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All modern operating systems give you plenty of options for configuring the way they look and how you use them. The most basic customizations are about changing the way the operating system looks. For example, in Windows 7, you can change the resolution of the screen, the Desktop background, the theme, and so on. Obviously, you can go into a lot of detail and customize more advanced settings, but there's no need to, unless you have very specific needs.

When you first use a computer, most probably you will want to change the way Windows looks, the language used for typing, the time and the date, and how accessible the computer is, in case you have a disability.

Another aspect that you might want to customize is how many user accounts there are on your computer and who is allowed to use it and who the administrator is.

Let's look at the most common types of customizations that are performed on a computer and see how they are done.

Customizing the Desktop

All the visual customization options that are available in Windows are found in the Control Panel. To access them, click Start ➢ Control Panel ➢ Appearance And Personalization, as shown in Figure 1.25.

FIGURE 1.25 The Appearance And Personalization section in the Control Panel

In this panel you will find that Windows offers lots of visual customizations:

■ You can change the theme used by Windows, the Desktop background, sound effects, and the screensaver.

■ You can change the resolution of the screen and make text and other items larger or smaller.

■ You can add gadgets to the Desktop, which provide additional information like weather data or the calendar. Please note that this feature of Windows has been discontinued, and Microsoft doesn't provide any new gadgets except those already found in Windows 7.

■ You can customize the icons on the taskbar and the items that are displayed by the Start menu.

■ You can improve the level of accessibility and turn on features like High Contrast or a screen reader, in case you have disabilities that do not allow you to use your computer without help.

■ You can install new fonts, view those that are installed, and adjust their settings.

■ You can also set how files and folders are displayed when using Windows Explorer.

Customizing the Screen Resolution

The display of any computer or device has a specific size that is measured in inches (for example, 9″, 24″, and so on). This number tells you the diagonal measurement of the screen, measured from the bottom-left corner to the top-right corner.

All displays are split into really small squares that are used to display color. Think of the image on your display like a puzzle with really small pieces. Pixels are the smallest squares that could be manufactured and used to display color. How many pixels are on the screen depends on the size of the screen. The total number of pixels is communicated using the screen resolution. It is usually quoted as width × height, with the units in pixels; for example, 1366×768 means the width is 1366 pixels and the height is 768 pixels.

The bigger the resolution, the clearer the image is because there's more room for displaying small details on the screen. When you increase the resolution, items on the screen appear smaller. The opposite happens when you lower the screen resolution. Computer displays have a maximum resolution that can be set, depending on their size and the actual number of pixels available. However, their resolution can be lowered if needed. Exercise 1.6 demonstrates how to change the screen resolution so that items on the screen appear bigger, if you need them to.

EXERCISE 1.6

Changing the Resolution of Your Screen

1. Click the Start button and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Appearance And Personalization and then Adjust Screen Resolution, under Display.

3. Click the drop-down list next to Resolution and use the slider to set a lower resolution like 1024×768, if it is available, as shown in Figure 1.26.

4. Click Apply.

5. If you like the new resolution, click Keep Changes. Otherwise, click Revert and repeat steps 3 and 4.

6. Click OK.

FIGURE 1.26 The Resolution slider from the Screen Resolution window

If you want to make the text and other items larger than they are and you do not want to change the resolution, you can do that. Exercise 1.7 shows you how.

EXERCISE 1.7

Changing the Size of the Items on Your Screen

1. Click the Start button and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Appearance And Personalization and then Display.

3. Change the size you want for the text and other items. You can choose Smaller, Medium, or Larger (Figure 1.27).

4. Click Apply.

5. You are asked to log off your computer to apply these changes. Make sure that you do not have any unsaved work and then click Log Off Now.

6. Log back into Windows.

FIGURE 1.27 The Display window

Customizing the Desktop Appearance

Windows allows you to change the background image that is displayed on the screen as well as the general visuals and the sounds that are used through the operating system. To make things simpler and easier to manage, Microsoft uses the concept of themes in its Windows operating system. A theme is the collection of all the visual settings and sounds that are used by Windows: the Desktop background, the color used to display the user interface, the sounds that are played when messages are displayed, and the screensaver that is displayed when you have kept your computer turned on but you are not using it.

For starters let's see how to change the Desktop background in Windows. Exercise 1.8 demonstrates everything you need to know.

EXERCISE 1.8

Changing the Desktop Background

1. Click the Start button and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Appearance And Personalization and then Personalization (Figure 1.28).

3. Click Desktop Background and choose one of the available images (Figure 1.29).

4. Set the picture position and then click Save Changes.

5. Close the Personalization window in order to see the new Desktop background.

FIGURE 1.28 The Personalization window

FIGURE 1.29 The Desktop Background window

Themes can also be changed from the Personalization window. They are displayed in the center of the window and are split into categories like My Themes, Aero Themes, and Basic And High Contrast Themes. Browse through the available themes and select the one that you want to apply. You will notice that each theme uses a different Desktop background, different visuals, and so on. When you have found a theme that you are happy with, close the Personalization window.