However, Windows 10 allows a wild variety of wallpaper types, including animated images and 3D effects. In fact, you can add a variety of wallpapers to Windows 10 with animations and 3D effects to give your desktop a little more visual appeal. There are all kinds of programs and websites with Windows 10 wallpapers. Windows 10 Review Windows Central 3d Space Wallpaper For Desktop 2048×1153 u2013 windows 10 Wallpapers New York City Bagels UHD 4K Background 4K Wal. Windows space wallpapers Windows 10 Space - Wallpapers by vec1phyr (Windows 10 celebration. Solved Windows 10 Themes created by Ten Forums members - Page 69. Animated Wallpaper Download Portal: The most popular animated wallpapers and award-winning animated desktop backgrounds are available for Windows.
HomePCWindowsBest Live Wallpapers for Windows 10 You Should Try
There are plenty of ways in which you can customize your Windows 10 PC to make it your own and give it a unique look. From external modifications like skins and stickers, to intricate changes to your desktop using widgets and docks, you can do a whole lot to make your Windows 10 PC a reflection of your personality and interests. Changing your desktop wallpaper is one of the simplest ways you can customize your PC and there are an absolute ton of websites that feature crisp wallpapers that you can use. But did you know that you can also use live wallpapers for Windows 10 to customize your system?
While Windows 10 doesn’t natively support live wallpapers, there are a couple of handy software that can help you out in this regard. So without any further ado, let’s take a look at the best live wallpapers for Windows 10 that you should try right now:
Best Live Wallpapers for Windows 10
1. Wallpaper Engine
Lets start off with Wallpaper Engine, a software that offers probably the best live wallpapers for Windows 10. The software includes a ton of options to choose from, including various graphics and videos, and it even allows for you to pin an application or a particular website as your live wallpaper. Wallpaper Engine also allows you to personalize the animated wallpapers and it even features some interactive wallpapers that react to the way you move and click your mouse.
Wallpaper Engine supports several of the most commonly used aspect rations, including 16:9, 219:9, 16:10 and 4:3, which means that you can run the live wallpapers on your Windows 10 PC even if you have a ultra-wide monitor or a multi-monitor setup. Another great reason for you to try out Wallpaper Engine is that it includes a feature that pauses the live wallpapers while playing games, which means that the live wallpapers won’t have any adverse effect on your system’s performance. And finally, another great feature that makes Wallpaper Engine a compelling buy is that it allows you to create your own custom live wallpapers using the Wallpaper Engine Editor.
Live Wallpapers
Download Wallpaper Engine (Rs. 229)
2. RainWallpaper
Next up is RainWallpaper, a powerful live wallpaper software that allows you to set up a wide variety of customizable animated wallpapers on your desktop. The software supports both 3D and 2D live wallpapers, and much like Wallpaper Engine, it allows you to use websites, videos and animated wallpapers that support mouse interactions as live wallpapers on your Windows 10 PC. RainWallpaper also boasts of minimum CPU and RAM usage, which means that the live wallpaper won’t have any major effect on your system’s performance.
In order to further prevent any effect on your system’s performance, RainWallpaper also includes the capability to pause the live wallpaper when any game or full screen applications are running. The software also includes a built-in wallpaper editor, allowing you to create your own live wallpapers, and it even includes a feature that will allow you to create a new live wallpaper using static images. The best part about RainWallpaper, however, is that it’s free to use, but keep in mind that the software is currently in beta so you might encounter some bugs. RainWallpaper has a great selection of premade live wallpapers on DevaintArt that you can use, including some great anime live wallpapers for Windows 10 devices. Check out the linked video to easily start using RainWallpaper on your system.
Download RainWallpaper (Free)
3. DeskScapes
DeskScapes is another great live wallpaper software that allows you to animate and customize live wallpapers for your Windows 10 desktop. Not only does the software include bunch of animated wallpapers for you to choose from, it even allows you to use your own WMV files to personalize your desktop. The software offers over 40 special effects with which you can customize your live wallpapers, including a bunch of color effects, which work a lot like filters on Instagram.
DeskScapes also allows you to recolor your existing wallpapers, supporting color customizations for the entire image or select colors on any image. To make sure that the wallpapers fit your setup, DeskScapes even includes support for several resolutions and also features multi-monitor support. What I personally like about the software is that it has a very intuitive and easy to use interface, which allows you to create an animated live wallpaper in no time, with the preview feature showing you exactly what your desktop will look with the wallpaper applied.
