I’m bored of the standard half-dozen photo wallpapers in Windows 10, Dave. How can I change it up?
Oh, can you change up the way that Windows looks, whether you’re running an ancient version like Windows XP [please, upgrade already!] or the latest Windows 10.1 early release. There are also a lot of third party cursor apps, wallpaper programs and other utilities to change the appearance of your computer, but those I strongly recommend you avoid. In particular, custom cursors has historically been a popular vector to infect your computer with malware, and ain’t no pretty picture worth that level of hassle.
Microsoft themes generally are wallpapers, color schemes and sound collections for system sounds, and that’s plenty for the majority of users. More importantly, they’re all safe and won’t materially affect how you use your computer or interact with programs. Which is a good thing. Even better, there are oodles of free themes in the Microsoft Store. Let’s check it out…
First off, start by simply right-clicking on an empty region on your Desktop. You’ll get the usual pop-up context menu:
You can see the highlighted option: Personalize> Choose it and you’ll jump into Control Panels:
Mine’s pretty attractive, but it is one of the default images included with Windows 10.1, so it’s hardly unique and since I’m not much of a Scuba diver, it’s not really resonating with me either.
Scroll down a bit and you’ll see there are other options:
Yes, you want to click on the “Get more themes” link. It’ll now open up the Store with the themes category preselected:
Even from the preview on the above screen you can see that there’s a wide range of different themes ranging from something appropriate for your tween daughter to your zen yoga instructor buddy down the street.
Lots to check out. Hundreds of themes, actually. Here’s one that jumped out at me from photographer Josh Sommers:
It’s all pretty easy from this point. Click on “Get” to begin the download of the new theme – which in this case is comprised of a dozen different high res photos – and it’ll begin downloading:
These themes download pretty darn fast because even if they have a full set of sound effects, it’s all quite small compared to a typical game or utility application. Once done, you’ll instead see this in the Microsoft Store window:
Do I have to say “Click on Launch to proceed”? I didn’t think so.
You’ll jump back into the Control Panel and it’ll show you the new theme as an option, including what’s included in this particular theme package:
Ah, it’s 15 images and a set of beach related sounds too. Very nicely done, Josh!
A click to install it and my desktop suddenly looks way more relaxing:
Beautiful, actually, and a much better view than of the person scuba diving, at least for my tastes.
That’s it. Pretty easy. And since they’re small, you can definitely install a number of different themes and change them up for seasons, weekday vs weekend, whatever you want.
Pro Tip: While you’re here, don’t forget to check out all the Windows help on the site too! Thanks.
Thanks for the tips on how to access the desktop themes. Love the Beach Sunsets byJosh Sommers!