[sc:internet-category ]Microsoft recently released the Bing Desktop application, it has two notable features:
- A search bar on the desktop
- A wallpaper of the day
By default the search bar is placed in the middle of the desktop and has only one other option of being place at the top of the screen.
The middle of the desktop isn’t really all that useful for me as there are usually several windows covering it up. I could use the show desktop option, but that seems kind of a round about way to get to it. So instead I’ve pinned it to the top of the screen.
This option had me concerned as I often use remote desktop connections and I though the Bing bar might get in the way of the RDP controls. However, Microsoft has obviously thought of this and when pinned to the top of the screen the Bing bar only drops down a very small amount until you click on it to bring it the rest of the way down.
This ensures the RDP controls work as expected but you still have access to the Bing search bar when you need it.
The Bing Desktop app even pays attention to your default browser, so if you have Opera set as the default browser, entering a query in to the Bing search bar will bring up Opera.
I don’t actually use Bing all that much, but the wallpaper of the day feature is kind of cool. The Bing image of the day is always a nice image and the Bing search bar updates the wallpaper to it each day.
The Bing Desktop application is kind of a cool little tool, I’d recommend it, especially if you use Bing as your primary search engine.