Download DeskScapes ($7.99)
4. Push Wallpapers
Now if you’re not interested in going through the hassle of creating your own live wallpapers using one of the aforementioned software, you can try Push Wallpapers – a website that offers a wide selection of executable live wallpapers for Windows 10. Push Wallpapers offers both video and live wallpapers for Windows 10, with the video wallpaper executable allowing you to use any video as a wallpaper.
There’s also a decent selection of live wallpapers, spanning from underwater live wallpapers like Watery Desktop 3D to trippy space-themed wallpapers like Space Wormhole 3D. The wallpapers work exceptionally well and in my testing, I didn’t see any alarming resource hogging by the executable. Using the live wallpapers just requires you to install the executable and you’re good to go. The software even gives some customization options for live wallpapers, like adjusting the speed of particles in the Space Dust 3D wallpaper.
Download Push Wallpapers (Free)
How to Use Animated GIFs as Live Wallpapers on Windows 10
If you didn’t seem to like any of the aforementioned options and want to use an animated GIF as a live wallpaper on Windows 10, you can can make use of a software called Plastuer (pay what you want). The software allows you to set up GIFs, videos and HTML5 web pages as your wallpaper. Here’s how you can use can use an animated GIF as a live wallpaper on Windows 10:
- Unzip the Plastuer package and double click on the Platuer executable. Then tap on the monitor on which you wish to use the live wallpaper.
- Next, select a live wallpaper in the next section by clicking on the ‘Browse Gallery’ option. However, if you wish to use your own GIF then you can click on ‘Select File’.
- Choose any GIF that you like from the gallery and select the wallpaper fit in the next screen. If you choose to use a centered wallpaper, then you can also select the background color for the live wallpaper.
Your live wallpaper should now be applied on your desktop. Enjoy!
How to Use Videos as Live Wallpapers on Windows 10
If you wish to use a video as your live wallpaper, you can make use of the popular VLC media player. Hotel booking software. In order to do so, you’ll need to follow these steps:
- Open up the video file you want to use as your wallpaper on VLC media player.
- Click on the ‘Video’ tab in the toolbar and select ‘Set as Wallpaper’ from the drop down menu.
Yes, it’s that simple! You can even use multiple videos as live wallpapers by adding them to a playlist on VLC, but if you wish to use the same video over and over again, make sure you toggle on the loop feature on VLC. Do note that this method isn’t the most ideal to setup live wallpapers on Windows 10 and you might encounter some performance issues with it. You can even use the VLC visualizers as your wallpaper, which will move in tune to the music you’re playing.
SEE ALSO: How to Get macOS Mojave Features on Windows 10
Enjoy Live Wallpapers on Your Windows 10 Device
Well that rounds up our list of the best live wallpapers for Windows 10. Now that you know about all the best live wallpapers you can use to spruce up your desktop, which one of the lot do you plan on trying out first? Do you know of any other live wallpapers for Windows 10 that can make their way to this list? Share your views and suggestions in the comments down below and we’ll add all the worthwhile recommendations to this list.
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Microsoft's Windows 10 offers users many ways to customize the OS. Indeed, we have a rather large article detailing all the methods by which you can make Windows 10 yours. One throwback style has an animated desktop. Indeed, yesterday you may have seen my Instagram video showing one in action featuring the famous Windows 10 logo from the new login screen.
Today, I'll show you how you can do the same using a third-party app called DeskScapes 8 from Stardock!
A video posted by Daniel Rubino (@daniel_rubino) on
The 'duh' moment
Before we get started, I should point out the obvious. Using an animated desktop on a laptop, older computer, or even a newer one with lower-end specs is probably not the best idea if you are concerned with battery life and graphics performance. There is no doubt that in using such a setup you could tax your system just to make it look fancy.
Of course, if you are running a high-end rig with CPU and GPU cycles to spare, there is nothing wrong with doing this trick. Indeed, I am running it on two Core i5 desktop systems (Intel Skylake) with plenty of RAM and two rather high-end GPUs (an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 and 970, to be precise).
If you want a more accurate estimate having an animated desktop will consume between 6-9% of CPU with an average of around 7 percent. Although that is not terrible, it could constrain your setup if on an older rig. The good news is not only can you pause your animated desktop you can quickly just switch to a static image at any time saving your precious CPU for when you need it.
Why the tutorial?
Besides just explaining the basics there is one other issue. DeskScapes 8 gets its name because it is made for Windows 8 systems. It can run on Windows 10 however if you just try to install it you are going to get an error message.
This impediment is very easy to get around, and I'll show you how to get it going. That said, the reason this is not meant for Windows 10 is the app is not optimized for the newer OS and, as such, Stardock cannot guarantee performance or any issues. So do this at your own risk.
