Viewing or changing your desktop background

Themes provide a convenient way to set your desktop background, window color, and sounds all at once. But what if you don't want a slide show or want to change which pictures are in the slide show? Or, what if you want to use your own pictures? You can easily change just the desktop background:

1. In the Personalization window, click Desktop Background.
2. Select the picture or pictures you want to use in your background. Place the mouse pointer over a picture, and in a moment a check box appears. If the pictures you want to use are not displayed, select a different group from the Picture location drop-down list, or click Browse to navigate to a different folder on your computer or a shared folder on your network.
3. In the Picture position drop-down list, choose how you want the pictures positioned in the background. Fill is the default and works best for most pictures because it does not distort the picture to make it fit on the desktop and does not leave any blank areas at the top or the bottom. If you have pictures with proportions or shapes that don't match your screen dimensions, experiment with what looks best to you.
4. If you have selected more than one picture, you can also adjust the following slide show settings:
   • In the Change picture every drop-down list, choose how often you want the pictures to change in the slide show.
   • If you want the pictures to change randomly from among the pictures you selected for this desktop background, select Shuffle.
   • If you want the selected pictures to change in the order they are displayed on the desktop background, deselect Shuffle.
5. When you are done setting your desktop background, click Save changes.

Note When you select or deselect pictures for your desktop, Windows does not copy, move, or delete the actual picture files.
If you use Browse to select pictures from a location that is not on your computer, such as a shared folder on a homegroup or home network location, the pictures can be displayed only when the location is online and available. If the location requires a username and password, the pictures may not be available the next time you use your computer.
To ensure that your selected pictures are always available, make sure the network location is always online and available and in a public folder that does not require a username and password. Or, copy the picture files from the network location to a local folder on your computer.
In Picture location, if you use Browse to navigate to a folder that contains a large number of pictures, it may take a while for Windows to retrieve and display the preview thumbnails of each picture.
If you choose Fit or Center in the Picture position drop-down list, the Change background color link appears below it so that you can select the color of the background that fills in the sides or top and bottom of the desktop when the proportions of the picture do not match the desktop.

Note The Personalization windows includes a Window Color link. The color combinations provided by Windows themes work well for most people. If you are using a Windows 7 theme with Windows Aero, some of the colors, fonts, and sizes settings cannot be changed unless you are using the Windows 7 basic theme or a high-contrast theme. Changing the window color is not difficult or risky, but you'll find that the Windows 7 themes are easier and more satisfying.
If you or the people you are setting the computer up for have special visual, audio, mobility, or cognitive needs, the Windows Ease of Access Center is a great resource for customizing the Windows experience. These features are for everybody, not just for what people traditionally label as disabilities. With age, hearing and vision decline; young or old, repetitive work or poor ergonomic conditions can affect mobility. Sometimes it's just easier if the computer provides feedback through one type of sensory input and tune out others. For example, a student may find it distracting to herself or others to hear Windows system sounds or see notifications popping up on the screen. For more information, see "How to customize Windows for visual, audio, mobility, or cognitive needs" later in this tutorial.

Setting up your screen saver

A screen saver serves several purposes. As the name implies, it saves your screen. Computer and television screens can suffer from what is called burnin. When the image on the screen does not change for a long time, the image can get imprinted so that every time you use the computer, there is a ghost of that image on the screen. (Older cathode ray tube monitors are more susceptible to burn-in. It happens less frequently with today's LCD desktop monitors, televisions, and laptop displays.) A screen saver prevents burn-in by keeping images moving on the screen so that nothing stays in one place too long. Screen savers can also help safeguard your privacy by hiding what is on your screen when you are away from your desk. If you are using a laptop computer, screen savers can work with your power management settings to reduce power use when your computer is on but inactive. Finally, a screen saver can be nice way to display a slide show of your favorite pictures.

The following steps describe how to use photos for your screen saver, but most of the steps apply to using one of the built-in animation screen savers as well:

1. Open the Personalization window if it is not already open from your previous personalization tasks. To open this page, right-click your desktop, and then click Personalize.
2. At the bottom of the page, click Screen Saver.
   The Screen Saver Settings dialog box appears.
   The Screen Saver Settings dialog box Screen Saver Settings dialog box specifies which screen saver to use, how long to wait before it comes on, and whether to protect it with your password.
3. Click the drop-down list farthest to the left.
   Windows includes several built-in screen savers, including a photo screen saver.
4. Click Photos.
5. When you select Photos, Windows defaults to the Photos folder in your library. If you do not have any photos there or you want to use other photos, you can specify another folder to use.
6. Click Settings.
   The Photo Screen Saver Settings dialog box appears.
   Photos Screen Saver Settings allows you to specify which folder to use pictures from and how you want them shown.
7. Click Browse to specify a different folder to get the pictures from.
8. Click Slide show speed to specify how fast to change the pictures: Slow, Medium, or Fast.
9. Select the Shuffle pictures check box if you want them displayed in a random order, or deselect this check box if you want them displayed in the order they are listed in the source folder. When you are done with these settings, click Save.
10. If you want to see what the screen saver will look like and how fast it changes, click Preview. The slide show will run for a bit and stop either when you move your mouse or, if you wait a few moments, by itself.
11. Select how long you want Windows to wait before it starts the screen saver and whether to require you to log on again when you stop the screen saver to resume using the computer.
12. When you are done, click OK.

As mentioned previously about selecting pictures for your desktop, if you use photos for your screen saver from a folder on another homegroup or home network computer, make sure the folder will be accessible all the time.