OK…. I’m a wallpaper fiend. I freely admit it. Besides my fave artists here on WC, I cruise many sites looking for nature and themed walls.

I also love photography. Some of the best photographic (and artistic) walls already sorted by theme are in the Microsoft Themepacks, imho.

I don’t like W7 default Aero much, so how to preview the walls in the 146 MS themes for W7 without downloading and sorting through them?

No worries. I’ll show you how.

There’s a nice article at The Windows Club which reveals a key to the secret of previewing the walls (in a light box). I suggest you read it.

Who knew Bing search could turn up something this cool and useful?

This is what it’ll look like after selecting and during viewing (using “Cherry Blossoms of Japan” for some odd reason):

OK. You’ve gone through the 146 MS themepacks and chosen the ones which look really good to you.

Now what?

Well, you have to download them, but you don’t have to apply them. Also, when you’re done extracting the walls you’ve chosen (you should have an image viewer like Irfanview)

Go to my article on “How to Extract a Wallpaper From a Windows 7 Themepack” and follow the directions there.

I suggest creating a ‘Walls’ folder (you probably have already) and in it additional folders by topic/subject. That way, you’ll cut down your search time while customizing.

Sources:

http://www.bing.com/browse?g=win7_themes&setflight=0

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/preview-wallpapers-downloading-windows-7-theme-packs-microsoft

http://drjbhl.joeuser.com/article/403446/Part_II_How_To_Extract_a_Wallpaper_From_A_Windows_7_Themepack