Random Desktop in XP

Puck

I have a collection of some nice pics that I like to use for my Desktop. I had the idea of writing a Java program that would take a random pic from my folder and copy it to another folder under another name (namely random.jpg).

I then set my desktop background to random.jpg and put the batch file for my Java program in the Start Up menu so that everytime I restarted my computer I would have a different image.

The program is working fine and changes random.jpg to a different image everytime it runs. The problem is that my desktop stays the same no matter how many times I restart the machine and run the program. It'll stay with the same old pic untill I manually go into Desktop Properties and select random.jpg as the background (even though thats what it was set at anyway).

Is there anyway to get my desktop to refresh automatically at startup so I have a different random picture everytime?

Alternatively if there's another/better way of doing this please fill me in.

Thanks.:D

strat

id guess that the desktop pic is set in some ini files and is 'in use' before u try to modify it with your program/batchfile and then it cant have access the random.jpg

could be wrong there

anyway im pretty sure theres other programs out there that do this kind of thing

www.tucows.com and wwww.download.com would be a nice place to start

Puck

Thanks.
Would anyone know if there's away to get a program to refresh the desktop?
I'll probably post this in programming too.
I know there may be other programs out there but it'd just be cooler to do it myself.

marauder

Im guessing here but:
Try using at HTML file with the image embedded as your background rather than the image itself....
That should be refreshed when loaded if changes are detected