Industry guru Dave Taylor offers tech support on technical and business topics, including iPhone, iPod, Microsoft Windows, Sony PSP, cellphones, online advertising, CSS, Web design, business, Unix, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, and shell script programming.     


How do I change my desktop picture in Vista?

Just got started with Microsoft Windows Vista and am totally baffled by everything that's changed, honestly. Even the most basic is proving a challenge: how do I change my desktop picture in Vista?


Dave's Answer:

I also find a lot of Vista's changes to be fairly arbitrary and befuddling too, but at least I know how to change the desktop picture!

There are a couple of ways to do it, but the easiest is to right-click on the desktop itself, which gives you the following contextual menu:

Windows Vista Desktop Contextual Menu -> Personalize

You'll want to choose "Personalize", which then gives you a pretty impressive number of different choices, including the following:

Microsoft Vista: Personalization Options

As you can see, the key choice is "Desktop Background", which, as described by the helpful commentary, is how you change your desktop picture!

Click on it and you'll see a good number of different desktop images, organized into about a dozen categories. My favorite? Vistas (since we're talking about Vista anyway, right?)

Windows Vista Personalization: Desktop Picture

I have to admit, the photos included are gorgeous. The image highlighted above is what I opted for, and the final step is to specify whether you want it to stretch, tile or center on your desktop:

Windows Vista Desktop: Positioning of Desktop Photo

Make that final decision, click "Okay", and you'll have the desktop picture of your choice in Vista before you can say "why did they have to change this part of the interface anyway?" :-)


More Useful Windows PC Help Articles:
✔   What's the easiest way to speed up my Windows PC laptop?
My Dell Windows 7 laptop is starting to drive me crazy. It's so darn slow! I've had it a few years and I...
✔   Can I force a Windows 7 OS system update?
Every so often Windows 7 pops up a window and tells me that there are updates. That's nice, but how can I force...
✔   Fix Google Drive (Gdrive) no longer supported (out of date)?
I'm a big Google fan and have been using Google Drive for quite a while as a cloud storage device. It's a breeze,...
✔   How do I open or unpack a RAR archive on my Windows PC?
I have some ".rar" files on my Windows 8 PC and am curious how to unpack them to see what's inside. From a...
✔   How can I shrink my Windows 8 Desktop file icons?
I've figured out most things in the new Windows 8 interface, except I can't see how to easily reduce or shrink the file...

Let's stay in touch!
Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!
    Enter your name: and your email addr:  





Categorized: Windows PC Help   (Article 7432, Written by )
Tagged: desktop picture, microsoft windows vista, personalizing vista
Previous: How do I forward my Gmail mail to another account?
Next: How can I use a Creative Zen Vision on a Mac?




Reader Comments To Date: 4

Mr. Jones said, on June 13, 2007 10:58 AM:

Thank you for your help. This windows is driving me crazy!

Mr. Jones
jones@poncacity.net

francheska said, on August 19, 2007 6:00 PM:

i think dave can help most people becuase you just dont want trees you want something else. thank you dave

Jodi said, on June 27, 2008 11:05 PM:

i have bought a new laptop and it comes with Vista. I want to change the language (help etc) to German from English. Is this possible??

mechanicalmikel said, on June 15, 2009 8:56 AM:

how can I use a .html doc as my Vista desktop when in Desktop Background it only allows the selection of pictures.

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











I will never send you any unsolicited email. Ever.






Check This Out Too...

 
Look for Answers
Need Help? Ask Dave Taylor!


Follow Me on Pinterest

Find Me on Google+
ADT on G+
© 2002 - 2013 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site. Further, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site. My lawyer says "Thanks".
"Ask Dave Taylor®" is a registered trademark of Intuitive Systems, LLC.