How to personalize your desktop in Windows 7
Buying a new computer or getting a new version of Windows means setting up your desktop just the way you like it. What gadgets do you want to have handy? How big do you need the icons or the text so that you aren’t squinting at the screen? Do you have a favorite picture that you want to use for background? Whatever look you want, it is easy to set it up.
Similar to Vista, you place your pointer anywhere on the desktop and right click. A familiar box opens with the usual options like View, Sort by, Refresh and the bottom three options, Screen Resolution, Gadgets and Personalize. Screen Resolution makes hooking up a second monitor easy. Plug it in to the appropriate port and then choose Screen Resolution. You can detect and identify each monitor that you are using. Setting the resolution for each monitor is easy. The advanced settings allow you to see your graphics adaptor and its properties, view your monitor type and set the refresh setting, troubleshoot problems and manage the screen colors. Screen Resolution also allows you to Connect to a Projector, Make text and other items larger and smaller, and answer the question, What display settings should I use? Choosing the Make text and other items larger and smaller option takes you to a screen where you can choose between Smaller (100 percent) and Medium (125 percent). Medium increase the size of the text and icons by an additional 25 percent making them easier to see for those with eyesight issues.
Want a clock, calendar, or weather updates on your desktop? Then you want to choose the Gadget option. Not only can you choose what type of clock to place on your desktop, you can choose where to place it. Gadgets are no long limited to a sidebar like they were in Vista. You can rearrange your gadgets whenever you get bored and need something new. You can choose to add other gadgets to your desktop like games, a CPU monitor, headline news, quick access to your Windows Media or any number of other gadgets available online as well.
Finally we get to the Personalize portion of the options. Here is where you can choose a theme for your desktop, change the themes that are available, choose your background, change your icons, mouse pointer and account image. Several themes come with your Windows 7 installation like Landscapes, Nature scenes, Architecture photos and the United States. These themes are essentially a slide show that changes on a schedule that you can choose like every five minutes or every half hour for example. You can change the number of slides that are in any given theme and you can create your own themes using your own pictures. If you don’t want a slide show of different scenes, you can also choose different backgrounds either from your own pictures or selections that Microsoft included in Windows 7. This is also where you set up your screen saver if you use one. Other themes, backgrounds, and screen savers can be downloaded from the Windows 7 site.
Also under the Personalize option is the ability to choose what icons you want on your desktop. Do you want icons for your Recycle Bin, Computer, Network, Control Panel and/or User’s Files on your desktop? After having one or more icons showing you can choose to remove one or more to change the look of your desktop or to cut down on the clutter. One thing Microsoft fixed in Windows 7 was the recycle bin. In Vista, when you right clicked on the recycle bin it was very easy to delete the icon rather than simply emptying it. Now you don’t have to worry about accidentally deleting the recycle bin because that option no longer appears. Instead to remove the recycle bin from your desktop, you use the option in Personalize.
Setting up your desktop is simple and fun once you know what options are available and what those options will let you do. Enjoy your new Windows 7 look and when you get tired of it, just change it. It’s easy.
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