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| Atryeu Designs » Computers & Internet » Tutorials & Guides » Adding Wallpaper and Screensavers |
This short guide will show you how to change your desktop wallpaper to something else, as well as setup a screensaver.
Please note that this guide was based on Windows XP but changing the wallpaper and screensaver will be similar in Windows 95 and up. There may be differences in newer Windows systems.
Adding a Wallpaper
To begin with, you need to get into your computer's Display Properties. To do this, either follow one of the below steps:
- Right-Click on an empty area of the desktop and click on Properties... or
- Go into the Control Panel (usually found in the Start Menu - Settings or in My Computer) and double-click on Display.
Either way will bring up he same window. Doing it from the desktop is usually faster though. Once the Display Properties window opens, click on the Desktop tab.
From there, you can either select a new background from the list box or you can click on the Browse button to select a background you made or downloaded from the internet. A preview of
the new background will be displayed and from there you can make further adjustments. If the background is smaller than your current monitor settings, you can set the Position to Center so
the image is aligned in the center of the screen or Stretch which stretches it to fit your screen. If your background is a seamless pattern, you can use the Tile option to fill the whole screen.
You can change the Color setting if you wish as well. If the background is centered and does not fill the whole screen, this color will fill the rest of the screen for you. If the image does fill the
whole screen, it will be seen as a background behind the text of your icons. For example, if it was set to black, you would see something like the below under your icons.
Finally, if you click Customize you are given a few extra options to alter your desktop. The General tab allows you to choose if you want My Documents, My Computer and My Networks displayed, you can
change the icons used for those items as well as the Trash bin and also setup the Cleanup Wizard which can remove icons from the desktop that haven't been used in 60 days. The Web tab allows you to setup
web content to be displayed on your desktop.
Don't forget to click Apply and Ok before you close the window if you make changes.
Adding a Screensaver
A screensaver is greatly recomended if you leave your computer on for multiple hours or all day and night and are not using it. You want a screensaver that has motion and does not contain stationary images.
This helps prevent images from being burnt into your screen.
To setup a Screensaver, start by opening up the Display Properties like you did for the Wallpaper and click on the Screen Saver tab.
Click the Drop Down list and you should have several default screensavers to choose from. You can also find a large variety online to download as well, just make sure they do not have a stationary image.
Once a screensaver is selected it will be previewed in the small monitor image at the top of that window. Depending on the screensaver, the Settings button may become active. You can adjust special settings
from there. For example, in the Starfield screensaver, you can adjust how many stars are displayed at once and how fast they move.
Under "Wait" select a length of time for the screensaver to wait before it comes up. I have mine set to 1 minute so it comes up within 1 minute of no user activity. If you have a password set to get into your desktop, you can select the checkbox as well to ask for a password when the screensaver turns off. Don't select this if you do not have a password.
You can click the Preview button to preview your screensaver right off. Under the Monitor Power, not all settings are supported by all monitors. It allows you to set various settings to help save energy but I
will not cover that in this guide.
This concludes this guide. Check the other tutorials and guides for further ways to make your desktop your own!
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