Personalize Your Work Environment in Windows Vista

May 5, 2008

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Microsoft Windows Vista: Visual QuickStart Guide, 2nd Edition

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Setting the Desktop Theme

If Windows' default appearance and sounds aren't to your taste, you can change them with a different desktop theme—a stored set of colors, icons, fonts, sounds, and other elements that redecorate your desktop. You can pick a predefined theme or create your own.

To set a theme:

Choose Start > Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > Theme (Figure 4.13).

Figure 4.13 Each person with a user account can pick or create a distinct theme.

or

Right-click an empty area of the desktop and choose Personalize > Theme.
From the Theme drop-down list, choose a theme.
Click OK (or Apply).

TIPs

To populate the Theme list, Windows looks in your Documents folder and in \Windows\Resources\Themes. Choose Browse from the Theme drop-down list to open a theme located elsewhere.
Windows comes with only two themes, but many others are freely available. Try www.dowtheme.com and the Themes section of www.download.com or www.tucows.com. Movie and game sites have them too. Choose Browse from the Theme drop-down list to load a downloaded theme (.theme file). For an extreme makeover, try WindowBlinds ($20 U.S.; www.windowblinds.net).
Select the Windows Classic theme to restore the look of Windows 98/2000.

To create a custom theme:

Choose Start > Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > Theme.

or

Right-click an empty area of the desktop and choose Personalize > Theme.
From the Theme drop-down list, choose an existing theme as a starting point for creating a new one.
Choose the desired settings in Control Panel to change the theme (see the "Theme Settings" sidebar).
When you're finished making changes, click Apply in the Theme Settings dialog box (refer to Figure 4.13).
Click Save As, type a theme name, and then click Save.

By default, Windows saves the theme in your Documents folder (Start > Documents).
Click OK (or Apply).

To delete a custom theme:

Choose Start > Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > Theme (refer to Figure 4.13).

or

Right-click an empty area of the desktop and choose Personalize > Theme.
From the Theme drop-down list, choose the theme that you want to delete; then click Delete.

You can delete only the themes that you created or installed, not the ones that Windows provides.

Theme Settings

The following Control Panel settings become part of your theme:

Window color and appearance (see "Setting the Window Color" earlier in this chapter)
Desktop background (see "Setting the Desktop Background" earlier in this chapter)
Screen saver (see "Setting the Screen Saver" earlier in this chapter)
Mouse pointers (see "Configuring the Mouse" later in this chapter)
Sounds (see "Configuring Sound and Audio Devices" later in this chapter)
Desktop icons (Choose Start > Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > Change Desktop Icons [on the left])

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