Wallpaper Made Easy

"Wallpaper" is just the background picture for your desktop view and is very easy to change.  It is sometimes confused with the "screen saver", but it's just a background picture.

If you're tired of the default Windows background, you can set any picture you like as the background image for your desktop.

First, you must decide whether you want to use a personal photo from your collection or an image from the web. In this age of digital photography, you probably have thousands to choose from.

If you still can't find what you're looking for, do a search for 'Free Wallpaper' using 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!

To set a personal photo or a web photo using the above Save Picture As method, simply follow these instructions:

First, right-click your mouse on your current Wallpaper and click on Properties. In the pop up called Display Properties, 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 which will show how it really displays. Sometimes, it may appear distored.

If you're not happy with what's showing on the small computer - it could be because the image was smaller/larger or the wrong aspect ratio to your screen resolution - this next 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 is smaller than your screen resolution. If you want your photo to be stretched 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.

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.

A helpful tip: Try to make sure any photos you are going to use for Wallpaper are the same (or comparable) size to your screen resolution.