How to Make a Computer Background
Have you ever looked at the pictures that come with your computer's operating program? They are often scenes of different seasons, or balloons or maybe a flower. While beautiful, over time they can become boring. Go step by step and learn how to find pictures to use as backgrounds and how to make a computer background, otherwise known as a desktop wallpaper.
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Instructions
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Find a picture or piece of artwork you would like to have as a background on your computer. You can find many royalty free pictures online and there are some websites that specialize in offering artwork to be used as desktop wallpapers.
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Save your chosen photo or piece of artwork to your hard drive by either downloading it from the website where it is, or by right clicking with your mouse and selecting "Save Picture As," which will allow you to save the picture to your desktop.
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Once you have chosen the picture or piece of artwork that you would like to use as your computer background, then you will need to click on the "Start" menu. This should bring up a window where you can select the "Control Panel."
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Select the "Control Panel." As with most things when want to do something to your computer such as add or subtract programs for example, the Control Panel is also where you can add a background to your computer.
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Select "Display" in the Control Panel. The display refers to how everything appears on your desktop and you can not only choose a background picture, but you can also change the colors any windows, as well as other parts of how they appear such as their size and such.
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Once you select "Display" this will open a window called "Display Properties" and you will notice a small menu across the top. You will now want to select the menu button titled "Desktop." This will show you the current picture you have displayed as a background and if you look to the left you will see a "Browse" button. If you select this button, it will allow you to search on your computer for a picture to use as your computer's background.
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Select and then double click on the picture you want to use as your background, and then decide if you want it to be stretched to fit your whole desktop or centered or tiled. If you look right under the "Browse" button, you'll see where you can change this.
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Once you've selected the picture you want to use as your background, and you've decided the position you want that picture on your desktop, then select "OK" and the picture will be added as a background to your desktop.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are in a hurry, you can right click on any picture and select "Set As Desktop Background" and this will put the picture as your desktop wallpaper. However, you will still have to go into the "Control Panel" and "Display" to set the position you want your artwork.
You can find many royalty free photos that can be used as desktop wallpapers at such websites as
Above all, respect an artist's copyright to their work. Theft of digital artwork and photos online is an ongoing thing in the cyber world and many artists have had their artwork stolen and then added to products and sold. Whether you see a watermark or copyright on someone's digital art does not matter. If you want to use someone's art as a desktop wallpaper and they have not expressly given their permission for that, contact them and ask before saving it to your desktop.
Resources
- Photo Credit (c) 2008 by Regina Paul. All Rights Reserved.
