. The activation isnt working and the register button just takes me to a page that asks me to buy and pasting the old code into the new code box does nothing.

I hate to say it, but this program is pretty crappy. It only comes with 3 different animations, and they don't animate well. The desktop can only be animated when the program is running. I also couldn't find a way to stop the animated desktop WITHOUT closing the program.

The program's window was also screwed up because it didn't agree with my 1024x768 resolution. Buttons were disappearing and reappearing when I hovered my mouse over them.

All-in-all, not very fun, and I'm going to uninstall it.

I wouldn't pay a penny for this software. I can't believe how limited it is. Oh well, gave it a shot. Thanks.

I wish I could comment on the program but my computer locked up everytime I tried to run it. Apparently it uses lots of rams and runs constantly in the background.

installed on Vista but then didn't do anything else, the controls were frozen. Online help said "open the program and make an animated wallpaper out of any photo" not much help.
Uninstalled it and it left a bunch of crap on my desktop and a directory that my system couldn't remove. Sorry, can't say I liked this, more of a headache to get rid of it.

DIDNT WORK PROPERLY VISTA 64BIT PREMIUM HOME EDITION.ICONS HELD THE OLD DESKTOP. IF I UNCLICKED SHOW ICONS IT LOOKED NICE THO DIDNT ACTIVATE FULL VERSION, SAID ACTIVATED THEN POPPED UP AS TRIAL AND WANTED ME TO PURCHASE. LOOKED COOL , REALLY COULDA LIKED IT THO NOT INTO HEADACHES SO I DELETED/UNINSTALLED IT.

Program not that easy to use. Kept having pop up to register. Initial start up said it was a trial version. This is the third program I have downloaded from Give-away-of the day and turned around and deleted. Three strikes and you are out. I am done with the site.

Not worth even a penny :-S

Before you start bragging around that you're "giving" a free edition of a software "supposedly" worth 29$ maybe it would be a good idea to make it REALLY worth that much.

Come on ! Get serious!

ONLY THREE EFFECTS????

You've got to be kidding!!!

Did I miss something here?
Is there a magic switch I didn't see to "as by magic" add AT LEAST a dozen effects? (and still I wouldn't pay that price for a dozen effects)

Give us something that's gonna satisfy our hunger and make us be satisfied to have paid such an amount. Sure "it's only 24$", but it's just simply not worth anything with barely any options options included.

What are all these white boxes around my icons? Searched everywhere for how to get rid of that look, as it pointless to view a pretty wallpaper that is covered by my icons. I can't get rid of my computer functionality in order to view this neat wallpaper... This has wasted a lot of time to try and figure out.

This is just something that is going to waste valuable system resources. I mean, who really wants to sit around and stare at your PC's wallpaper anyways?!?

Great dissapointment: after installation on Windows XP this product still requires registration despite activation made. I wasn't able to try it, no option available. :((

This is a useful program for making some simple animated desktop backgrounds with pretty much no work at all on your part. You just import your image and choose some effects and you've got an animated desktop background. This isn't something I would generally buy though, but that's just because it isn't something a really need, but it's a nice add on.

However, under Windows Vista (should have seen problems coming), the desktop icons have obvious boxes around them, which is not ok. Everything installed fine and activated fine contrary to some of the comments so far, and there's probably some desktop setting I can change to fix that if I felt like it.

Overall, this is an easy to use program for making some basic animated desktop backgrounds. It doesn't use up too many resources from what I've seen, but since I never really look at my desktop anyways, I'm probably going to leave it turned off most of the time.

Just a note to all NON-users of "screen savers" :

Have a look at MonitorOffSaver in DonationCoder.com which totally turns off the screen for a maximum saving in electricity bills:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/#MonitorOffSaver
It's free, and DonationCoder has more very useful freeware applications (I even donated).

#33, Nic, none of your comment makes any sense. Save the project after you're done editing (preferably someplace other than Program Files). The tray icon lets you select which project to open. You can also exit, restoring your previous wallpaper.

#28, Treat, it sounds like you have problems with your video drivers. Or Windows, which is plenty flaky. Right-click your desktop, select Refresh.

Hmm, I can add tropical fish to pictures that well, don't really need tropical fish. Or I can make a mirror effect or set things on fire. But I can't use any file but the first one I created. Which rather sucks. So I've uninstalled. (running Windows XP on this computer. Not even bothering to try it on the others. I really only need so many tropical fish wallpapers.)

Nice Tool ...Thanks

You dodn't need to use a program like this. Windows can allready do it. Now If they made this program to make installers that we could give away- that would be fun.

It's a really stupid idea to watch screensavers when you don't work with the computer. Instead of using a screensaver let the energy management turn the monitor off to save energy!

First, was super simple to start and make up an animated background for Windows RC7. Running on a HP DV6000 laptop though, I saw the amount of CPU cycles it took to run - and this will use up a lot of memory and cpu available. On a dual AMD 1.6 Turion, I went from 9% usage on the two cpu's, to over thirty percent. The animations run flawlessly, even in 1280x800 modes with 32 bit color depth on nVidia 6100 GPU.

