How To Change the Background on Your Computer Screen When Running Windows

Introduction

The Microsoft Windows operating system saves user settings under a user account. When you log in, the background image remains the same. If you haven't changed the default background, you might see the Windows logo or some other image. After you open and begin to work in various programs, your background is usually covered up by multiple open windows, such as if you have two or more browser windows open on the screen. Many programs have a "Full Screen" mode that allows users to take up the entire desktop space with one window.

After a while, users become bored by seeing the same old background. Many people own laptops, using a single computer for both personal and professional purposes throughout the day. From the moment they wake up in the morning to the moment they lie down for bed, they might stare at a computer screen, with the same background.

Many people like to spruce things up by changing the background. In the most recent versions of Windows you have a lot of options for customizing the background on a PC.

Step 1

Move your cursor to a blank area of the desktop background. Some people have several icons stored on the desktop background for easy access. Although this is convenient, it can also block your access to the right-click context menu in Windows.

Right-click on the desktop background to reveal the menu. Click on "Personalize" which opens a window.

Step 2

Click on the icon at the bottom of the window that is titled Desktop Background. This is how you will change the background image in Windows. However, note that you can change the Screen Saver image as well from this same window.

Step 3

Open the drop-down menu that is next to Picture Location. The background in on your Windows desktop is essentially a picture that is store on your hard drive.

After you open this menu you will see about five categories of pictures to choose from. The "Windows Desktop Backgrounds" category holds images that came by default with the operating system, such as Microsoft's Windows logo image. You can also choose pictures stored under your user account.

Step 4

Click on an image once you decide how you want your Windows background to look.

You can also change the "Picture Position" using the menu at the bottom of the window, such as "Stretching" it out.

Step 5

Click the "Save Changes" button to save the background in Windows.

Tips

You can download many more Windows background images from the Internet.

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