How to change the desktop background in Windows Vista

by Derek Coleman.
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Vista has a whole new host of desktop pictures, patterns, and colors for your viewing pleasure. You want widescreen images for your new flat-panel monitor? No problem, Vista's got 'em. Want something gritty, artsy, in black and white? They're there, too. And you can still use any picture you'd like as your background as well.

To change yours, right-click the desktop. From the shortcut menu, choose Personalize. In the Personalization dialog box, click Desktop Background.

Use a Microsoft Photo

Microsoft supplied photos that come with Vista. They're organized into categories like Black and White, Light Auras, Paintings, Textures (which take well to being tiledmore on that in a moment), Vistas (panoramic nature shotsyes, there had to be some), and Widescreen (designed to fit especially wide monitors)

Tip: If you'd rather have a plain, solid-colored background, choose Solid Colors from the Picture Location pop-up menu. You'll have your choice of a full palette of shades. It's not a bad idea, actually; you'll gain a little bit of speed, and it'll be a little easier to find your icons if they're not lost among the weeds and mountain bushes of a nature photo.

If you see something you like, click it to slap it across the entire background of your desktop. Click OK.

Use Your Photo

It's much more fun, of course, to use one of your own pictures on the desktop. That might be an adorable baby photo of your niece, or it might be Britney Spears with half her clothes off; the choice is yours.

At the top of the Desktop Background dialog box is a Picture Location pop-up menu. It lists several folders that are likely to contain photos on your PC:

  • Pictures points to your Pictures folder, so it conveniently shows you all of the pictures saved thereup for grabs for your desktop.

  • Sample Pictures contains even more great pictures for the desktop. They've been supplied by Microsoft so that, immediately upon installing Vista, you'll have some pix to fool around with.

  • Public Pictures is a subfolder of the Public folder. It's expected to be the place you share your pictures with others who have access to your computer. (Ironically, the Public Pictures folder contains the Sample Pictures folder.)

Tip: If you store pictures in a folder other than Pictures, you can still use them. That's what the Browse button is for. Click it to select the folder and make its contents appear as thumbnail wallpaper candidates.

Beneath the thumbnails, by the way, Microsoft asks a very good question: "How should the picture be positioned?" What it means, actually, is, "How should the picture be positioned if it's too small to fill your screen?"

Your choices are (as represented by the mini-pictures):

  • Fit to screen. Stretch the picture to fit the desktop, even if distortion may result.

  • Tile. Place the picture in the upper-left corner of the desktop, and repeat it over and over until the entire desktop is covered.

  • Center. Plop the picture in the middle of the desktop. If the picture is smaller than the desktop, a colored border fills in the gaps. (You can change the border color by clicking the little "Change background color" link that appears when you choose the Center option.)

Once you have chosen your desktop picture, and the way it will be positioned, apply your new desktop by clicking OK.

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