Just like the most popular desktops in 2008, this list is comprised by the popularity of the post in 2009. You can click through to the original post for details regarding how each user put together his/her killer desktop. So check out the top 13 featured desktops below, including Enigma, the one that started off the year with a bang.

The Enigma 2.0 Desktop

The updated Enigma Desktop set the tone for the entire year—it all started with the first 2.0 version being released with an installer, followed with Rainmeter 1.0 bringing the Enigma desktop to everyone as the default theme, and then the year came to a close with Rainmeter 1.1 making it even easier to use with tools that let you modify your theme without mucking around in code. Impressive work, Kaelri!

The Starlight Desktop

The Reader rykennedyan's Starlight desktop was far and away the most popular single desktop of 2009, and with a beautiful wallpaper like that, it's not hard to understand what drew readers in—but the theme had much more going on, with an entire set of launchers and system information in a bar at the bottom of the screen.

The Halo 3 HUD Desktop

Barely a week went by after the amazing Starlight desktop before rykennedyan blew us all away again by transforming his desktop into an impressive recreation of the popular Halo 3 first-person shooter, complete with system stats and information blended into the screen.

The SpiderMac Desktop

Reader zackshackleton's desktop took a comic book panel and blended the system stats right into the conversation bubbles, making one of the most fun desktops we've seen all year—and sparking a wave of desktops with stats integrated directly into unlikely background images.

The Windows 2019 Desktop

Reader Painkilla05's stylish desktop was inspired from a Microsoft research video showing what computer interfaces might look like in the year 2019, with system stats and information wrapped around the sides of the screen—just like they might be on a futuristic tablet.

The Star's Memory Desktop

Reader Chaebi69 took the Enigma desktop customization, transformed it with an artistic wallpaper, and blended the whole thing together into one of the first great looking desktops of the year—and it didn't hurt that he included the Hulk.

The LCARS for Mac Desktop

What desktop nerd-fest would be complete without at least one LCARS desktop? Reader momoses answered the call for one of the most often-requested customizations and turned his Mac into a lookalike for the computer display in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Gothic Century Desktop

Reader chaebi69 continued his artistic flair with this stunning display of useful information blended perfectly into a simple wallpaper. Between the vertical calendar, customized dock, and Century Gothic font, it was an amazing theme that fit together extremely well.

The OS X Alpha Geek Desktop

If there was a prize for the nerdiest desktop, there's no question at all that reader Andreas would win, and while it's not the most beautiful desktop in the world, the incredible amount of information that he was able to pack into one screen is simply amazing.

The Minimalist OS X Desktop

Reader нawk went an entirely different route—instead of overloading the screen with loads of information, he stuck with a simple wallpaper and just the important system stats, ending up with a clean, minimalistic look that sparked a wave of minimal desktops.

The Gaia Desktop

The Gaia desktop suite transformed reader Sweetshop Union's Windows 7 desktop with widgets, wallpaper, Rainmeter, and a visual style to match, resulting in a polished, unique, and beautiful overall look.

The Retro Enigma Desktop

Reader Cody took the Enigma desktop customization and combined it with a retro vector wallpaper to make a slick, colorful, and completely awesome theme.

The Neon Rings Desktop

Reader TDuck's OS X desktop was all about the beautiful wallpaper image, but if you look closely you'll see that he blended circular system information graphs right into the slick overall theme.

Have a favorite featured desktop from 2009 that wasn't featured here? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Note: The "Full Size" link directly under the picture only shows you the sample image we uploaded for this gallery. You need to click on the name of the particular wallpaper in the right hand column to access the full range of sizes at the source site.

Not keen on the gallery layout? See all the larger images on one page here.

Merry Christmas by love1008



Where Snow Flakes Are Born by Vladstudios



Merry Christmas by sounddevil13



NOEL New Year Wallpaper by Vladstudios



Simple Po Christmas by PoSmedley



Glass Snowmen by 1680



Frosted by Vladstudios



White Christmas by Juggernaut-4



Christmas Green by JackieW



Adorable Snowman by Pockets1987



Snow Puppy 2004 by HybridWorks
Visit site, click on Xmas Gifts in the right hand navigation column. Click on the 2004 set, download.



