Folder Background Changer

Call us old-fashioned, but we don’t typically get into desktop customizations. We’re not opposed to tweaks that are useful–or even just plain fun–but it seems that much of the time these programs are more trouble than they’re worth. So it goes with Folder Background Changer. This program promises to let users customize the background images within their folders, but it doesn’t work reliably.

The program required a registration code during installation, which confused us until we realized that it was contained in a text file that came with the download. Once we had the program installed, we clicked the Change Folder Background button, and a dialog came up asking us to choose the folder we wanted to customize. Next we were asked to select the image we wanted to use for the background, and then a color selector came up, though it was unclear what we were selecting colors for. Once that was done, an alert informed us that our desired folder background had been changed, and then the program automatically launched Internet Explorer and took us to the publisher’s blog, a feature that definitely discouraged us from continued use of the program. We opened the folder whose background we thought we had changed and … nothing. We tried different views within the folder, and then we tried running the program several more times, and still, nothing. When we tried the program with a different folder, however, it worked. Folder Background Changer has no Help file, so we have no idea what the explanation for this might be. We’re sure that there are other programs that perform the same task with less hassle, and we recommend that users explore those options instead of Folder Background Changer.

Folder Background Changer comes as a ZIP file. It installs a desktop icon without asking and leaves a folder behind upon removal.