Part 6 and 7 of my Windows 7 tutorial were dedicated to Personalizing your Desktop with ‘fun stuff’. So best in this part 8 I begin familiarizing you with the practical Desktop settings you should be aware of

Right click on your Desktop and left click on ‘View’. You’re offered three options - Large, Medium and Small icons. I suggest you try each setting to determine which one is best for you.

If you have many Desktop icons and have arranged them yourself by the ‘Align icons to grid’ menu selection setting and want to keep them that way, do not experiment with ‘Auto arrange icons’. For if you do Windows will assume the responsibility of arranging all of your carefully placed icons and do so alphabetically. Moreover once you select ‘Auto arrange icons’, until you re select ‘Align icons to grid’ Windows will not allow you to relocate Desktop icons to where you want them.

However if you do want Windows to arrange your Desktop icons you can maintain at least some control of how they’re arranged by clicking on ‘Sort by’ and then Name, Size, Item type, or Date modified.

Back under ‘View’ you have a choice as to whether or not to ‘Show desktop icons’ and\or ‘Show desktop gadgets’. I guess the option of not showing desktop icons and gadgets was designed to allow for a more panoramic view of Desktop slide shows, backgrounds, and screen savers or perhaps to prevent Sally Snoop or Nosey Ned from checking where your Desktop icons take them.

By clicking on ‘New’ you can create a Desktop folder or a Shortcut.

A Desktop folder can be named by overwriting its ‘New folder’ highlight or right clicking on the folder and selecting Rename. The folder can be used for organizing files, other folders, and shortcuts.

Creating a Desktop Shortcut deserves a walk through as it can be very handy if you want to recreate a deleted shortcut or create a new shortcut to a program.

Click on ‘New’, ‘Shortcut’
1. Type in the location of the item

Or If you do not know the path to the program:

1. Click browse.
2. Click on Local Disk (C).
3. Click on the little triangle to the left of Program Files.
4. Scroll down to and click on the Folder of the program to which you want to create a Shortcut.
5. Look for and highlight the program’s .exe file.
6. Click Okay.
7. Click Next.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.






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