ABSTRACT

A Quick Guide to
Personalize your
Computer
Rakesh CK

Personalizing your Windows

Desktop
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Copyright
All rights reserved. No part of this guide may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior
consent of the publisher.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Personalizing your Windows desktop

Personalize your desktop view
Windows 10 allows you to personalize your desktop view. You can personalize the desktop in quick and simple
steps. In this guide, you’ll learn how to access the Personalization pane, which allows you to customize the
theme, color, and background image of your desktop.

Target audience
This guide and the product are meant for anybody who uses Windows desktop.

Background information
Desktop personalization is the process of adjusting the look, feel and organization of a Windows end-user
experience. It is generally done to adjust its appearance to the look and feel of your desktop and of your
personal interests. This personalization is recommended to be completed by system administrators, but
occasionally, a non-administrator can do the job.

To access the Personalization pane

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.

Fig 1 Personalize
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Background Setting

You can set a desktop background of your choice. Some people prefer simple backgrounds that don’t cover
their desktop icons, some prefer a specific theme, and some prefer personal photos of family members, pets, or
favorite places.

Picture as Desktop Image

You can select one of the pictures that come with Windows, or a picture of your own. The picture can be any of
several file types, including GIF, JPG, PNG, JPE, and JPEG file types.

To Set Picture as Desktop Background

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.

2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, click Background.
4. In the Background pane, select Picture from the Background drop-down list.

Fig 2 Background Settings

5. Under choose your picture option, select a picture of your choice.
Or
Click browser button to select a picture of your choice from your computer.
6. From the Choose a fit drop-down list, select Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center, or Span to indicate the way
you want to position the picture.

TIP When you select a background image, a preview of the image appears at the top of the Background
pane.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Solid Color as Desktop Image

Windows 10 allows you to set a solid color as your desktop background. You can select a color of your choice
from a palette of 24 colors.

To Set a Solid Color as Desktop Background

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Background.
4. In the Background pane, select Solid color from the Background drop-down list.
5. Select a color of your choice from the Background Colors.

Fig 3 Desktop background color option

Slideshow as Desktop Image

Windows 10 enables you to display the pictures in the folder of your choice, with the background picture
changing as frequently as every minute or every 10 minutes, 30 minutes, hour, six hours, or day. You can
display the pictures in the order they appear in the folder, or in a random order.

To Set a slideshow as Desktop Background

1. Place the images you want to display in a folder.
2. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
3. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
4. On the personalization pane, select Background.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

5. In the Background pane, select Slideshow from the Background drop-down list.
6. Click browser button, the Select Folder dialog box appears. In the Select Folder dialog box, browse to
the folder of pictures you want to use.
7. Click Choose this Folder.
8. If you want to display the folder pictures in a random order, set the Shuffle toggle button to On
9. From the Choose a fit drop-down list, select Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center, or Span to indicate the way
you want to position the picture.

Colors
The next set of personalization options is Colors. Windows 10 allows you to change the color accent that
appears throughout the experience, including Start, taskbar, Action Center, title bars, and linkable text in apps
and Settings.

Accent color
You can select an accent color of your choice from the pallet of colors, or you can simply customize the color to
get an exact color you want.

To Set an Accent color

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Colors.
4. Select the color of your choice from the color grid. The windows apply the changes and you can view the
changes in the preview image.

Fig 4 Accent colors

5. Under more options, select start, taskbar and action center check box to apply accent color to start,
taskbar and action center.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

6. Under more options, select Title Bar check box to apply accent color to Title Bar

TIP If you do not find the exact color you want, Click custom color to customize the color to your choice.

Accent Color Based on Background

Windows can automatically select an accent color based on the desktop background. When the desktop
background is any solid color, Windows automatically selects gray as the accent color. When the desktop
background is a picture, Windows selects a color from the picture.

To Set an Accent color automatically

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Colors.
4. Select Automatically pick an accent color from my background check box.
5. Under more options, select start, taskbar and action center check box To apply accent color to start,
taskbar and action center,
6. Under more options, select Title Bar check box to apply accent color to Title Bar.

