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Vortec Space is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper made on a computer, not with a camera. Streaks of electric blue light rush outwards from a dark centre, like a jump to light speed. The name is thought to be a misspelling of vortex (Artwork: Timothy Alt)

Windows XP Vortec Space wallpaper. Computer-made streaks of blue light rushing out from a dark centre. Free download for PC, phone and tablet.

Windows XP Vortec Space Wallpaper by Microsoft | WallpaperHub

Windows XP Vortec Space

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Autumn is one of the best-known Windows XP desktop wallpapers. It shows a lane covered in orange and yellow leaves under tall trees, with a wooden fence on the right, photographed in October 1999 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada (Photo: Peter Burian)

Windows XP Autumn

Azul is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper of a sailing boat beside a tiny island with three palm trees, set in bright turquoise water under white clouds. The photograph was taken in 1991 in the lagoon of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands (Photo: Bill Ross)

Windows XP Azul

Red Moon Desert shows rippled red sand dunes under a dark blue sky with a full moon. Charles O'Rear, who also photographed Bliss, took it in the Kalahari in South Africa. It was the default wallpaper in early test builds of Windows XP before Bliss replaced it (Photo: Charles O'Rear)

Windows XP Red Moon Desert

Ascent is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper showing a snow-covered mountain in deep blue and violet twilight, with a bright, nearly full moon in the upper left corner. It came from a stock photo collection of nature backgrounds and was also the default wallpaper of early Windows PE versions

Windows XP Ascent

Follow is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper of a school of bright orange fish swimming behind a striped butterflyfish in clear blue water. Early test builds named it Follow Me. The leading fish also appears as one of the Windows XP user account pictures (Photo: Warren Morgan)

Windows XP Follow

Friend is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper in warm sepia tones. A black Labrador stands on a wooden plank floor and looks away to the left, photographed from low down so the dog fills the frame. The original stock photograph is titled Black Labrador Otis (Photo: Chris Carroll)

Windows XP Friend

Tulips is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper looking up through a field of yellow tulips towards a blue sky with white clouds. The flowers were photographed around 1991 in the Skagit Valley in Washington State, an area known for its spring tulip fields (Photo: Bill Ross)

Windows XP Tulips

Stonehenge is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper of the prehistoric stone circle in Wiltshire, England. The standing stones sit on a green field under a pale blue sky streaked with thin cloud. Roger Ressmeyer photographed it in 1989 as part of a series on the monument (Photo: Roger Ressmeyer)

Windows XP Stonehenge

Wind is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper of a tall orange sand dune with a sharp curved ridge. Wind lifts a veil of sand from the crest into a clear blue sky. The photograph was taken at Dune 45 near Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert of Namibia (Photo: Jeff Vanuga)

Windows XP Wind

Radiance is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper showing a close view of the Moon. Craters, the dark plain of Mare Imbrium and the Apennine mountains stand out against a black sky. The original photograph was upright, and Microsoft turned it on its side for the desktop (Photo: Roger Ressmeyer)

Windows XP Radiance

This is the photograph behind Moon Flower, the Windows XP desktop wallpaper. It is a close view of magenta cosmos petals with a yellow centre in the lower left corner. For Windows XP a designer twisted the picture into an abstract swirl, so this original looks calmer than the wallpaper (Photo: Richard Hamilton Smith)

Windows XP Moon Flower Original Photo

Blue Hills is one of the four sample pictures in the My Pictures folder of Windows XP. Forested ridges fade from deep blue to pale blue haze, one behind another, under a clear sky. The stock photograph shows Colville National Forest in Washington State

Windows XP Blue Hills

Sunset is one of the four sample pictures in the My Pictures folder of Windows XP. The sun sinks behind dark hills and sends rays through magenta and pink clouds, with the colour mirrored on the water below. It shows Lake Pichola in Rajasthan, India (Photo: Mick Roessler)

Windows XP Sunset

Water Lilies is one of the four sample pictures in the My Pictures folder of Windows XP. Pink and purple water lilies stand open above a pond covered in round green leaves, and bees can be seen on some of the flowers

Windows XP Water Lilies

Winter is one of the four sample pictures in the My Pictures folder of Windows XP. A line of trees white with frost and snow stands in front of a dark blue forested hillside. The photograph was taken by the Nooksack River in Washington State

Windows XP Winter

Plus! Aquarium is the default wallpaper of the Aquarium theme in Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP. Starfish rest on a pale sandy seabed in shallow turquoise water, seen from below the rippling surface. The photograph was taken in Belize. Media Center Edition 2005 renamed it Aquarium (Photo: Stephen Frink)

Windows XP Plus! Aquarium

Plus! Aquarium2 is a wallpaper from Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP. It looks up through deep blue sea water at the surface, where sunlight breaks into rays and lights up clouds of small air bubbles. Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 carried it under the name Ocean (Photo: Kim Westerskov)

Windows XP Plus! Aquarium 2

Plus! Space is the default wallpaper of the Space theme in Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP. It shows the curve of the Earth from orbit, with white cloud over the Indian Ocean and sunlight glinting on the water against the black of space

Windows XP Plus! Space

The wallpaper for Windows Marketing used in 2026 for Gaming devices

Windows Gaming Wallpaper

Frozen azalea with red leaves. As autumn's first frost sets in, ice crystals form on the leaves of evergreen shrubs, like this azalea. Long gone are the pinks, oranges and yellows of their spring blooms, but a new colourful display awaits, as their green leaves turn shades of red and purple (© avoferten/Shutterstock)

Windows XP Vortec Space

By Microsoft / Official

Vortec Space is a Windows XP desktop wallpaper made on a computer, not with a camera. Streaks of electric blue light rush outwards from a dark centre, like a jump to light speed. The name is thought to be a misspelling of vortex (Artwork: Timothy Alt)

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