So you installed Windows DreamScene through Windows Update, but where did it go? You can’t find it in the start menu anywhere, and it’s not in Program Files… Turns out that just installing it doesn’t always mean that it’s enabled.
If you encounter the same problem I did, you’ll have to also turn it on through the Windows Features menu. We’ll run through the entire installation just to be safe.
Installing in Windows Update
Open up Windows Update through the start menu, and you should see “There are Windows Ultimate Extras available for download”, so click on the “View available Extras” link.
Check all the updates (I already installed it before I remembered to screenshot it), and then click on the Install button.
Enabling DreamScene Component
Again, this step may not be required for you, but it was for me. Open up control panel and click the Programs link.
Then click on “Turn Windows features on or off”
Now you should see Windows Ultimate Extras and then Windows DreamScene in the list. Check the box, and then click OK.
It’ll tell you the features are being configured…
And then it will prompt you to reboot. Make sure you reboot at this step.
Choosing a DreamScene Wallpaper
Right-click on the Desktop and choose Personalize, and then choose Desktop Background. You’ll notice that the drop-down menu contains a number of new items for video files, including one for “Windows DreamScene Content”, which contains all of the new videos in the additional components pack.
You’ll also notice there are more options for how you can position both pictures and videos.
Now you’ve got moving pictures for your wallpaper. You can’t see it through the screenshot, but it’s animated… and useless…
If you want to pause the wallpaper, perhaps because you or somebody next to you is now having a seizure, just right-click on the desktop and choose Pause DreamScene.
This has to be one of the most useless features ever added to Windows. It spikes the CPU in my beefy laptop at a solid 15%.
Windows DreamScene is only available for people using Vista Ultimate, but don’t worry, you aren’t missing much.
One of the things in Ubuntu that has always driven me crazy is the addition of new items into the grub menu without removing the old entries that likely don’t even work anymore. I’m sure most experienced Ubuntu users already know how to do this, but here’s the method anyway.
The blank tab page in Firefox is just a plain white boring nothing – until now. Using the Stylish extension for Firefox, we can set a custom style for the page, and even embed images into the style to make it really look great.
The same programmer that created yesterday’s Tabbed Explorer plugin also has another add-in that will give you Vista-style breadcrumbs in Windows XP. This application should be really helpful for those of you that aren’t ready to switch to Windows Vista yet, but want to get some of the new features.
A popular feature in previous versions of Windows was the ability to dock a toolbar to the side of the desktop. Most people used this for an auto-hiding quick launch or address toolbar, or both.
One of my immediate thoughts when I used a Mac for the first time was: How do I add icons to the top menu? After doing some digging, I found a great application that lets you not only add icons to the menu bar, but also assign hotkeys and even run scripts.
Most of us already know to update Windows OS’s on a regular basis, either manually or by turning on Automatic Updates. One of the more overlooked Microsoft updates however is Office. One way to do this easily from an Office 2007 Word document is to click on the Office Button Word Options.
This isn’t exactly an easter egg, because it’s actually documented in Microsoft’s knowledge base, but it’s one of those features that you just weren’t expecting so it still qualifies.
I’ve been hoping for a Tabbed explorer add-on to Windows Vista ever since I made the switch, but what most of you have been talking about is the lack of an Up button like XP used to have. Reader Shawn wrote in with a solution for both of our problems: QTTabBar, an add-on for Explorer that gives you
One of the most popular topics among our readers is installing Windows XP on your new Windows Vista computer – sometimes for compatibility reasons, but also because a lot of people just don’t like Vista very much.
Wouldn’t it be cool if you could add search plugins for any search form to the Firefox Search Bar, instead of having to create the plugin yourself or wait for the site owner to stop being lazy and make one?
