Modifying a Theme You can customize a theme by changing any of its four elements. If you save the customized theme, you can switch to it at any time. In this section, we discuss three theme elements you can change: the desktop background, the window color, and the sound scheme. See Also For information about screen savers, see “Implementing a Screen Saver” later in this chapter. Desktop Background You can easily change the background image displayed on the Windows desktop. To display the desktop background options, open the Personalization window of Control Panel, and then click Desktop Background. In the Desktop Background window, you can select from a variety of backgrounds. Modifying a Theme 301 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 302 Chapter 9 Change Visual Elements Your choice of desktop background usually reflects your personal taste—what you like to see when your program windows are minimized or closed. Some people prefer simple backgrounds that don’t obscure their desktop icons, and others prefer photos of family members, pets, or favorite places. Windows 7 comes with many desktop background images to choose from, including photographs and abstract art. You can use any of the photos that come with Windows, or a digital image of your own. Or, if you want to keep things simple, you can opt for a plain, colored background. You can preview each background on your desktop before actually applying it. Within any particular theme, you can use some or all of the associated desktop background images as a slide show, or you can select only one image. When displaying an image as your desktop background, you can specify the position of the image as follows: l Fill One copy of the image is centered on the screen. The image fills the screen horizontally and vertically, and maintains its original aspect ratio. Parts of the image may overrun the left and right sides or the top and bottom edges (but not both). l Fit One copy of the image is centered on the screen. The image fills the screen horizontally or vertically, and maintains its original aspect ratio. Parts of the image may not fill the left and right sides or the top and bottom edges. l Stretch One copy of the image is centered on the screen. The image fills the screen horizontally and vertically, but does not maintain its original aspect ratio. No part of the image overruns the screen. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. l Tile The image appears on the screen at its original size. One copy of the image is anchored in the upper-left corner of the screen, followed by as many copies as are necessary to fill the screen. Parts of the image may run past the right side or bottom edge of the screen. l Center One copy of the image is centered on the screen at its original size. Because Fit and Centered images can expose the desktop background, you also specify a desktop background color to appear behind the image. You can change the way a picture is positioned on the desktop. For themes that include multiple desktop background images, you can specify whether Windows displays the pictures in a random or specific order, and how often the image changes—from once every 10 seconds to once each day. Modifying a Theme 303 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 304 Chapter 9 Change Visual Elements Window Color From the Window Color And Appearance window of Control Panel, you can change the color used for window frames, the Start menu, and the taskbar. You can also change or turn off the transparent glass effect. The options in the Window Color And Appearance window control the appearance of window frames, the Start menu, and the taskbar. Troubleshooting The transparency effects are available only on hardware that supports Windows Aero technology, and only when an Aero theme is selected. Under other circumstances, the Windows Color and Appearance dialog box opens. From this dialog box, you can set properties for basic desktop elements Windows 7 offers 16 standard colors, but you can pick any color by displaying the color mixer and adjusting the Hue, Saturation, and Brightness settings. You can even vary the color’s intensity until you get exactly the effect you want. Tip If you have selected one of the Basic or High Contrast themes (or if your computer’s hardware does not support advanced graphics) and you want to change the color assigned to a particular screen element, click Advanced Appearance Settings at the bottom of the Window Color And Appearance window. You can then change the color assignments in the Window Color And Appearance dialog box. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Sounds The themes that come with Windows 7 all include a sound scheme that assigns specific sounds to some, but not all, program events. Some use the default Windows sound scheme and others have sound schemes specifically chosen to reflect the theme. You can change the sound options from the Sound dialog box, which you open by clicking Sounds in the Personalization window of Control Panel. The theme’s sound scheme controls the sounds assigned to program events. You can switch to a different scheme by clicking it in the Sound Scheme list. You can turn off sounds altogether by clicking No Sounds in this list. You can modify any scheme by clicking an event in the Program Events list and then clicking a sound in the Sounds list. When you finish assigning new sounds, you can save the customized scheme by clicking Save As and assigning the scheme a name. The scheme is then applied to the theme and is also available in the Sound