Merry Christmas by Deeo-Elaclaire



Merry Christmas by chopeh



Holiday Spirit Dual Display by DigitalPhenom



Merry Christmas by ~Teadux



Happy Holidays by MikeyStudios

We realize desktop wallpaper isn't necessarily the most productive thing on the planet, but you spend countless hours at your computer every week, and sometimes a fresh wallpaper is just the ticket for some rejuvenation.

Note: Click on the name of the particular wallpaper to access the full range of sizes at the source site.

(Click any of the images for a closer look.)

Another World by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

Crystal Catacomb by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

Do a Barrel Roll by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

Dogs and Bullets by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

Group Work by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

Sea Battleground by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

Smooth Criminal by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

Toxic Planet by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

Zebes Cave by Orioto

Click on the link above to download a large resolution version.

If you haven't seen Orioto's previous work, be sure and check out the first batch of absolutely amazing wallpapers, and then his second wave of beautiful paintings for your desktop.

If you want to keep up with his work on a regular basis, be sure to follow him over on his Twitter account, where he posts regular updates on new images that he's working on, as well as news about an upcoming video game using his artwork. I don't know about you, but the idea of a video game based on his artwork sounds really great.

Swing over to Lifehacker to check out the simple command line scripts to download all of National Geographic's 2008 and 2009 wallpapers. Oh, and don't forget to share your favorites, please, because my desktop's in need of a change. [Web Upd8 via Lifehacker]

The X-Flex wallpaper is really a layer of Kevlar-type material, in between sheets of "elastic polymer wrap," which provides both flex and strength so that the projectile doesn't knock the wall down. It seems really effective—check out Pop Sci's video here for evidence—and the US Army is considering using it for bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's also incredibly easy to attach, being basically a rollable sheet, although I'm not sure if it can be unattached and reused. Still, its effectiveness is really impressive. [Pop Sci]

Chuck is the embodiment of the dreams of thousands of DeviantArt users—he started out in screenprinting just after high school, worked for t-shirt maker Threadless by day and began creating a name for himself in the online art community by night. Under the pseudonym NoPattern (now the name of his design shop), he achieved incredible success at a startlingly young age: You've seen his work before on projects with Pepsi, Urban Outfitters, Reebok, and many more. My personal favorite has to be the cover art for Lupe Fiasco's fantastic debut album, Food & Liquor:

Today, at only 24, he's achieved a new level of stardom: His designs for Windows 7 will literally be seen by hundreds of millions of people over the lifespan of the OS. Microsoft hunted him down, and it was definitely a good call; Windows 7 is the best-looking Windows OS ever, and its style is reflected in the cool screens designed by Chuck. Check out some of his previous work in the below gallery (including a great graffiti-inspired piece for Zune) to get a sense of his style.

Since he's such an independent guy, I was curious to hear how he managed to collaborate with Microsoft, the tech corporation most likely to have the word "monolithic" as an epithet. Chuck says the actual design team he worked with was quite small and surprisingly open to his ideas. The first thing they showed him back in December 2008 were those glorious Dr.-Seuss-as-read-by-Hunter-S.-Thompson wallpapers, so it was clear right off the bat that censorship wouldn't really be a problem.

The two pieces took about four months, start to finish. Chuck started with a pencil and paper, and moved on to Photoshop for the Windows 7 sheen, but the two pieces retain that sketchy feel—in fact, all the individual threads on the login screen were hand-drawn with a Wacom tablet.

This first gallery shows the stages of the default login screen, the first image to be completed. Later came the default desktop wallpaper and Windows 7's physical packaging, which both have the login screen as their aesthetic jumping-off point. This is where it begins—click on the first thumbnail to read Chuck's own words about how his vision evolved.

The Login Screen

As it turns out, there are a few repetitions of the number seven in the login screen, but weirdly enough, that little Easter egg started out as an accident. Once Chuck and Microsoft noticed that there were seven white strands on the bottom left, they started repeating the number: There are also seven leaves, seven branches, and seven flower petals in the yellow quadrant of the Windows logo.

