Finally, I found something. I was browsing through the BetaNews site nad decided to brows the File Forum apps - great little tidbits in there all the time, including freeware and Open Source.
I ran across this little item: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/An … 05429181/1
I think this should be a very very basic way of generating an animated desktop wallpaper using archived images for Vista users.
I’ll give it a whirl this weekend and let you know.