How to change your Windows desktop wallpaper for 95,98,ME,XP
This topic is aimed mainly at the beginner, however even if you are a power user you might learn something.
A question which usually arises several days after a user receives their computer, is how to change the Microsoft supplied
desktop wallpaper image. Although this is probably something which you or I take for granted on a daily basis, to the novice
Windows user it can be quite daunting. So let's step through the various ways in which you can change your image, by that I
don't mean cutting your hair!
Choosing an existing supplied wallpaper
First, make sure that you are looking at the Windows desktop. This is the screen with all the pretty icons on, look for things
such as My Computer, Recycle Bin, and My Documents. Now click with the right hand mouse button somewhere in the middle
of the screen, making sure that there are no icons under where you click. It's quite alright for the background image to be
under the place you click, just no icons. You will then see an options menu pop up. You need to click on the line of text
which reads Properties, this time with the left mouse button. If all has gone according to plan you should now be looking
at the display properties window. Along the top of this window you should see some tabs as they like to be called. These will
be slightly different depending on which Windows operating system you are running. If you are using 95,98, or ME then you
will already be on the correct tab. If you are using Windows XP then you will need to use your mouse and left click on the
second tab along, which should be called "Desktop". You can see an example of this window in the screen below, to view a
larger version just click on it.
You should now see a heading marked "Background" half way down this window. Just below the background text you will find
a box with lot's of different lines of text in. This list contains the wallpapers currently available on your system. You
can scroll through the available images by left clicking on one line of text, then using your keyboards up and down arrows.
As you move through the list you will notice that the image above in the monitor display changes, this is to give you an idea
of how your new wallpaper will look. When you find a picture which you are happy with simply left mouse click on the "Apply"
button in the bottom right of the display properties window. You can then left mouse click on OK to close the window if you wish.
If the wallpaper did not quite fill the screen then you can always click on the drop down box below the Position text. From here
you can then choose whether to Center, Tile or Stretch the wallpaper.
Choosing a custom wallpaper
The more advanced users may have noticed the "Browse" button on the Display Properties window. By clicking on this button
you can browse the contents of your hard disk drive, and effectively choose any Bitmap, JPEG, GIF, DIB, or PNG image for
your desktop wallpaper. If you are not comfortable with navigating file explorer windows yet, then don't worry as there
is still an alternative.
You can set your desktop wallpapers easily from images which you find on the Internet. Most modern web browsers have the
ability to right click on any image you see on the net, and select "use as wallpaper". In the screen below you can see
Internet Explorer 6 in action. Although this is not my prefered web browser, it is sadly what the majority of Internet
users are still browsing with. For a much better, more secure web browsing experience you should be using FireFox. You
will find a link below to download Firefox with the Google toolbar.
With the image above you can once again click on it with your left mouse button to enlarge. In order to display the popup
options menu, I simply right mouse clicked somewhere in the picture. You can then set as wallpaper by choosing the option
"Set as Background".
For a selection of really nice desktop wallpaper pictures try: http://freewallpaper.fuzzup.net
To purchase a CD containing over 200 fantastic wallpaper images, try visiting: http://wallpapercd.com
Try searching below for some "windows wallpaper", or "desktop wallpaper".
|
Can't get data from Amazon. |