Scheme list for use with any other theme. Modifying a Theme 305 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 306 Chapter 9 Change Visual Elements Custom Themes When you make an adjustment to a theme, the new combination appears in the My Themes section of the Personalization window with the name Unsaved Theme. The Unsaved Theme remains available if you switch to a different theme, and it remains available from computing session to session. However, you can have only one Unsaved Theme. If you want to create a variety of themes—for example, to suit your moods or to celebrate different holidays—you must explicitly save them with different names. When you first create a custom theme, you can click Save Theme in the My Themes section to save the file. You can then apply the theme at any time. Tip If you close the Personalization window before saving the custom theme, the Save Theme option does not appear the next time you open the window. To save the theme, first apply it, and then right-click it in the My Themes list and click Save Theme. If you no longer need a custom theme, you can delete it from the My Themes section of the Personalization window regardless of whether you have saved it or not. You cannot delete a built-in theme. To delete a custom theme: 1. Make sure that the theme you want to delete is not applied. 2. In the My Themes section of the Personalization window, right-click the theme, and then click Delete Theme. 3. In the Delete File message box, confirm the deletion by clicking Yes. In this exercise, you’ll preview the built-in desktop background options. After switching to a plain, solid-color background, you will specify a non-transparent color for borders, the Start menu, and the taskbar. Then you’ll save the combination as a custom theme. SET UP You don’t need any practice files to complete this exercise. Follow the steps Apply the Nature theme (see the previous exercise), open Control Panel, and then follow the steps. 1. In the Appearance and Personalization category of Control Panel, click Change desktop background. The Desktop Background window opens. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. The check marks in the upper-left corners of six Nature images indicate that those images will be displayed, rotating according to the Change Picture Every setting. The Desktop Background window displays thumbnails of the images available when Windows Desktop Backgrounds is selected in the Picture Location list. The thumb- nails of the available images are grouped in themes, with the theme containing your current desktop background displayed. Any images in the theme that will be displayed as the desktop background are identified by a check mark in their upper- left corner. In this case, all of the Nature images have check marks. 2. With Windows Desktop Backgrounds selected in the Picture Location list, clear the check boxes of all but two of the Nature images. Then select the check boxes of two Landscapes images. 3. In the Change picture every list, click 10 seconds, and then watch as a slide show of the two Nature images and the two Landscapes images is displayed on the desktop behind the window. Tip To display the pictures in random order instead of sequentially, select the Shuffle check box. 4. In the Picture Location list, click Pictures Library. The Desktop Background window changes to display the pictures in the Pictures library. Modifying a Theme 307 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 308 Chapter 9 Change Visual Elements Any picture in your Pictures library can be used as a desktop background. These photographs come with Windows 7 and are stored in the Public Pictures\ Sample Pictures folder. You can find a link to that folder in your personal Pictures library. If you have stored any of your own pictures in this library, their thumbnails are also available for display as your desktop background. Tip To use pictures that are stored in a folder other than your Pictures library, click Browse to the right of the Picture Location list, and then in the Browse For Folder dialog box, navigate to that folder, and click OK. In the Desktop Background window, the Picture Location box now shows the path of the selected folder, and thumbnails of all the pictures stored in that folder are displayed so that you can click the pictures you want to use as your desktop background. 5. In the Picture Location list, click Top Rated Photos. The list now displays a subset of photographs that have a rating of four or five stars. Tip You can rate the pictures in your Pictures library to limit the desktop display to your favorites. For information about rating files, see “Working with Folder and File Properties” in Chapter 5, “Manage Folders and Files.” 6. Point to each picture in turn to display information about it, including its rating. Then clear the check boxes of all the images except Koala, Penguins, and Tulips. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 7. Below the thumbnails, in the Picture position list, click Center. On your desktop, the picture changes to its actual dimensions. Depending on your screen resolution, this might result in blank space above and below the picture or on all four sides. Troubleshooting Results can vary depending on your hardware. 8. Below Picture position, click Change background color. The Color dialog box opens. You can select which color will surround the centered graphic. 9. In the Color dialog box, click any color you like, and then click OK. The blank space around the picture changes to the selected color. 