Let's get started!
Animated desktops in Windows 10
Before we being, you need to download the DeskScapes 8 installer. The app has a free 30-day trial and costs $9.99 for a single license. Having 30 days to try this app is more than enough for you to decide if you want to justify the $10 price tag.
Besides the preinstalled animated desktops within the app, you can also create your own or navigate to the site WinCustomize to download ones the community has made. There are quite a few, so you should find something to pique your interest.
1. Download
Head to Stardocks' site and grab the installer. Agree to use the 30-day trial and download.
2. Compatibility Mode
The trick to running the app on Windows 10 is to use compatibility mode. This feature is an old function from previous releases, and it works well here for the installer. Right-click on DeskScapes8_cnet-setup.exe and choose Troubleshoot Compatibility.
3. Troubleshoot Program
You should be presented with two options. Select the second one Troubleshoot program.
4. Earlier version
Next, choose the first option The program worked in earlier versions of Windows but won't install or run now from the menu. Hit Next to proceed.
5. Version choice
On the next menu, select Windows 8 and hit Next.
6. Test it
Next, choose Test the program… This part is where it gets tricky. Normally, the program just launches, and you can then proceed with Next. However, this is an installer we are running so you should see a blinking Windows shield ( User Account Control ) icon appear in the taskbar.
Note that it won't be an active window so you could miss it if you are not looking for it. Click on it and agree to let the installer run.
7. Install
Now you can finally install the program to your computer. During the process, you will be asked if you optionally would like to install Decor8 , another Stardock app. I advise against this only because the app is to customize the old Start Screen in Windows 8 and is not very relevant for Windows 10. Make sure you have the box unticked, and the proceed.
8. 30-day Trial
Stardock lets you try DeskScapes 8 for 30 days. However, you still need to register and let the app verify the trial to begin. The process is simple only requiring an email and a verification link. This action starts the trial period. Although not as convenient as just using a non-phone-home program Stardock likely does this to cut down on piracy, so cut them some slack.
Exit Compatibility
It should be noted that once you hit Test the program… you ran the full app installer. As such, at any point you could just hit Cancel on the compatibility mode window as we already got what we wanted. Still, if you did not do so, you can now hit Cancel. There is no need to re-run using Next.
A video posted by Daniel Rubino (@daniel_rubino) on
That's it! You now have DeskScapes 8 installed on Windows 10. Here are a couple of other tidbits:
- You can pause DeskScapes 8 at any time by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Pause DeskScapes
- For multi-monitor setups , you can run DeskScapes on all windows or choose one for each display. For instance, you could have an animated main display with a secondary (and tertiary) monitor running a static image. Likewise, you could put a different animated wallpaper on each monitor. The choice is yours!
- Grab new backgrounds from the site WinCustomize. Just find the image/animation you want and download to your computer. Double clicking on the download enables it through the app, and you can create a directory to add more
- While DeskScapes is running, you may have trouble moving files or folders on the desktop. You can always choose a regular wallpaper through Windows Settings > Personalization and then re-arrange your files or folders, then re-enable DeskScapes. Those files or folders are accessible so you can launch apps and open the folders you just cannot re-arrange them when the app is running. Logging off and on again seems to fix the issue.
- Deskscapes has quite a few options in it including transparency for your desktop icons , which is an added neat effect that I recommend
- If you have a Windows Insider watermark on your desktop, you can read our other tutorial on how to get rid of that for a cleaner look
- If the app does not enable an animated wallpaper, and you have just a black background, try to log off and back on again then re-launch DeskScapes 8
- If running multiple Windows 10 computers , you may want to head into Settings > Accounts > Individual sync settings and disable Theme. This action prevents Windows 10 from trying to sync your DeskScapes to your other Windows 10 computers, which obviously does not work.
- DeskScapes 8 can auto-pause when AC power is disconnected meaning you can use this on a laptop with little impact
For those who want the new Windows 10 login screen with the fancy Windows logo and lasers, you can find it on WinCustomize (link below). The theme is made by AzDude, who is one of the most prolific creators on that site. The version I use is Windows 10 v1 (link) although he has a few variations out there, so try them all and use what you think looks best.
Overall, DeskScapes is running rather well on my PC, and I have no issues or complaints. This program is a rather high-end way to customize your PC, but there is little denying that it has a certain wow appeal to it. Whether you will like it and want to pay the $10 is up to you, but at least you now know how to get it on your PC.
There is no word if a Windows 10 version is on the way, but we'll keep you posted if we hear anything.
More Resources
Remember that we have many other articles on Windows 10, if you need help you always check these other resources: