Burn in, screen burn or phosphor burn in occurs when there is text or a static image that is displayed too long on a screen that’s not active, and a distortion results. Even when turned off, this distortion can be seen on the monitor.

You’d think that with improved CRT technology, screen savers would outlive their usefulness. Far from it. They’re very much around – one, they make your computer screen secure, and two, they’re fun and entertaining.

For example, if you work with confidential data and you can’t afford to let anyone see the information when you leave your desk, the password-sensitive screen saver kicks in and wards off prying eyes. As for their entertainment function, how many times have you passed work stations in your office and noticed the colorful splish-splash of screen savers darting to and fro?

Windows Vista screen savers are worth a look. Maybe they won’t make it to a historical museum but they’re a visual delight.

Follow these steps to choose your Windows Vista screen saver or to see what’s available:

• right click on your desk top.
• choose “personalize”.
• click on screen saver (third from the top).
• a dialog box “screen saver settings” pops up: there’s a picture of a monitor, and underneath this is a small box with a pull down arrow.
• click on that arrow to see a list of screen savers: 3D, Aurora, Blank, Bubbles, Mystify, Photos (our favorite), Ribbons, Windows Energy and Windows Logo.
• next to the pull down arrow is a box called “settings.” Not all screen savers can be set. Say you like Aurora. If you click on settings, Windows will say, “this screen saver has no options that you can set.” Only a few screen savers can be set like 3D text.
• if you choose 3D text and click on settings, another dialog box appears with a slew of options: resolution, size, rotation speed, rotation type (none, spin, sea saw, wobble, tumble). You also get to choose surface style (texture, reflection or custom).
• when you click on any of these options, Windows gives you the chance to preview it.

Note: If you downloaded a Vista screensaver from the internet then follow the installation instructions that come with the screensaver. You can also save the .scr file in the C:\Windows\System32 directory. Once you have saved the Vista screensaver to that directory it will be available from the standard list of screensavers.

Instead of Windows Vista Screen Savers, Can You Use Your Own?

Windows Vista was smart enough to know that not everyone will like the built-in Windows Vista screen savers. So Microsoft made it possible for users to create a screen saver with their own photos.

To use your own photo or picture as screen saver:

• go to desk top and right click.
• select “personalize” and then click on “screen saver”.
• dialog box “screen saver settings” appears.
• click on pull down arrow and select “photos”.
• if you saved your pictures in “My Pictures”, click on “settings” and there will be a section in the box where it says “browse”.
• when you’ve chosen the photo, click save, and then click OK.

Creating a Slide Show of Photos as Screen Saver

• go to Windows Photo Gallery.
• click the pictures you want to display in the slide show. If you have more than one picture, hold down the CRTL key and click on those photos you want to include.
• click the “slide show” button located at the bottom of the photo gallery.
• if you don’t choose any picture, Windows Vista will play all the photos filed in the picture gallery once you click on “slide show.”
• remember that you can control the speed of your slide show.

Tip # 1: people like to apply several themes to their Windows Vista screen savers so that pictures (and videos) can be displayed in a variety of ways. Some themes cover the entire screen with one picture at a time, while others will show several simultaneously.

Tip # 2: not all slide show themes work on all computers, says Microsoft. If the screen saver can’t run with a particular theme, your computer’s video card needs to be replaced with a more powerful one.

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But those who wait are missing out on those cute Windows Vista icons that are visually pleasing on the screen – they’re like “signposts” making your work much easier.

Those who have made the transition from XP to Vista will find that the Windows Vista icons are a joy to work with. But first, what’s an icon?

The Microsoft Help Center defines a Windows Vista icon as a small picture that represents a file, folder, program or another object. This means a user does not have to navigate through files and folders in his hard drive because these Windows Vista icons serve as his quick shortcuts and sit right on his desktop.

Working with Windows Vista Icons

Note that Windows Vista icons aren’t rigid pictures that are “untouchable.” Users can actually add, move, rename, and delete them. While Windows created certain automatic icons, there are two cases where you will have to add an icon yourself:

• if you have a document or folder that you work with frequently and want quick access to it instead of looking for it in “my documents.”
• if you have an Internet link you’d like to add to your desktop. For example, if you like to read the online version of the New York Times every morning, you go to the home page, click on “file” and then click on “send to”. You choose “desktop” and a Windows Vista icon is then created and stays on your desktop.

Using Windows Vista Icons to Add Program Shortcuts

Follow these steps to create icons to designate shortcuts for your programs/files:

• Click “start.”
• Choose “documents” or “programs” (depending which one you want to create a shortcut for).
• Find the document or folder you want to create an icon for.
• Right click on that document or folder. Then click “send to” and then choose “desktop”. A Windows Vista icon will be sent to your desktop.

You can also change the standard Windows desktop icons (such as the recycle bin) to personalize them.

Replacing Standard Windows Desktop Icons with Windows Vista Icons

• right click on your desktop and select “personalize” from the menu.
• look on the left side of the next window and then select “change desktop icons.”
• then select the particular icon you want to change.
• click on the “change icon” button. It will open a dialogue box entitled “chance icon.” This lists the available icons in an executable or icon file. You can also browse in the folder of icons you may have downloaded earlier from the Internet.

Changing a Windows Vista Icon of a Folder

• right click on the folder’s icon.
• select “properties” from the drop down menu.
• click on the “customize” tab in the properties box.
• click on the “change icon” button located at the bottom of the dialog box.

Note: if you don’t want to use the standard Windows icons, click the “browse” button to look in your hard drive for the desired icon and then click the “open” button to select. Click OK.

