It is the middle of August and vacation is on everyone’s mind.  If you are not already somewhere vacation-y, then here is the perfect desktop background image for those with wanderlust.

For wide screen monitors, get a larger image to strech across the screen.  Simply right click on the image and choose “set as desktop background.”

[Photo by jferbal, Seychelles]

It is worth it to spend a bit of time customizing your PC. You don’t need to be tech savvy to make your user experience a pleasant, easy, and useful one. Here are a few basic desktop organizational/customizing/aesthetic tips to optimizing your work flow.

Desktop Background

Your PC comes equipped with images and colored textures for using as your desktop back-drop or background. What you select is a very personal choice depending on what inspires or works for you. I’ll leave that choice up to you, but here is how to do it:

right click anywhere on the desktop; select Properties(XP) or Personalize (Vista);  select the tab Desktop(XP) or Desktop Background (Vista); choose a background from the options, or “browse” through your own images; position the image;  select okay and close the window.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are icons with an arrow enclosed in a white box on the lower left corner of the icon.  The shortcut lives on your desktop and allows you to open a folder or application that you use frequently.

If you download  applications, like Firefox browser, during the installation, the program may automatically install the shortcut on your desktop.  You may or may not want this depending on how much you use the program and how you like to keep your desktop organized.  I personally like to keep my desktop relatively sparse.  I’m giving you the go-ahead to delete Shortcuts if you want to clean up your desktop (say yes to de-cluttering!).  As long as the icon has an arrow on the lower left corner, it is a shortcut that can be deleted.

If you’d like more icon Shortcuts on your desktop, here is how to make a shortcut to, say, a frequently accessed Folder in Your Documents:

open your Documents Folder; right click on the folder you wish to access from your desktop;  select “create shortcut”;  drag the new folder, which now has a white box with an arrow in it on the lower left side, onto your desktop

For an application, simply drag the application file from  Start Menu, All Programs right onto your desktop.

Start Menu Properties

Instead of shortcuts on my desktop, I like to keep my most frequently used applications loaded in my Start Menu.   The Start Menu will list automatically the applications you have used recently.  But there also might be some other “junk” on it pre-installed.  You can customize it!

Right click on  Start (XP) or the round Microsoft logo (Vista) on the lower left corner of your screen; select properties; choose the Start Menu tab; select Customize;  here you can choose large or small icons, how many programs you would like the menu to list, the list of menu items already listed, choose your preferred browser, and choose your preferred email application.  Make your choices and select ok.

Next you can populate the Start Menu with your preferred applications:  click on the Start button;  view All Programs; if you want to put MS Excel on your menu, click on the Microsoft Office folder, which will then display all the Office applications you have installed;  right click on Excel and select “Pin to Start Menu”

To remove something from the Start Menu, simply right click on the item and select “Remove From List.”

Customization is not more basic than that!  Have fun creating your environment.