Windows 10

Selecting and Tuning Themes

Desktop themes are combinations of the visual and audio elements that set the appearance of menus, icons, backgrounds, screen savers, system sounds, and mouse pointers.

Whenever you switch between themes or modify certain aspects of a theme, you set the user experience level and color scheme for your computer.

Choosing a Theme

In addition to any custom themes you create, several default themes are available. You can apply a default or saved theme by completing these steps:

Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Personalize. Next, on the Personalization page, click Themes.
In the main pane under Themes, click the Theme Settings link. This opens Control Panel.
Use the Theme list to select the theme you want to use. If you want to use a saved theme from the Microsoft website, click Get More Themes Online and select the theme or themes to download and install.

As you've seen, you can switch to any available theme by simply selecting it on the Personalization page in Control Panel. The High Contrast themes are special themes that allow you to forego the pretty stuff to improve performance and readability. High Contrast themes use only the most basic elements and are designed for people with vision disabilities.

With all other themes, Windows automatically adjusts the accent color for graphics and window edges based on the colors used in the background image. The accent color can also be extended to Start, the taskbar, window links and more.

Setting the Accent Color

You can customize the way accent colors are used by following these steps:

Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Personalize. Next, on the Personalization page, click Colors in the left column.
To pick an accent color rather than have Windows pick the color, set Automatically Pick An Accent Color... to Off. You can then choose the accent color. Simply click the color to use.
To extend the accent color to Start, the taskbar, window links and more, scroll down and then set Show Color On Start... to On.

By default, Start, taskbar and action center have transparent backgrounds, meaning you can see what's open behind them. I don't like this effect and always disable it so that these screen elements have a solid background. Disabling this feature has an added benefit: It reduces resource usage and can actually make your computer slightly more responsive. To disable transparent backgrounds, set Make Start, Taskbar... to Off. This options is also on the Colors panel under Settings → Personalization. If your device has an older processor or doesn't have a lot of physical memory, you also want to use the standard Windows theme rather than any of the fancy themes.

Configuring Screen Timeout and Screen Savers

You also can express yourself by using screen savers. Screen savers can be configured to turn on when a computer has been idle for a specified period. Screen savers were originally designed to prevent image burn-in by displaying a continually changing image. With today's monitors, burn-in is not really a problem, but screen savers stuck still around because they offered the ability to password-lock your computer automatically when the screen saver turned on.

Beginning with Windows 8, Microsoft separated the locking functionality from the screensaver functionality, creating a true lock screen. Because of this Windows 10 doesn't use a screensaver by default and you only need to configure one if you like the feature. Instead of using a screensaver, Windows 10 displays the lock screen until the display is turned off, which happens automatically based on the settings in the active power plan. For example, the default power plan, called Balanced, tells Windows 10 to turn off the display after 10 minutes when the computer is plugged in or after 5 minutes when running on battery. These default settings do depend on the type of device, such as whether you are working with a Surface tablet or a desktop computer.

Configuring When the Screen Turns Off

You can set the screen timeout value by performing the following steps:

Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Personalize. Next, on the Personalization page, click Lock Screen in the left column.
In the main pane, scroll down and click the Screen Timeout Settings link.
Use the selection list provided under the Screen heading to specify when the screen should turn off, such as after 15 minutes of inactivity. If you are working with a device that has a battery, you'll have two selection lists, one for when the device is plugged in and the other for when the device is running on battery.
Optionally, use the selection lists under the Sleep heading to specify when the device should enter sleep mode, such as after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Again, if you are working with a device that has a battery, you'll have two selection lists, one for when the device is plugged in and the other for when the device is running on battery.

Keep in mind, Windows 10 performs many housekeeping

tasks in the background when your computer is idle, such as creating indexes, defragmenting hard disks, creating whole computer backups, and setting system restore points. Thus, you want to consider carefully when to have the device enter sleep mode. Wait too long and you'll use power. Wait not long enough and Windows may have to run housekeeping tasks when you're trying to work.

Configuring a Screen Saver

If you want Windows to use a screen saver, you can configure one by following these steps:

Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Personalize. Next, on the Personalization page, click Lock Screen in the left column.
In the main pane, scroll down and click the Screen Saver Settings link to open the Screen Saver Settings dialog box.
Use the Screen Saver list, to select a screen saver.
Although you can install additional screen savers, the standard options are as follows:
- (None):
  Turns off the screen saver.
- 3D Text:
  Displays the system time or custom text as a 3D message against a black background. (Uses the file %WinDir%\System32\SsText3d.scr)
- Blank:
  Displays a blank screen (a black background with no text or images). (Uses the file %WinDir%\System32\Scrnsave.scr)
- Bubbles:
  Displays multicolored bubbles floating across your desktop while the open windows and documents on the desktop remain visible. (Uses the file %WinDir%\System32\Bubbles.scr)
- Mystify:
  Displays arcing bands of lines in various geometric patterns against a black background. (Uses the file %WinDir%\System32\Mystify.scr)
- Photos:
  Displays photos and videos from a selected folder as a slideshow. Make sure you know what images will be shown before you set this up to avoid potential embarrassment. (Uses the file %WinDir%\System32\PhotoScreensaver.scr)
- Ribbons:
  Displays ribbons of various thicknesses and changing lines against a black background. (Uses the file %WinDir%\System32\Ribbons.scr)
Password-protect the screen saver by selecting On Resume, Display Logon Screen. Clear this option only if you do not want to use password protection.
Use the Wait control to specify how long the computer must be idle before the screen saver is activated. At home, a reasonable value is between 10 and 15 minutes. At the office, you might want to set this to between 5 and 7 minutes. In many offices, the Wait setting is set by corporate policy and cannot be changed.
Click OK.

The Photos and 3D Text screen savers have additional options (as will just about any custom screen savers you install). The Photos screen saver displays a slideshow of photos, such as your portfolio or family pictures.

To customize the Photos screen saver, follow these steps:

In the Screen Saver Settings dialog box, select Photos, and then click Settings to display the Photos Screen Saver dialog box shown.
By default, this screen saver displays the images in your Pictures library, which is a combination of your My Pictures folder and the Public Pictures folder. To use photos from a different folder, click Browse, and then select the folder you want to use.
Use Slide Show Speed list to set the speed of the slideshow. The options are Slow, Medium, and Fast.
Photos are displayed in alphanumeric order by default. If you want to shuffle the photos and display them in random order, select the Shuffle Pictures check box.
Click Save, and then click OK.

To customize the 3D Text screen saver, follow these steps:

In the Screen Saver Settings dialog box, select 3D Text, and then click Settings to display the 3D Text Settings dialog box shown.
Display the current time or a custom message as 3D text. To display the current time as 3D text, select Time. To display a custom message as 3D text, select Custom Text and type your message.
Click Choose Font, and then use the Font dialog box to set the font for the 3D text. The default font is Tahoma.
Use the Resolution slider to control the display resolution of the text and the Size slider to control the size of the text. The higher the resolution and larger the text, the more processing power required to draw and move the message.
Use the Rotation Speed slider to control the speed at which the text moves and rotates on the screen. The faster the rotation, the more processing power required to draw and move the message.
Use the Rotation Type list to select the type of rotation to use, such as tumble or spin. Set the rotation type to None to turn off rotation and reduce the amount of processing power required to draw and move the message.
Use the Surface Style options to configure the way the 3D text looks. For example, Solid Color displays the text in a solid color. Click Custom Color and then click Choose Color to display the Color dialog box. Choose the color to use, and click then OK.
Click OK twice to save your settings.

Configuring and Creating Your System Sounds

A sound scheme is a set of sounds that you use together. Windows 10 plays sounds in response to a wide variety of events, such as when you log on, when you open or close programs, and when you log off. Programs you install can have their own sounds as well. You manage all of these sounds collectively by using sound schemes.

Tip:
Want your computer to play a snippet from a particular song when you log on or log off? You can do this! When you're configuring sounds for your computer, Windows Logon and Windows Logoff are listed under program events. Simply use any sound editor to create a .wav snippet from the original song files and configure the resulting .wav files for each related event in the Program Events list.

You can configure your system to use an existing sound scheme by completing the following steps:

Right-click an open area of the desktop, and then click Personalize. Next, on the Personalization page, click Themes in the left column.
In the main pane, click the Advanced Sound Settings link to display the Sound dialog box with the Sounds tab selected.
Use the Sound Scheme list to choose the sound scheme to use. Windows 10 has two standard sound schemes:
- No Sounds, which turns off all program sounds except the Windows Startup sound played when you log on.
- Windows Default, which is configured to use the standard Windows sounds.
Note:
Other sound schemes available typically depend on the edition of Windows 10 installed on your device, the device manufacturer, and the extras you've installed. Some of the available sound schemes you might see include Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna, and Sonata.
In the Program Events list, sounds are organized according to the program to which they relate and the related event that triggers the sound. To preview a sound for a particular event, select the event in the program list and then click Test.
To change the sound for an event, select the event in the Program Events list and then use the Sounds list to choose an available sound. You can also click Browse to select other sounds available on the system. The sound files must be in Microsoft .wav format.
If you changed the default sounds for a scheme and want to save the changes, click Save As, type a name for the scheme in the field provided, and then click OK.
Save your sound settings by clicking OK.

Tip:
Want to access the Sound dialog box directly? In the Search box, type Mmsys.cpl, and then press Enter.

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