In: Root » Computers and technology » Windows XP » Windows XP Pro and Desktop Themes
Using Desktop ThemesWindows XP Desktop Themes incorporate many settings in one easy-tochoose package. The themes revolve around specific topics that frequently (and refreshingly) have nothing to do with Windows say, cars with carapaces, cavorting carnivores, or carnal caruncles. A theme includes six of the seven desktop levels I discuss in this article a base color for the desktop, background, settings for fonts and colors of the working windows, pictures for the reserved Windows icons (Recycle Bin, My Documents, and so on), a set of mouse pointers, and a screen saver. A theme also includes a set of custom sounds that are associated with various Windows events. I’ve never seen a desktop theme that includes Active Desktop items. To bring in a new theme: 1. Right-click any open spot on the desktop and choose Properties. 2. Click the Themes tab. 3. Choose a theme from the Themes box. When you bring in a theme, it replaces all seven of the desktop levels I discuss in this article, plus the sound scheme you may have had in place. The old background, icon pictures, mouse pointers, and screen savers all remain on your PC the theme doesn’t delete them but if you want any of them back, you have to go through the customization steps you used earlier to reinstate them. Customizing Folders In some cases, Windows Explorer lets you change a folder’s thumbnail by modifying the picture that’s superimposed on a picture of a folder. You may have seen that startling capability if you used Windows Media Player to “rip” a CD the cover art for the CD probably appeared on the folder that contains the CD. If you ripped more than one album by a single artist, chances are good up to four album covers appear on the folder that contains all of the albums. To change the picture superimposed on a folder: 1. Start Windows Explorer by choosing Start -> My Documents; Start -> My Pictures, My Music, My Computer, or My Network Places; or by running a search with Start -> Search. 2. Navigate to the folder that you want to change. 3. Make sure that you’re viewing thumbnails by choosing View -> Thumbnails. Superimposed pictures appear only in Thumbnail View. 4. Right-click on the folder. 5. If you want Windows to scan all the picture files inside the folder (including album cover art inside music folders) and place the four most-recently modified pictures on top of the folder, choose Refresh Thumbnail. 6. If you want to pick your own picture to superimpose on the folder, choose Properties and click the Customize tab. If you can’t see the Customize tab, chances are good that you’re trying to change the picture on a shortcut folder. Unfortunately, Windows won’t let you change the picture superimposed on a shortcut folder. 7. Click the Choose Picture button and choose any picture file it need not be inside the indicated folder. 8. Click OK and the chosen picture will now appear superimposed on the folder while in Windows Explorer. Although Windows can put up to four pictures on top of a folder, you are allowed to put only one on top. Organizing Your Windows XP InterfaceWindows XP contains an enormous variety of self-help tools that can make your working (and playing!) day go faster. As you get more comfortable with the Windows inner world, you will find shortcuts and simplifications that really do make a difference. This article shows you how to take off the training wheels. Customizing the Start Menu In this article, I show you the beast in far greater detail. If you bought your PC with Windows XP preinstalled, chances are very good that the PC manufacturer stuck some programs on the Start menu that didn’t originate with Microsoft. If you want to take control of your Start menu, follow the steps in this article to get rid of the stuff you don’t want or need. It’s your Start menu. You won’t break anything. Take the, uh, bull by the horns. In order to change the Start menu for everyone who uses your computer, you need to be a designated Administrator. Genesis of the Start menu Although the Start menu looks like it sprang fully formed from the head of some malevolent Windows god, in fact Windows creates the left side of the Start menu on the fly, every time you click the Start button. That’s why your computer takes a little while between the time you click Start and the time you see the Start menu on the screen. Here’s where the various pieces come from, looking from top to bottom: - The name and picture at the top are taken from the Windows sign on screen. - You can pin a program to the upper-left corner of the Start menu. Once pinned, it stays there until you remove it. Unfortunately, you can’t pin a file. I go into details in the next section of this article. - The recently used programs list maintained by Windows goes in the lower left. Although you have a little bit of control over this list, Windows stacks the deck, loading its favorite programs first, whether you use them or not. Most of the time, you’ll probably let Windows play with it after you’ve learned how to unstack the deck. I talk about the way Windows maintains this list in the section, “Reclaiming most recently used programs.” - Down at the bottom, All Programs actually connects to two folders on your hard drive. This is the part of the Start menu that was designed by Microsoft to be easy to modify. You can add fly-out menus and change and delete items to your heart’s content all of which is really pretty easy. Although you can make many little changes to the items on the right side of the Start menu (see “Making minor tweaks to the Start menu”) and you should definitely spend a few minutes deciding whether any of the changes are worthwhile for you the one big change on the right side is the inclusion of a Most Recently Used Documents list. Some people love it. Some people hate it. Read “Showing recent documents” and decide for yourself. |
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