Customizing Your PC

Last Modified: 1/11/1999

Customizing Your PC Considerations: It can be very useful to customize the appearance of your PC but you need to be careful that: You carefully mark down the default settings in each option before you change them so you can go back if unexpected changes occur In some options (such as changing the Window color or Message Text font) you can observe the changes in a preview window before they take place, and if the results are not to your liking, you can either restore the default, or click on CANCEL. Don't customize your PC to the point where no one else can understand it and navigate it or you won't be able to get help from anyone if you run into trouble What to customize: typically you might wish to customize The overall font size The size and font size of icons that appear on your desktop The vertical/horizontal distances between icons on your desktop The resolution and color depth of your monitor The "Wallpaper" background The screen saver The desktop icons which serve as shortcuts Lets look at how we make these changes: To change the resolution, color depth (color palette), and overall font size for you screen, you Click on START > SETTINGS > CONTROL PANEL and then double-click on the "Display" icon Select the "Settings" tab Record the default values Select the combination of the maximum color palette and Desktop area (in terms of pixels) that you system can display (it depends on the make and model of you monitor and the size of your video RAM). For an inexpensive monitor and small video RAM, 16 bit color and 1024 x 768 pixels is an acceptable combination. You can also change the font size for all the text on the screen by clicking on the ADVANCED button in this screen and selecting different font sizes, including custom sizes. Note two things: (a) if you change font sizes here you may have to go back to the "Display" menu to resize some of your fonts as they will change, and (b) small changes in font size may have larger effects then you might imagine as the fonts grow in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Changing the size, font size, and vertical/horizontal spacing of desktop icons: Click on START > SETTINGS > CONTROL PANEL and then double-click on the "Display" icon Click on the "Appearance" tab in the menu that appears Under the "Item:" field, locate the "icon" element, record the default settings for size, font type, font size, and font characteristics (bold or slanted) Then increase or decrease the size and font size as you wish (note that small changes can have a big effect), and make any other changes (bold or slanted or font type) Then click on OK and observe the changes. You may have to change them again or change the horizontal or vertical spacing of the icons (under "Item:" select "Icon spacing (Vertical)" or "Icon spacing (Horizontal)", record the defaults, make changes, click on OK, and observe the results). To create shortcuts (your own icons on the desktop) for an application that you use frequently, open the MY COMPUTER icon (double click on it), work your way down to the folder that contains the application you want, click on the file for that application (program), then click on FILE > CREATE SHORTCUT (which creates a shortcut icon) and drag the new icon onto the desktop. Here is a complete description of how you do that for a specific application, in this case Microsoft WORD: Locate the file for Microsoft WORD using the FIND command as follows: Click on START > FIND > Files or Folders In the "Named:" field, type "word" Click on the ADVANCED tab, and in the "Of type" field select "Application" Click on FIND NOW and it displays several files, one of which is "Winword.exe" which is what you want. Use the mouse to enlarge the IN FOLDER field and you see that it is located in the path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office Exit FIND (click on the "X" at the top right) and double click on MY COMPUTER and search down the above path until you find the file "Winword.exe" Click on that file, then click on FILE > CREATE SHORTCUT and then drag the shortcut file onto your desktop and you are done. You can also add shortcuts to the START menu. In this case you click on START > SETTINGS > TASKBAR and then click on the "Start Menu Programs" tab, click on the ADD button, and supply the path name of the program to be added, and then proceed as directed. You can delete any shortcut by dragging it to the recycle bin: it deletes the shortcut itself but does NOT delete the application.				Class Topics Bits and Bytes PC Hardware Using Help Files, Folders, and Directories Windows File Manipulation Customizing Your PC Handling Errors and Aborts Specific Applications: NotePad and WORD Finding Information About Your PC Connection to the Internet