How to Change Your Desktop Picture in Mac OS Tiger

A desktop picture is just one of the many ways to personalize your Mac computer. For example, pictures of your friends and family on your computer at work might help keep you in a cheery mood. It's pretty easy to change your desktop picture in Mac OS Tiger, and play with the different visualization options.

Instructions

1. Save all of your photos in the "Pictures" folder on your hard drive under your account name. This folder is where Mac OS Tiger looks for desktop pictures, although you can make it look at any other folder. You might find it useful to make a folder within "Pictures" called "Desktop Pictures" and put any potential desktops in there.

2. Click on the apple graphic in the upper left hand corner of your screen. From the pull down menu, select "System Preferences." You'll notice system preferences starting up in the dock.

3. Select "Desktop and Screen Saver" under the personal menu in System Preferences. Now select the "Desktop" menu.

4. Pick the folder that your desktop pictures are stored in from the menu on the left hand side of the window. If the folder isn't there, click "Choose Folder" and navigate the file menu to find your folder.

5. Look at the options for desktop photos displayed in the window. You can click on any one and it will be immediately applied. Press the "F11" key on your keyboard to quickly hide all open windows and view your new desktop. Pressing this key again will return all open windows to their previous location.

6. Play with the pull down menu options located under the photo's file name. These options, like "fill screen" and "center," tell the computer how to frame your desktop picture.

7. Quit System Preferences once you've set your desktop the way you like it. Your changes will be automatically saved.

Tips & Warnings

• At the bottom of the Desktop and Screen Saver section of System Preferences, you'll see an option to automatically change your picture. If you set Mac OS Tiger to change your desktop automatically, you can specify which folders the photos will come from, how long they will be displayed and whether or not to show them in a random order.

• Watch out for brightly colored desktops. You want something that won't bother your eyes after an extended amount of time.

• Set your screen saver to an hour if you don't want your desktop picture to be "burned" into your screen after long periods of still display.