As someone who has used Windows as my primary operating system for years, I got very comfortable with modding various parts of the user interface. One of the things that was most fun to change is the startup image - my favorite was a very official looking FBI splash screen that made it look like you were logging onto a government computer.

Since switching to the Mac platform, I've been surprised at the relative dearth of modding options for the operating system. Thankfully, Steven Sande over at our sister site TUAW recently posted about BootXChanger, which allows you to change the monochromatic Apple logo that you see when booting into OS X to something different. While it's not an entire boot screen, it is enough to give your machine a bit of personality.

It turns out that creating images for use on the boot screen is very finicky, but BootXChanger comes with a set of fifteen sample images to get you started. Right away I was torn between using the radioactive symbol, or the classic Commodore 64 logo. The radioactive symbol won for now, but given the ease of switching boot logos, I can imagine I'll be swapping between the various options or maybe even taking a shot at making my own soon enough.

[via TUAW]

If you're anxious for Snow Leopard to ship, you might be excited to know that you can grab copies of the built-in desktop images, thanks to the developer previews and a crafty blogger over at Uneasy Silence.

While there are four images out of the set of 35 that feature leopards, the rest of the images run the gamut from beautiful landscape photography to classic pieces of art. The images are offered as JPEGs, so even Windows users might like to pick up a few.

It seems to be a requirement now that major operating systems release with a relatively substantial set of beautiful images to be used as desktop wallpaper.

No longer can OS manufacturers get away with offering eight photos and a few tiling images -- remember tiling your desktop? Does anybody ever do that anymore?

TUAW has a seemingly exhaustive list of desktop wallpapers, icons, and all the other stuff we love to use to pretty up our desktops. Though the list is Mac-centric, (I can't imagine why!) many of the resources listed are of use to Windows users as well.

The lists are a result of the TUAW community's input when asked their favorite sites for desktop customizations. Thanks guys!

If you are lucky enough to be able to run multiple monitors on your system, you may sometimes find yourself wishing you could find desktop wallpapers that are optimized across multiple screens. The folks at Dual Screen Wallpaper obviously decided to try to do something about it.

While I really like some of the wallpapers at Dual Screen Wallpapers, I should warn you that they have integrated the advertising in their site in such a way as to try to trick people into making false clicks; the titles and descriptions of each wallpaper are formatted exactly like the text ads that they display at the top of the screen, and they even display an image beside the text ads so that they blend in perfectly with the rest of the site. I'm sure this is a breach of the terms of service for their advertiser so they won't be able to keep this up for long, but for now just be careful of the top two links on the site. I simply can't help linking to them though, as the wallpapers are gorgeous and work beautifully on my dual-screen setup.

Is there anything Wikipedia can't do? If Jordan's post yesterday about desktop backgrounds that don't suck didn't provide you with enough options to find the right wallpaper for your system, head on over to Wikipedia. They have a page there dedicated to featured desktop backgrounds filled with gorgeous photographs that are perfect for use on your desktop. Most of the images there will likely make your co-workers think you're smart, too, since being Wikipedia, the photos have a very science and nature theme to them.

There’s something about imagery on a computer screen that appears to be worn or eroded. Most everything we look at has straight lines, nicely curved corners and colors that “pop”. 555 Design takes us in another direction, with desktops and other eye candy that look worn down, rusty or just plain old. The effect is quite stunning though, and the desktops are very original. You’ll have your co-workers wondering about your state of mental health, which is always fun.

The only downside to this site is that it annoyingly pops open in a new window. Usually that would be enough for me to not bother linking, but the images on this site are worth the annoyance.

Veer provides a huge collection of diverse free desktop wallpapers to suit almost any taste. Each one is presented in 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, and 1600 x 1024 resolutions, which should allow for almost any single-screen configuration. Who wouldn't want a wallpaper like the one displayed to the right?