The external EXE responsible is .\d7x Resources\d7xDesktopInfo.exe which will be running when the desktop information is displayed.
The System Tray Icon for d7xDesktopInfo.exe is pictured right:
Right-Click and Double-Click Operations
Right-click the System Tray icon (pictured above/right) for all options.
Double-clicking the system tray icon performs the ‘Show Desktop (Toggle)‘ right-click operation. Double-click once to minimize all open windows, showing the desktop. Double-click a second time (to ‘Toggle’ back) and it will restore all open windows back to their normal position on the desktop.
Enabled by Default
By default, d7xDesktopInfo.exe will now start along with d7x vX.X.X.X.exe on Windows 10 and above. You can disable this behavior on the d7x Config > Behavior/Updates tab > Startup Behavior section > Show System Info on Wallpaper checkbox.
Alternately, you can configure d7xDesktopInfo.exe to start with Windows (instead of or in addition to d7x) on the d7x Config > Session tab > Start Session tab > Add d7xDesktopInfo.exe to Windows Startup… checkbox. Note that it doesn’t hurt to leave the config entry to “Show System Info on Wallpaper” checkbox in the d7x Config > Behavior/Updates > Startup Behavior section when enabling this config option, because d7xDesktopInfo.exe cannot run more than one copy of itself at a time, so it will never execute twice.
Info Update Frequency
By default, the information displayed on the desktop is updated every 60 seconds. The last update is timestamped in the last field “Info Updated:” displayed on the desktop.
The frequency (in seconds) can be changed manually in the .\d7x Resources\Config\d7xDesktopInfo.xml file (once it is created by the app) along with several other items such as font family/size and display position. More on this file below under ‘Configuration Changes’.
Getting More Info!
CONTACT US to request additional info on the desktop!!!
Configuration Changes
If you change the background effects through the system tray icon for d7xDesktopInfo, then a d7xDesktopInfo.xml will be automatically created in the .\d7x Resources\Config directory. The d7xDesktopInfo.xml does not exist by default, and it must be created by the EXE; so again, you must do this by using the system tray icon to change background effects at least once.
The d7xDesktopInfo.xml file contains the background effect preference (that you selected in the right-click menu) in addition to several other settings, and these settings will be automatically applied anytime you (or d7x, or Windows) starts d7xDesktopInfo.exe, so your settings are remembered for future usage.
Once created, you may also make other configuration changes to the .\d7x Resources\Config\d7xDesktopInfo.xml file, simply open the file in NOTEPAD or any other text editor to modify what it contains. Here you can change the font family/size, refresh interval (in seconds), horizontal/vertical alignment of the info, as well as the text transparency. Other settings may be added in the future.
Naturally, if any changes to default are made then you will want to save the d7xDesktopInfo.xml along with your complete d7x configuration through d7x Config Mgmt Portal.
Usage apart from d7x (BONUS!)
d7xDesktopInfo.exe is actually a stand-alone/portable application and may be used by licensed d7x subscribers apart from d7x, meaning you can simply put the .EXE on your flash drive for portable usage, or place it anywhere on a system to “install” it and use it that way. Naturally, you will be responsible for creating Windows startup entries if they are desired, and of course you will also be responsible for any updates outside of d7x.
Just like usage within d7x, d7xDesktopInfo.exe requires Windows 10 or above in order to run (specifically it requires Windows 10 with .NET Framework 4.6.1, and this is found installed by default on Windows 10 version 1511 and above, so basically on every copy of Windows 10.)
d7xDesktopInfo.exe will ONLY save a config XML file (.\Config\d7xDesktopInfo.xml) file under two conditions:
- There must exist a “Config” directory inside the EXE’s path. If a “Config” directory doesn’t exist, simply create one in order to allow d7xDesktopInfo to save its config. d7xDesktopInfo.exe will NOT create the .\Config directory by itself, therefore it will NOT save its configuration to .\Config\d7xDesktopInfo.xml when .\Config does not exist. This is intentional, so that you can use d7xDesktopInfo.exe as a stand-alone portable EXE with (or without) command line arguments but without allowing it to create a static configuration.
- Just like usage within d7x, you must select a background effect from the d7xDesktopInfo system tray icon in order to initially generate a .\Config\d7xDesktopInfo.xml file. If you have already created a d7xDesktopInfo.xml file from d7x usage, you may copy/use that file (from your .\d7x Resources\Config directory) with a stand-alone copy of d7xDesktopInfo.exe by placing it in the “.\Config” directory in the same path as the d7xDesktopInfo.exe file.
If you do not wish to use d7xDesktopInfo.exe with a config file/directory, then you may optionally use these command line arguments to start d7xDesktopInfo.exe with a predetermined background effect: (e.g. d7xDesktopInfo.exe /Dark)
- /Dark
- /Blur
- /Pixelate
- /BlackAndWhite
- /Grayscale