Changing all Icons at Once

There is an IconPackager program created by a company called Stardock that allows users to change all of their Windows icons at once by applying a package of icons to replace the ones that come with your Windows PC.

IconPackager has the functionality to change hundreds of icons from “My Computer”, “Recycle Bin”, Folders, to specific file format icons such as .doc and .xls files and any other file type a user wishes to use. This program also supports the new “live” folder previews.

It can also

• allow users to explore icon libraries via the Icon Explorer.
• the shell integration feature enables browsing users to right-click any of their files and and go to the added “Icon” tab and change the icon.

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Just as you would jazz up your bedroom or dining room with special wallpaper, you’d want to do the same for your computer screen. And whatever Windows Vista wallpaper you choose, it will no doubt add oomph to your screen, making it more visually appealing.

The simplest definition then for a Windows Vista wallpaper is the background or the picture that covers your desktop.

Change Your Desktop with Windows Vista Wallpapers

Any time you get tired of Vista’s usual scene, you can change it and pick any one of the dozen or so alternatives that came with your Vista program. Follow these steps:

• go to any blank spot on your desktop and right-click.
• choose “Personalize” and a box will appear with 7 options.
• choose the Desktop Background option (second from the top).
• you now have a box that says “choose your desktop background”. You will see colored squares which constitute your first choice: solid colors.
• if you don’t like solid colors, click on the tiny box with the pull down arrow. The words “picture location” appear right on the left of this tiny box.
• click the arrow down. You’ll see that you have at least three choices: windows wallpapers, pictures, sample pictures, and public pictures.
• click on windows wallpapers. This is your most exciting moment. The box will now display a whole array of Windows Vista wallpapers classified thus:

– black and white (4 choices)
– clouds (7 choices)
– horizon (7 choices)
– light auras (5 choices)
– paintings (4 choices)
– vistas (9 choices)
– wave (7 choices)
– splash (6 choices)
– textures (7 choices)

• feel free to browse all of the wallpapers and when you’ve settled on one, click it and Windows will automatically replace your present desktop wallpaper with the one you selected.
• you can change your wallpaper as often as you want.
• if you’d like to have your own personal pictures as your wallpaper, simply click on “browse” and windows will take you to your pictures folder. Choose which one you like, click and Vista does the rest!

Quick Tips for Windows Vista Wallpapers

Not only do you get to select a solid color, Windows Vista wallpaper or picture, you also get to decide how you want to position that wallpaper or picture. If you choose “solid colors”, you won’t be able to execute this function because it only works for windows wallpapers and pictures.

To position your wallpaper, you have three choices:

1. stretched – this means that the entire desktop will be covered.
2. tiled – your wallpaper or picture will be in mosaic form (as in tiles).
3. centered – the Windows Vista wallpaper (or picture) will occupy only the center of your desktop.

Tips

• when you bought your computer, the positioning of your Windows Vista wallpaper (or picture) was given a default position. You can override this by simply checking the appropriate box where it asks you: “How should the Picture be Positioned?” Select between stretched, tiled and centered (these are represented by icons and not words but choosing your desired position is easy).
• you can also use a picture you like that you saw in a web site or one in your pictures folder. To do this, (a) right click on the web site picture or your picture; (b) select “set as background”, and then Vista will execute.
• a tip you’ll appreciate: background or wallpaper files are usually stored as BMP, GIF, JPG, JPEG, DIB or PNB files. So any photo or picture on cyberspace or on anyone’s digital camera can be used as a background.

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A Windows Vista theme is simply a group of customized tweeks that span the entire gamut of menu appearance, icons, colors, fonts, screen savers, background, and yes – even paints!

Let’s start with your desktop because it’s the most logical place to start. To select a desktop theme, perform the following steps:

• go to your desktop. In any blank area, right click.
• scroll down to “personalize” and click.
• a dialogue box will come up that says: “Personalize appearance and sounds.” Right below it are seven headers. Choose “theme” which is the sixth item, or second to the last item.
• a dialog box appears with the title “theme settings.”
• under “theme”, you have a small box with a drop down menu. If you click on the arrow, Windows Vista gives you four choices: current theme, Windows Vista, Windows Classic and browse (the browse option allows you to get a theme that you saved in a specific folder. When you choose browse, Vista automatically takes you to your downloads folder where you saved the theme).
• when you click on any of the four choices, you get a preview of the theme. Choose one by clicking “apply” or “OK”. If you don’t like any of what you see and decide to stick to what you have, simply click “cancel” or close the dialog box.

Windows Vista Themes: Few Things Worth Noting

• Windows Vista does not come with a large pre-built bundle of themes. This shouldn’t stop you from creating your own. You can still change the background (or wallpaper), colors, screen saver and how your menu will look. Save what you’ve created by clicking the Save As button. This button is in the dialog box we mentioned earlier called “Theme Settings.”
• Don’t confuse Windows Vista themes with the pre-built themes in Word 2007, Power Point 2007 and Excel 2007. Each of these programs has its own themes bundle.
• If you happen to like a theme you saw on the Web, make sure that your virus program is up-to-date before you download a theme. Some viruses are disguised as themes so be careful.

Remember that even if Word, Excel, and PowerPoint already have predefined document themes, you can create your own by customizing an existing document theme and then saving it as a custom document theme.

If you’re really into themes and like to create your own for fun, then you must be a “skinning fan” (themes are sometimes called skins). According to Andy Rathbone, noted Windows expert, you can use a third party program like WindowBlinds and can download any theme they have at a very modest fee. What’s even better is some of these themes are free. By typing “Windows Vista Themes” in any search engine, you’ll get a whole array of company names that specialize in Vista themes. But like we said, be careful when downloading.

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