Tips & Tricks

Wallpapering Made Easy

Are you tired of that boring, factory installed background on your desktop?

Well, guess what!? You can change it...

First, you must decide whether you want to use a personal photo from your collection or an image from the web. If you want to use a personal photo, you must scan it and save it onto your computer. If you don’t have a scanner, you can usually find one at a local copy shop or library. There are also countless resources on the web in which to download wallpaper images, but perhaps the most amazing and dazzling photos can be found at http://www.worldstart.com/wswall.htm.

If you still can't find what you're looking for, do a search for 'Free Wallpaper' on your favorite search engine.

After you find that great photo on the web, right-click it and select Save Picture As to store it in your 'My Documents' folder for Windows desktop use. This will save the image on your computer so if you ever change your wallpaper and want to come back to it again, it will be easy to find. However, you can also right-click on the image and select Set as Background and you’re finished!

Now, to install a personal photo or a web photo using the above Save Picture As method, simply follow these instructions:

First things first, right-click your mouse on your current Wallpaper and click on Properties. A small window will pop up called Display Properties and there will be a small computer at the top of this window showing your current Wallpaper (XP Users must click on the Display tab to view this). Use this computer as a guide for getting your Wallpaper just right. At the bottom right of the window there are three buttons, 'Browse', 'Pattern' and 'Display'. Click on Browse.

You have two choices for finding the photo you want to use as your Windows Wallpaper. You can browse through your documents and double-click on the filename or you can manually type the filename into the File Name box at the bottom left. Once you have selected the photo, click Open.

Referencing back to that small computer at the top, now the Wallpaper has changed to the one you just selected. Look what you did! If it's not exactly right, don't panic, it's easy to fix. Although, if it looks perfect to you, click Apply at the bottom right followed by OK at the bottom left and enjoy your new Wallpaper!

For those that aren't happy with what's showing on the small computer (the reason it might look strange is because it wasn't an 800x600 photo), this part is for you. Underneath the 'Browse' and 'Pattern' buttons at the bottom right you find Display (XP Users: the Position menu is located under the Browse button).

Click on the dropdown menu and you see, 'Center', 'Tile' and 'Stretch'. If you want your Wallpaper centered in the middle of your desktop, select Center. This is good if you're using a personal photo that isn't 800x600. If you want your photo to be stretched to 800x600 to fit your desktop screen select Stretch, but be advised that this doesn't always turn out well! Or if you want your photo tiled (repeated over and over until it fills your screen), select Tile.

Now, after making those adjustments, your photo should look perfect on the small computer we're using as a guide! To finish, click Apply in the bottom right corner followed by OK in the bottom left.

You're done, congratulations on customizing your desktop with a personal photo or ready-to-use wallpaper! You may change your Wallpaper to any photo in your documents, any time you wish.

A helpful tip: Try to make sure any photos you are going to use for Wallpaper are 800x600 in size It’s ok if they’re not, but 800x600 looks much better and is a lot easier to install.

--Julie Nealy

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