10. After waiting a few seconds to see the picture behind the window change, in the Picture Location list, click Solid Colors. The Desktop Background window changes to display a set of more than 30 basic colors. Modifying a Theme 309 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 310 Chapter 9 Change Visual Elements If none of these colors suits your needs, you can click More to display the Color dialog box, from which you can select any color. 11. Click the second color in the first row (white), and then click Save changes to apply your background selection and return to the Personalization window. A thumbnail of the customized theme appears in the My Themes section. 12. At the bottom of the Personalization window, click Window Color. 13. In the Window Color and Appearance window, click the first color in the first row (Sky), and then drag the window by its title bar to the lower-left corner of the screen. You can see the transparent glass effect through the taskbar. When Enable Transparency is turned on, you can see through the taskbar, the frames of windows, and the Start menu. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. [...]... open windows, and then follow the steps 1 On the Windows Taskbar, click the pinned Internet Explorer button Then rightclick the Internet Explorer button, and click Internet Explorer Repeat the second part of the step until at least four Internet Explorer windows are open 2 Repeat step 1 with the pinned Windows Explorer button to open at least four Windows Explorer windows 3 Right-click a blank area... the Windows Taskbar” in Chapter 1, “Explore Windows 7. ” l Display or hide the Favorites menu, from which you can open the Web sites and pages you save from Internet Explorer l Display or hide links to the Computer, Control Panel, and Games windows, as well as links to folder windows for your Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Recorded TV, and Videos folders and your personal Users subfolder By default,... you’ll preview the screen savers that come with Windows 7 and then select a screen saver that consists of a slide show of photographs SET UP  You need the images located in your Documents\Microsoft Press \Windows7 SBS\ Visual folder to complete this exercise Display the Appearance And Personalization window of Control Panel in Category view, and then follow the steps 1 In the Appearance and Personalization... Windows Internet Explorer 8, see “Personalizing Internet Explorer 8” in Chapter 8, “Manage Internet Explorer.” For information about changing your computer’s security settings, see Windows 7 Step by Step Deluxe Edition, by Joan Preppernau and Joyce Cox (Microsoft Press, 2010) Practice Files  You won’t need any practice files to complete the exercises in this chapter See “Using the Practice Files” at... supported by your monitor and graphics card 7 Experiment with the available screen resolutions Apply the one you like best, and then in the Screen Resolution window, click OK CLEAN UP  Close Control Panel Key Points l To personalize the Windows 7 user interface, you can easily apply a theme consisting of a desktop background, window colors, sounds, and a screen saver l You can customize a theme by changing... Position and Size By default, the taskbar is docked at the bottom of the desktop and displays one row of buttons Right-clicking the taskbar (not a taskbar button) displays a shortcut menu of commands A check mark indicates a selected option See Also  For information about using taskbar shortcut menu commands to arrange open windows, see “Working with Windows in Chapter 4, “Navigate Windows and Folders.”... first unlock it by clicking Lock The Taskbar to remove the check mark When the taskbar is unlocked, you can control its position and size in the following ways: l You can dock the taskbar at the top, bottom, or on either side of the desktop by dragging it to the edge of the screen against which you want to dock it Tip  If your computer system includes multiple screen displays, you can dock the taskbar... on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark Modifying the Taskbar   3 27 l When the taskbar is docked at the top or bottom, you can expand it to be up to half the height of your screen by dragging its border down or up l When the taskbar is docked on the left or right, you can expand it to be up to half the width of your screen by dragging its border right or left See Also  You can change the location... You can also open this window directly by right-clicking the Windows 7 desktop and then clicking Screen Resolution In the Screen Resolution window, you can change the appearance of your display Tip  If you have more than one monitor installed, select the monitor you want to change before proceeding with the next step You can easily determine which monitor is which by clicking the Identify button A large... system has an internal clock that keeps track of the date and time, even when the computer is turned off By default, Windows 7 displays this system date and time in the notification area at the right end of the taskbar The internal clock controls a number of behind-the-scenes settings and is also used by Windows and your programs to maintain an accurate record of happenings on your computer See Also  For . information about changing your computer’s security settings, see Windows 7 Step by Step Deluxe Edition, by Joan Preppernau and Joyce Cox (Microsoft Press, 2010) Change Visual Elements By default, the themes that come with Windows 7 do not include screen savers. However, you can customize any theme by adding one of the