Customize Your Computer's Desktop
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What screen do you look at the most? Your desktop! Why have it boring? Here is how to customize your desktop to make it family friendly!
Wallpaper
First, you will want to have it look nice by changing the wallpaper to something of interest to you or your family. There are literally thousands of different images to choose from. Some of my favorite images are in my family-friendly wallpaper collection.
Hiding Desktop Icons
You can hide your desktop icons so that they are not visible.
- Go to your desktop
- Position your cursor over a blank area (no icons or toolbar)
- Click your right mouse button
- A menu will appear
- Put the cursor over "Arrange Icons By"
- Click on "Show Desktop Icons"
- A check mark will appear next to it and the icons will hide themselves.
- To show the icons again, do the procedure above and click on the "Show Desktop Icons" again to remove the check mark.
Auto Arrange Your Icons
You can make your desktop icons stay in one place. If you turn off this option, your icons will stay where you put them.
- Go to your desktop
- Position your cursor over a blank area (no icons or toolbar)
- Click your right mouse button
- A menu will appear
- Put the cursor over "Arrange Icons By"
- Click on "Auto Arrange"
- A check mark will appear next to it and the icons will line themselves up.
- To make the icons stay where you put them, do the procedure above and click on the "Auto Arrange" again to remove the check mark.
Run Desktop Clean Up Wizard To Remove Icons
If your desktop is full of unused icons you can run the desktop clean up wizard without deleting the associated programs. Having many icons on your desktop will slow down the performance of your computer, so it is recommended to run this wizard often.
- Go to your desktop
- Position your cursor over a blank area (no icons or toolbar)
- Click your right mouse button
- A menu will appear
- Put the cursor over "Arrange Icons By"
- Click on "Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard"
- Follow the prompts to clean up your desktop.
Auto Hide the Toolbar/Taskbar
You can make your toolbar disappear and come up when you move your mouse near it.
- Position your cursor on a blank area of your toolbar
- Click your right mouse button
- A menu will appear
- Select "Properties"
- The Taskbar and Start Menu will appear
- Make sure the Taskbar tab is selected
- Check the "Auto-hide the Taskbar"
- Click OK.
Use Quick Launch
Quick launch is a great way to access programs that you use often.
- Position your cursor on a blank area of your toolbar
- Click your right mouse button
- A menu will appear
- Put your cursor over "Toolbars"
- Click on the "Quick Launch" and a check will appear.
- To add programs to the quick launch area just drag and drop desktop icons on into the area.
Moving the Toolbar
Did you know that you can move your toolbar that has the clock and start button? If you have kids playing on the computer, you may have had this happen and can't get it back to it's normal position! To move it, just click and hold on the toolbar and drag it to the top or sides of the screen.
Also, you can adjust the amount of space your toolbar takes up on the bottom of the screen. I prefer to have mine double-sized because I have so many windows open at a time and lots of things running in the system tray. To adjust the size move your mouse to the top edge of the toolbar. Your cursor will change to and up and down arrow.
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