Transparency Effect
Transparency effect is a part of Windows 10 personalization option to make the desktop taskbar transparent,
allowing the user’s desktop wallpaper to be visible behind the taskbar.

To Turn on the Transparency Effect

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Colors.
4. Under More options, set Transparencys Effect toggle button to on.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Fig 5 Transparency Effect.

Color to Windows Elements

Windows 10 allows you to customize colors of Start, taskbar, Action center and title bars. By default Windows
uses a color dark for Start, taskbar, and Action Center, and a light color for title bars.

To Apply Color to Windows Elements

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Colors.
4. Under More options, check the Start, taskbar, and action center option to apply colors in those
elements.
5. Check the Title bars option to apply colors in title bars of apps and File Explorer.

Fig 6 Colors to Windows Elements

 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Color Mode
Windows 10 provides two personalization modes. The light mode is the default mode and recommended to use
during daytime, and then there's the dark mode that uses a dark color scheme in backgrounds.

To Switch between Color Mode

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Colors.
4. Under More options, in the choose your default app mode, select the Light or Dark option of your
choice.

Fig 7 Color Mode

Lock Screen
The lock screen is one of the new feature introduced with Windows 8 and also available in Windows 8.1 and
Windows 10. It allows you to displays an image, the time and date, and can even show your preferred apps
such as your calendar, messages, and mail, all while your computer is locked.

TIP Press the Windows key+L to lock your computer and view the lock screen.

You can also set the lock screen background to a picture or a slideshow of pictures of your choice.

Picture as Lock Screen

You can select one of the photos that come with Windows, or an image of your own. The image can be any of
several file types, including GIF, JPG, PNG, JPE, and JPEG file types
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

To Set Picture as Lock Screen

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Lock Screen.
4. In the Lock Screen pane, select Picture from the Background drop-down list.
5. Select a picture of your choice from the Choose your picture.
Or,
Click browser button, the Open dialog box appears. In the Open dialog box, browse to the Picture you
want to use.

Sideshow as Lock Screen

You can display the images in the folder of your choice, with the background image changing as frequently as
every minute or every 10 minutes, 30 minutes, hour, six hours, or day. You can display the pictures in the order
they appear in the folder, or in a random order.

To Set Slideshow as Lock Screen

1. Place the Pictures you want to display in a folder.
2. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
3. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
4. On the personalization pane, select Lock Screen.
5. In the Lock Screen pane, select Slideshow from the Background drop-down list.
6. Click browser button, the Select Folder dialog box appears. In the Select Folder dialog box, browse to
the folder of images you want to use.

Windows Spotlight
Windows Spotlight is one of the new feature introduced in Windows 10. It is one of the options for the lock
screen background that displays different background images and occasionally offers suggestions on the lock
screen.

To set Windows Spotlight as Lock Screen

1. Place the Pictures you want to display in a folder.
2. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
3. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
4. On the personalization pane, select Lock Screen.
5. In the Lock Screen pane, select Windows Spotlight from the Background drop-down list.

Tip When you select a Windows Spotlight, a preview of the Picture appears at the top of the Lock
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Screen pane.

Themes
Windows 10 offers a wide range of themes which allows you to customize and tweak it to the fullest extent.
These themes let you manage and save desktop background, accent color, sound scheme, and mouse cursors.

Built-in Theme
Windows 10 comes with built-in themes where you can personalize your computer’s displays, sounds, and
many more options.

To Apply Built-in Themes

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Themes.
4. In the Themes pane, select a theme of your choice from Apply a theme.

Fig 8 Built-in Themes

TIP When you select a theme, a preview of the theme appears at the top of the Theme pane.

Themes from the Windows Website

Windows also provide you themes from Windows website store. These themes are available online and you
need an internet connection to access these themes.

