Get Bing Wallpaper for Windows Desktop With These Apps
Whatever you say about Bing as a search engine, it has gorgeous wallpapers that make the whole experience almost worth it. There are many websites where you can view the pretty pictures that Microsoft posts to Bing every day, and Microsoft even offers its own tool to make Bing wallpaper your rotating Windows background. However, you can use an even better utility .
Microsoft Bing is simple, but watermarks are ugly
To get started with Microsoft’s tiny app, download the aptly named Bing Wallpaper utility . You will see a prompt that looks like this:
Be sure to uncheck “Set Bing as my home page” and “Set Bing as my default search engine” if you don’t want this change – it’s a clever way for Microsoft to convince people to use Bing. (Clicking “No Thanks” will close the installer, so you’ll have to remove them and then click Install Now to continue.)
After installing the utility, you will see a new small Bing icon in the system tray. And you will probably also notice that the wallpaper on your desktop is completely different. Left-click on the said utility and you will get a little more information about what you are looking at, as well as the ability to change the wallpaper to something else:
You will receive one new image every day (Bing watermark and all). And if you ever wonder about all the files that Bing drops onto your computer, you can find them at this address on your hard drive:
C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\BingWallpaperApp\WPImages
It is also a great way to test and make sure the specified wallpaper looks great on your computer. I have a widescreen display, so if I don’t center them and don’t allow an annoying border, they look terrible. These are all 1920 x 1200 or 16:10 aspect ratio images, which means you might experience a little cropping depending on which display you’re using.
If that doesn’t work for you, just do what I do: hover the splash screen over this folder and use the images as a slideshow. Get the best of Bing without annoying stretching or distortion on your desktop.
Better Alternative Than Microsoft Bing Tool
If you prefer to keep your desktop background in sync with the same image Bing uses every day, without a watermark, you’ll have to use a third-party utility like Dynamic Theme . It is as easy to use as Microsoft’s utility and much more flexible. For example, you can choose more sources to change your wallpaper:
And you can apply this randomization to your desktop background or lock screen if you really want to fill your day with surprise and delight. If you select Bing or Windows Spotlight as your source, you still won’t get super-HD wallpapers (like 4K support), but that’s more Microsoft’s fault than anyone else’s. However, you don’t have to look at annoying Bing watermarks on your images, which is a big bonus.