The Next Version of Bing Desktop Now Available: Expands Language Availability and Support for All Versions of Windows (XP and Higher)

At Bing, we’re known for our iconic homepage images. The photos serve to highlight the beauty of our world with the goal of sparking your curiosity and sense of exploration. Over the years, many of you have let us know that you wanted an automated way to enjoy the Bing homepage images as a Windows desktop background. With today’s release of Bing Desktop v1.1, we are updating Bing Desktop to make it even easier for you to do just that. Starting today, we are expanding support to all people using Windows (Windows XP and higher) and adding support for an additional 4 languages.

Bing Desktop marries the beauty of Bing’s daily homepage with a quick and convenient search interface so you don’t have to open our browser to start a search session or get the latest headlines. Every day, the Windows Desktop Background will automatically refresh to a high resolution version of the day’s home page, drawn from the images Bing uses around the world.

With Bing Desktop v1.1, you can also go back through the prior 9 days of images to set a favorite image as the Windows Desktop Background again, or view images from days you were away from the computer.

Bing Desktop also provides a fast and simple route to get search results. To start searching, simply click on the Bing taskbar icon, or the Bing tile on your Windows 8 Start screen, and the search bar will automatically appear at the front of the screen. Type in a search term or phrase using the autosuggest keywords or your search history, and the search results will appear in your default browser. You’re off and running in a matter of keystrokes. When not in use, the search box recedes into the background to maximize precious screen space.

Bing Desktop can now help you stay in the know with the highlights of the top news, videos, images and popular now topics within the search bar. Just click on the content icon, select the content type and scroll through top headlines without opening a browser. For more detail about any of the topics, simply click on the article, image or text link to open a browser with the corresponding Bing results.

If you prefer, the search box can also be docked to the top of the screen and it will slide up out of view until your mouse hovers over it, revealing an edge. Click on the edge to get the whole search bar back. Or, click and drag to move the search bar to a desired location on the screen. You can also click on the Bing Desktop icon on the Start bar, Task tray or Windows 8 Start screen to access the search bar.

Download Bing Desktop today. Like our homepage, you can find out more about the image by simply hovering over the icon imagein the search interface. Bing Desktop works on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and Windows Server 2008 and 2012 for English, French, German, Chinese and Japanese.

Please note that we display global images so there are some days where it won’t match the home page image you see on Bing.com in the US, but it will always be a crisp, engaging way to start your day.

Bing Desktop is the result of a strong collaboration between Microsoft’s China Innovation Group in Beijing, China, who originated the idea based on user feedback, and our core client development team in Bellevue, WA.

Download Links:

US

China

Japan

UK

France

Australia

Canada

Please let us know what you think of Bing Desktop in the comments below or on Twitter (@Bing.)

– Sara Borthwick, Senior Product Manager, Bing