Customising the Desktop

Whichever Windows system you happen to be using,the potential to alter it to suit your own requirements and preferences exists as an option.The following parameters are adjustable in Windows:

The display properties can be altered by either right clicking on the desk top and choosing "Properties" or using CONTROL PANEL to access the same screen.

WALLPAPER
The "Wallpaper" in Windows is the picture that adorns the desktop appearing behind all the icons when the computer first starts up. This is set by the "Background" tab in the display properties (Win9x) or the "Desktop" tab (XP).A list of images to choose from maybe provided or you may "browse" to your own if you have any images stored on your PC. The image can then be "tiled" or "stretched" which will either result in a single image which fills the screen or many copies of the image arranged side by side and beneath each other until they fill the screen. Wallpapers can be downloaded from the internet. You may find that the various versions of Windows allow or disallow various image types. In general .BMP is the preferred format for a wallpaper.

SCREENSAVERS
These are files which the computer uses to animate the screen when the PC is not in use. The idea is to stop any static image on the screen being "burned" into the display causing a permanent version of it to be etched into your display - this was more a problem with cathode ray tube monitors,and is less of a problem for LCD displays. Either way around,keeping the display moving is a safeguard against this problem. The "Screensaver" tab in Windows chooses what animation will play to save the display and how long it is before it starts up. The file extension for screensavers is .SCR and again,these can be downloaded from the internet if you wish to personalise your PC.

ICON SIZE
In Win9x the setting for large icons is under the "Effects" tab. On XP it is under the "Appearnce" tab and then clicking on "Effects".

TEXT SIZE
The size of the text in Win9x and XP is controlled by the "Appearance tab".

COLOUR
The color scheme for Windows is also under the "Appearance" tab in both 9x and XP.

RESOLUTION
How many pixels are attributed to the screen is controlled by the "Settings" tab in 9x and XP. What settings are available depends on your monitor and what driver file you have installed for your display.

Points to remember about customising the Desktop:


See Also: Customising for low visual acuity [DOC]