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GADGET GAL BY MOLLY O'NEIL

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Desktop Destiny & Beyond

posted 03/04/2010
Does your desktop (what you see when you turn on your monitor) look like this?

Lots of junk icons, plain background, no My Computer or My Documents, you hardly know what most icons are for. Let's hear it for Display Properties! By using Display Properties you can get your desktop to look like this:

Look! No junk icons, in fact, all icons are gone. Who needs them anyway?? Free yourself of desktop icons. Instead, if you look at the blue bar (Taskbar) at the bottom on the screen, you'll see the Quick Launch Bar. Wouldn't it be nice to have your favorite program icons in the Quick Launch Bar instead of on the desktop covering up your kids/grandkids, pets, partner, vacation, gorgeous nature photos?

Deleting Desktop Icons Let's get going on this. You can delete unnecessary icons by:

  1. Clicking on icon, hold down left mouse button and drag to trash

  2. Right click on icon and click on delete

  3. Your browser may not support display of this image. You should see a box:

  4. Click on Delete Shortcut

You can also delete more than one icon by clicking on the first icon, hold down CTRL for the others and then use the directions above to delete all the icons.

The Quick Launch can add simplicity to your computing, it's also just one click to open programs. To put an icon in your Quick Launch:

If you can't find your Quick Launch, right click on an open spot on the Taskbar, click on Toolbars then Quick Launch. To make Quick Launch icons bigger, right click inside Quick Launch bar and then click on View then on Large Icons.

Adding Icons to Quick Launch
  1. Click on Start

  2. Hold your cursor over All Programs

  3. Find the program you would like to put in the Quick Launch

  4. Right click on that icon

  5. Move your cursor over Send To

  6. Click on Desktop (create Shortcut)

  7. Find the shortcut you just created and pull it on to the Quick Launch bar. You can delete the extra icon on the Desktop.

If your icon will not pin to the Quick Launch, you may need to unlock the Taskbar. To unlock the Taskbar, right click on it: A Context Menu will pop up, if Lock the Taskbar has a checkmark next to it, click on the words Lock the Taskbar and the check will disappear and you can change characteristics of the Taskbar.

One of the first things you might want to change is the length of the Quick Launch to fit in more icons. You can do this by putting your cursor over the line to the right of the last icon in the Quick Launch. An arrow like this should appear.

Click and hold your cursor and pull right to make it bigger, left smaller.

Desktop Background

Now we'll set the desktop picture. To do this, move your cursor to an open space on the desktop, click the right button (the bipartisan button) of your mouse, somewhere on your desktop (but not an icon).

A context menu will pop up; you can click right or left on Properties at the bottom of the context menu.

The Display Properties box will pop up, click on the Desktop Tab:

You can make more changes using the other tabs in the Display Properties box, Appearance and Advanced Properties are shown below.

The boxes below are under Screen Saver: (Note: I do not use a screen saver. In my experience it can mess up Windows and cause your computer to run slower) Why all my settings under power schemes are on Never is a mystery to me.

Now you should have your favorite picture on your desktop background.

To delete icons on the Desktop or in the Quick Launch Bar right click and click on Delete in the Context Menu.

Start Menu Items

Would you like to add frequently used programs to your Start Menu?

First, click on Start then All Programs. Right click on the icon of the frequently used program, click on Pin to Start Menu.

To delete any pinned icons, right click on them and click on delete. The Start Menu items may be moved up and down in the menu. I put my maintenance programs at the top: CCleaner (available at ccleaner.com) and Disk Defragmenter. I also keep a Calculator there for quick access.

Positioning Taskbar What about that Taskbar? Do you ever find it on the right, left or top of your screen? Move your cursor to a spot on the Taskbar that's “empty” (no icons, etc.) Click and hold your right mouse button down and pull the mouse in an arch to bring it to the bottom of the screen.

Give yourself an extra half hour of fun on the Internet, take a walk or take a nap if you followed this article in its entirety! You can make your computer desktop hip and homey, you decide.

In a future column: Mac &: Windows 7 Desktop

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Do you happen to know if the "Base" application is compatible with micro$oft access.mdb (office 2000 to 2003 level) files? Thx.

Jim Slocomb

ANSWER:

Thanks for your question Jim. Click on this link to find out how to make the two types of files compatible. It is an OpenOffice.org website and I hope it will answer your question. In my experience, most OpenOffice.org programs will work with Microsoft programs. This may include saving your document as an .mdb file in Base. Give the web page a read. Good Luck!

Contact Molly at GadgetGal@sanjuanislander.com.

ABOUT GADGET GAL: This bi-weekly column will present readers with information about technology in its many wild and crazy forms: computers, digital cameras, Microsoft products, MACs, Printers, Blackberries, iPhones/iPods, MP3 Players, other Cell Phones and TVs. Mac users, take heart, I will cover Apple products. What about all those apps for iPhones?

This is an interactive column; you can send questions to GadgetGal at GadgetGal@sanjuanislander.com. I will answer questions in the column along with reviews of the latest technology.

GadgetGal will also interview island experts and average users like you about their computer experiences. The GadgetGal will highlight known computer businesses as well as computer businesses you may not know. People say, the islands are wired. The GadgetGal will bring wired people to these pages.

As a certified school teacher, GadgetGal is able to translate, simplify and teach you how to use and more efficiently use your tech gadgets. Perhaps the suggestion will be; "Buy more ink" or "Just throw it off the ferry when no one's looking." (Just kidding of course!). I believe we have all wanted to destroy our computers at one time or another

Looking forward to having a technology dialogue with the islands community!

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