The default Windows 7 desktop is one of my favorites; usually the very first thing I do with a new computer is replace whatever wallpaper comes with it (Apple is a particular offender here—I hate that cheeseball space motif) and yet I happily left this one on my latest computer.

The Default Desktop

Microsoft sought out this young, independent, mixed media digital artist rather than going through traditional channels, and it resulted in a fresh new look that couldn't have come from another source. It's credit to them, as is the walkthrough itself. You'd never see Apple showing, say, the pieces that mysteriously got tossed aside in favor of that clip-art snow leopard on their latest OS X packaging, would you?

Thanks to Chuck and to Microsoft for showing us their rejects. [NoPattern, Chuck's Twitter]

Note: Speaking of rejects, you might notice that all the screens are capped at 700 pixels in width. It's because Microsoft isn't dumb: They don't want shots they took a pass on becoming the wallpaper of netbooks and PCs all over. Sorry guys, we tried.

If you want the above picture as a wallpaper, you can get it right here and but if you want just the up close and personal insides, go right here. [iFixIt]

French DNA laboratory Helys can do it for you. It works like this: Pay $147 and they will send you a DNA sampling kit. Send them back your DNA, choose a preferred tonal range, and they will make your genetic print into pixel form. Two weeks later, you will receive a 320 x 480 pixel picture in your email.

Of course, what Helys is not telling you is that this is all part of a secret plan by the French government to have a record of all our DNA. And with it, they will create a mutant cheese that will kill everyone in the planet who is not French or drinks Vichy water. I warned you. Don't come back later whining about it when your arteries explode because of the killer mutant cheese. [Helys via CNET]

dolo54 blows minds: These blade runner renderings on are my laptops. Huge versions can be had here: [www.pcgameshardware.com]
drummerboymdb: Yummy.
Mauricio Sanchez: Art from Ryohei Hase. Found in GSociety.org
lonan: Can't remember where this came from. It's a image that came from a program a guy wrote to randomly generate cityscapes.
yreka: There's a bit of problem in that I change my wallpaper usually every couple of days. This is the one I've had up the longest total though.
GermiSmith: I normally change my wallpaper fairly regularly, but this has been up since March.
gussde: Found it somewhere online. I get a lot of compliments on it and tell people that I have it at home and I need someone to splice it for me...
electrolemon
soccer1105: water flame
prophet178: The cover to the best album of the year. It's an optical illusion too. Looks pretty trippy.

The image above comes via the surface of Mars thanks to the HiRISE camera—it also makes for a pretty cool wallpaper.

Flickr user Jason Scott stumbled on an old CD (for Windows 3.1!) that came with Gateway desktops, containing a pile of amazing cow-based images to be used for wallpaper. They're all pretty amazing, and make us wish Gateway hadn't abandoned its bovine style so readily. The cow is ripe for a comeback! [Jason Scott Flickr via Boing Boing Gadgets]

To add this as a background for your iPhone, hold your finger against the image and save the image when the menu appears. Then go to your album, select the image and use it as the background. [Vulcan Betty Page desktop backgrounds at io9]

(io9 desktop backgrounds are up now, sorry for the error. Theirs was scheduled for 10am Pacific. Fixed.)

Lifehacker has an awesome reader-fueled roundup of the best places to grab wallpaper specially designed to fit your glowing triptych (or wall) of unhealthy productivity. Mandolux snagged the top spot overwhelmingly, followed by InterfaceLIFT and that old-school favorite, DeviantART. There's more eye-exploding background heaven where that came from over at Lifehacker, which makes me kind of sad I only play on one monitor. If you've got your own tips, let us know about 'em, too. [Lifehacker, Images: last scionz/DeviantART, Mandolux]

It still looks too busy if you ask me, plus that lighting effect could get real annoying real quick—unless there is a way to shut off the power (or you are tripping balls 24 hours a day). [Bodie and Fou via Inhabitat]