Redecorating The Desktop
Every so often one should redecorate, but it is a matter of taste and budget. Redoing a house is usually very pricey (no matter what Martha says), but sprucing up a computer desktop can be fun and not cost a thing. One should be careful to respect matters of copyright, of course, and only use those items that have been made available for download, observing whatever restrictions the author has placed on the material.
Since I've gotten into an ancient Egypt / Stargate mode lately, most of my redesign has been toward that concept. Thanks to Chris Butler's imaginative site, Sphinx Stargate, I have a selection of wonderful backgrounds and browser "skins" to adorn the screen that takes up so much of my time. His site also provides screensavers and other images. Images available for download from this site are available in the Gallery.
Another great source of Stargate wallpaper is Ifrance.com/mbstarpages. Anglique (www.angelq.net) has several wonderful Stargate backgrounds available as .zip files.
I have a collection of artifact images available on this site.
Installing a New Background
Download the images into a directory that you can find again (I recommend creating My Pictures as a subdirectory of My Documents). Right click on the desktop and the Properties box will pop up. Choose Background, then Browse and pick which background you want. To cover the entire screen, select Stretch. Otherwise the design may be too small or repeat in an unesthetic fashion (and we can't have that, now can we?)
Installing Hotbar and Browser Skins
A browser skin is just a different color and design for the Internet and Windows Explorer windows. To use skins you'll need something like Hotbar. Once you download the Hotbar software, then select the skins you like and send them to yourself, adding them to your Private Collection. Sphinx Stargate has lovely skins in the SG1 motif, but many other galleries are available through Hotbar. Currently, my browser is set to show a different skin each time it is opened, so I never know which motif I'll see.
Installing a Screensaver
Everyone should have a selection of these, just to keep themselves and office mates amused when no actual work is getting done (and there should be times like that -- considered a screensaver like a mental health break). A screensaver is an executable program, installed on your hard drive, that comes on after so many idle minutes have passed. I have three that I particularly like.
Heiroglyphics
Colorful and in keeping with my interest in Egyptology, this screensaver was distributed via the internet several years ago. The original web site is gone.
The Matrix
Based on the science fiction movie of the same name, this screensaver was distributed as a promotional for the film.
Murphy's Laws
This screensaver is adaptable, allowing you to add your own variants to Murphy's famous dictum.
Changing the screensaver is done the same as changing the background, by selecting it from the desktop properties window.
Changing Your Icons
Changing icons is much like changing the background. A right click on the desktop to bring up the Properties box, then select Effects. Several of the standard Windows icons can be changed by selecting Browse. There is, of course, a directory of Windows' approved icons. There are those that come with Microsoft Plus! and others that come with Desktop Themes, but you can create your own in any graphics package. The specifications for an icon is that it be 50 x 50 pixels in size and .bmp format. Not every image makes a good icon. At that size most detail is lost, so you want to focus on a small clear image and bright color. If necessary you can lighten or darken an image to make the contrast better at the icon size.
Not every program will allow you to change the icon, but most will if you right-click on the current icon. I have made some icons for my own use -- some from backgrounds that I reduced to 50 x 50 and others from images or pieces of images, similarly reduced. A few are obscure jokes based on Stargate or ancient Egypt.