All the themes available in the Windows website store may not be free.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

To Apply Theme from the Windows Website

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Themes.
4. Under Apply a Theme, click Get more themes in Microsoft Store link. The Microsoft Store app
appears as shown below

Fig 9 Themes from windows website

5. Select a theme of your choice.
6. Click the Get button to download the theme
7. Under Apply a theme, click the theme you just installed to apply it.

To Delete a Theme
When you no longer need a theme, you can quickly remove it from your computer with the following steps
1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Themes.
4. Under Apply a theme, right-click the theme that you want to remove and then select Delete.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Fig 10 Delete a Theme

TIP When you delete a theme it removes from the Personalization panel but doesn’t delete the theme file
from your Downloads folder. You can delete the downloaded theme files from File Explorer.

Start Menu
The Start Menu is the main point of access to your applications. There are two main ways to open it;
 Click windows icon in the left- corner of the taskbar using your mouse.
Or
 Press the Windows key on your keyboard.

Fig 11 Windows 10 Start Menu

 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

Resize the Start Menu

You can quickly resize the Start menu by dragging the top or right edge of the menu with your mouse.

To Resize Start Menu

1. Drag the top border of the Start menu up or down to increase or decrease its height.
2. Drag the right border of the Start menu right or left to increase or decrease its width.

Fig 12 Resize the Start Menu

Configure Start Menu

Windows 10 allows you to configure your desktop start menu view. You can customize titles, app list,
suggestion, and many more options.
It also provides the option of two Start Screen configurations:
 A full-screen Start Screen with the Start menu is collapsed on the left side.
 A partial-screen Start Screen with the Start menu is always visible on the left side.

To switch between the Start screen

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Start.
4. In the Start pane, set the Use Start Full Screen toggle button to on.

To display or hide app lists on the Start menu

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

3. On the personalization pane, select Start.

4. In the Start pane, do any of the following:
 Set the Show most used apps toggle button to on or off.
 Set the Show recently added apps toggle button to on or off.

TIP Both of these toggles are turned on by default.

To display or hide jump lists on the Start menu

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Start.
4. In the Start pane, set the Show recently opened items in Jump Lists on Start or the taskbar toggle
button to on or off.

Taskbar
The Taskbar is an element of Windows system located at the bottom of the screen. It allows you to locate and
access programs through the Start button or view any folder, file or application that is currently open.

Fig 13 Taskbar Overview

Configure Taskbar
Windows 10 enables you to configure taskbar to improve your experience so you can work most efficiently.
It allows you to customize taskbar location, notification area, and few other options.

To Lock the Taskbar

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Taskbar.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

4. In the Taskbar pane, set the Lock the taskbar toggle button to on.
Or
1. Right-click anywhere on the taskbar. The taskbar shortcut menu appears.
2. On the taskbar shortcut menu, click Lock the taskbar.

Fig 14 Taskbar shortcut menu

To Automatically Hide the Taskbar

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Taskbar.
4. In the Taskbar pane, Set the Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode toggle button to on.

To Set Taskbar Location

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Taskbar.
4. In the Taskbar pane, select a location of your choice Top, Bottom, Right or Left from the Taskbar
Location on Screen drop-down list.

To customize Notification area

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
2. Select Personalize from the drop-down menu. The Personalization pane appears.
3. On the personalization pane, select Taskbar.
4. In the Taskbar pane, under Notification area, click Select which icons appear on the taskbar link.
 Personalizing your Windows Desktop

The Select which icons appear on the taskbar dialog box appears as shown below:

Fig 15 Notification area.

5. Set the toggle button to on for each icon you want to appear in the bottom-right corner of the
screen .

Wrap Up
Windows 10 provides a wide range of customization settings to change the look and feel that helps to make the
experience better. Although the default options settings should be sufficient for most users.
This guide is focused on changing the personalization options that most people will use, but there are many
other ways and features you can customize on Windows 10.

For More information, Please visit Microsoft Help.

Personalizing your Windows Desktop
Personalizing your Windows Desktop