So if you are looking for performance, this will take a lot of CPU time away and you might just want to consider a static image. If you are looking for a great animated screen saver maker, with lots of capabilities and ease of use, this is one of the best I have seen.

i installed tried to use and had no effect, turned it off on my task bar and lost all my desktop shortcuts, uninstalled it and still no more desktop shortcuts, now im screwed, anyone have any ideas to get my shortcuts back ???????????????????????????????????????????????????

Installed, activated and ran perfectly on XP SP3. System resources basically unaffected. Some of you who comment on registration, etc., may need to log in as local administrators.
Works as announced, but as many people have commented, range of wallpaper animations is extremely limited: water mirror, underwater, fire and some rain, snow or fish. Additions not even customizable.
No effect on icons on desktop that I can see.
No offense, guys, but this really needs more bling to be worth any non-GOTD registration; I wouldn't pay $5 for it, let alone $23 and change.
Thanks anyhow.

#26 Thanks Fubar. (Sorry for late answer - had a sleep in between)
That was not the case, and also for anyone else, my ATI video drivers are right up to date. I did a system restore and will watch this page today in case the developers come up with an remedy?
Such a shame, as it added a small, but cool effect to my current wallpaper. I also noticed that the free downloads links are now working, and for anyone who is interested in buying this program, the price is $18.97 and not $23.77 as quoted above.
Any free alternative sugestions would be much appreciated, I have searched myself, but just keep coming up with this, well advertised but unworkable offering.

For those having issues with today's offer, a freeware option is Free Wallpapers Slideshow - compatible with all Windows OS.

@#4 BOB The error message says that your 98mb video card can't run the graphics in the program. Don't blame the software if your computer can't run it!

a fun toy for computers that have better than average cards.. [#4 Bob, who, "downloaded and installed and activated fine on my XP Pro SP2 system with a 98meg video card" how did you get XP on that dinosaur? ;-P ] A very resource intensive bit of software, I'd not use it on a laptop with shared memory like the Dell D830 either, It works on My Acer Aspire 8027 but the system slows perceptably. Uninstalled. Fun but not for me, the application just wasn't that great, the effects like fire kept me going for a while, but if weighed against the way my normally speedy laptop chugged away in low gear, its not a keeper for me.

Today’s GOTD reminded me of a similar desktop enhancement program I played around with until its novelty wore off (which wasn’t very long); GT Desktop. The biggest difference between the two programs were the number of features each offered the User. Because there are more features in GT Desktop, it wouldn’t be appropriate to list them all here. Anyone interested in comparing the two, feature wise, can get more information here:
http://gtdesktop.com/?opendot_page=gtripple01

Personally, I’ve stopped using wallpapers, so a spartan background with shortcut icons is what I’ve come to prefer. However, I believe desktop enhancement programs offer a less threatening way of introducing a user to the wonderful world of computer animation and graphics design. It’s certainly better than putting a fledgling in front of a Photoshop screen; there you might need to have an oxygen bottle ready to administer.

Incidentally, if you hurry over to Softpedia you can get today’s GOTD for $18.97! On sale I suppose…lol

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Other-Desktop-Enhancements/Animated-Wallpaper-Maker.shtml

Hello all,

BEFORE using GOTD Activation, PLEASE stop Animated Wallpaper on your desktop.

Activation works perfectly. This GOTD version is FULLY free. And it will not ask you to register.

Interesting enough little program, in that it is animating your wall paper rather than the more typical animation of the screen saver. No problems installing and activating it. The aquarium sample was very pretty, although I preferred watching it w/out the ripple effect. the fish were somewhat simplistic, as it was just their images that were being shifted and not a "swimming" motion as they appear in one of my aquarium screensaver programs. The Fallout3 wallpaper was grim - I can't imagine what that would do for your productivity,having to watch Washington DC Burning all day!

There are a couple small bugs having to do with the backgrounds of my desktop icons (but I can probably fix it by changing some settings).

This program is not for me, because I don't need the distraction whilst I'm working, and when I'm not, my regular Vista screensaver works fine. For people who have a need for what it does, I don't think the normal price is out of line. Thanks GAotD!

My System: HP Pavilion d5200t (running under Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit) w/4Gb RAM, NVidia GeForce 9800 GT video card w/512Mb memory.

Downloaded using Mozilla Firefox 3.5.2

Did not work for me, said that I did not have any kind of pictures that I could use. Also I have to register and buy the product. So I'm deleting the program

It easy for installation, simple in use but in general it is useless.
1. Product requires the same software to be open. You can not send it as e-mail.
2. Too restricted variation of animation.
3. Wallpaper requires lots of resources and will limited availability of the computer to process (edit) big video or photographic files.
4. Can be keep on some printer server or other not important network computer or if you have store for decorative fish or some games to live the background as display during the night, nothing more.
5. I personally uninstalled it.