Since when do my graphics card drivers have options to change my desktop wallpaper on a rotational basis? Since version 43.45 apparently. The date on these bad boys is the end of March but apparently I missed their release. As far as I can see, there wasn’t any mention of new features but a quick check of the settings display tab tells a different story. Under the Direct 3D category there’s now a wonderful menu for controling and overriding refresh rates at different resolutions, so I no longer need Refresh-Lock, the NView controls can do it for me. Also, if you open “Desktop Utilities and check the button to display the “Media Center” on the taskbar you can get to a whole host of other nifty things. Right clicking on this Media Center in the taskbar will bring up options to customize not only your display but performance (open GL and Direct 3D) settings as well. There’s also a “Nvidia Desktop Manager” which, if you enable it and take the time to set up a few profiles and such, is actually z rather interesting of changing your wallpaper and desktop settings. I have no intentions of using any of these features I’ve just mentioned (actually, they’re already disabled) but I just thought I’d mention their existence. Perhaps I missed these in early driver revisions but I don’t remember them being there as of 41.xx. The refresh locking is actually the most interesting feature as far as I’m concerned, I can change my wallpaper on my own thank you very much. Regardless, it seems like an interesting step for NVidia to take with it’s driver packages.

As for the rest of my day… the shoot went well, my car got scratched and I’m pretty pissed about it, Chris called and said he finished a new mix and that I should D/L it (which I will, as soon as a spot on the hub opens), I bought a new pillow because my old one sucked and Lauren just made me a frappé. So, life is… interesting and mostly good, especially the frappé I’m drinking at the moment. A little hard work and car stupidity thrown in for good measure.

Oh ya, and Windows decided it didn’t want to be activated any more and I had to spend 15 minutes on hold with MS tech support waiting for a new activation number. All because I updated my graphics card drivers. What the hell is that about? Actually, when I asked the lady on the other end that same question work for word she said “well, they tell people it isn’t really sensitive but I’ve seen’em need to reactivate if you plug in a new mouse.” I almost wet myself laughing. I think the 15 minute phone call was worth it just for that.

That is all.