Personalization is one of the most important aspects of the operating system. The first thing users usually do as soon as they install Windows 10 is automatically change the wallpaper to choose one that best suits their tastes. In addition to the background, other customizations (theme, colors, etc.) are also often applied to the OS, and even Windows 10 users can go further and have the ability to customize the Windows 10 lock screen . Something that is very simple thanks to Spotlight.
The lock screen is an intermediate screen between the user and the session. In this way, if someone tries to use our computer without permission, this lock screen will prevent them from using it if they do not have the password or the corresponding authentication method (such as Windows Hello).
When we turn on the computer this is the first screen that appears on the computer. In addition, we can also block the session at any time, for example, if we get up from the chair, simply by pressing the keyboard shortcut Windows + L.
In this lock screen we will be able to see a clock, the date and the time, and we will be able to choose different applications that we want to show us information on this screen, such as the weather, or notices about email, Skype or other programs. There are programs that are also integrated into this lock screen, such as Spotify.
Windows Spotlight – High-quality backgrounds on the lock screen
Spotlight is one of the novelties that was introduced with the arrival of Windows 10. This function basically does is allow the operating system to download images and ads from Bing automatically and display them on the Windows 10 lock screen.
Artistic or landscape photos are usually shown, although promotional content from Microsoft may have arrived on occasion, especially from the Xbox franchise. Next to the image, Microsoft displays a message with information about the photo in question (for example, where and when it was taken), and allows users to choose whether or not they want to continue seeing similar photos. What we generally won’t see will be the credits.
We usually see one image a day , or two at best. And these images are automatically chosen and downloaded, so we don’t usually be able to interfere with their operation.
How to enable or disable it
Windows Spotlight is a feature that is activated by default when we install Windows 10. It does not affect performance, and there is no reason to deactivate it, although we can.
For this, what we will have to do is open the Windows 10 Configuration window (keyboard shortcut Windows + I), and then go to the ” Personalization> Lock screen ” section. Here we are going to be able to choose the type of background that we want to have on this lock screen. The one that interests us is the so-called ” Windows Featured Content “, since it is the option that will activate Windows Spotlight.
Only with this we will already have Spotlight activated in Windows 10 . We won’t have to do anything else. Nor are we going to be able to configure anything, since it is a function that is controlled remotely, from the Bing servers.
To disable it, all you have to do is change the background of “Windows Featured Content” to other options, such as “image” or “presentation”. So we can have the type of background we want on the lock screen instead of the random Bing funds.
Download Spotlight backgrounds in Windows 10
Initially, Microsoft does not allow us to download these images for use outside of Spotlight. All these backgrounds are downloaded in the background to Windows 10 and, although they are saved in a system directory, it is not easy to recover these photos. However, there are applications that will allow us to save these photos, even if we have Spotlight disabled.
SpotBright – Windows Wallpaper
SpotBright is a free UWP app that cannot be missed on the computers of any user who likes the backgrounds of the PC lock screen. This program allows us to download these backgrounds in FullHD (both horizontally for a monitor and vertically for a mobile) so that we can use these beautiful images wherever we want.
The program allows us to search and save all Spotlight photos with a few clicks. In addition, you can show us the image of the day in a Live Tile, and even show alerts when new photos are available.
Use Spotlight backgrounds as wallpaper
Spotlight for Windows Desktop is another free program designed to allow us to use Spotlight backgrounds as wallpaper on our PC. This program will automatically take care of downloading the wallpapers from the Bing servers and automatically change them on our desktop.
In addition, this program will automatically rotate the wallpaper from time to time so that all the time we will have fresh images as a desktop background. An essential program for those who tire quickly of a wallpaper, and thanks to which we will be able to see surprising images.
We can download this program for free from here . Of course, when installing it we must be careful to uncheck the option that will ask us if we want to give the program permission to use our CPU for mining.
Windows Spotlight Extractor
Finally, if we want to easily recover all the wallpapers that have been downloaded from Spotlight to our PC, we will be able to do it without many problems thanks to this program. Windows Spotlight Extractor is totally free and open source software that allows us to analyze all the image files that this Windows function has downloaded and read them to show us a thumbnail.
We simply have to select the photos we want to save in order to export them, in image format, and save them on our PC. So we can use them for what we want.
An excellent program that we can download for free from this link .