Personalizing Your Desktop

The first things you probably want to change or customize when you have a new computer are the colors and the desktop background. Or you may want to get right down to business and arrange the shortcuts to your favorite programs and features for easy access. There is no right or wrong order in which to customize your computer (other than you need to have your user account already set up).

We’ll start with the big picture—the one that covers your screen before you open any programs—your desktop background. Windows offers many choices for customization. You can use themes, which coordinate a desktop background with a matching window color, sounds, and screen saver. You can also change each of these separately, or even ...

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