In this article we will talk about a few tips that can help you make your Windows 7 experience a little more personal by utilising your favourite photos and images, these are using your computer a digital photo frame, tidying up the clutter of icons, and customising your desktop background to make a rolling slideshow.

Use Your Computer As A Digital Photo Frame

When your computer is idle you could use it as a simple digital photo frame, much better than a dull factory set image. Right click on your desktop and select Personalize, at the bottom of the screen select Screen Saver.

From the Screen Saver section pull down the option to select Photos then click settings. From here you can browse to and select a folder containing your images, then select the slide show speed (Slow, Medium, Fast), you can also select Shuffle pictures to randomise the display order.

 

Click Save then choose how quickly you want the screen saver to kick in and whether you want to carry on where you left off or go back to the logon screen (when the computer is reactivated). Click OK and you have a digital photo frame when your computer is idle.

Tidy Away Clutter On The Desktop

If you have a favourite image on your desktop you can also tidy up the desktop to get rid of all those cluttering icons by right-clicking on the desktop and, on the context menu, selecting View, then un-checking the “Show Desktop Icons” and “Show Desktop Gadgets” options. After doing this right click on an empty area on the Taskbar and select Properties. From this tab select Auto-hide the taskbar. You should now have maximum real estate on your screen for viewing your favourite images. You can still get the programs and the taskbar by hovering towards the area where your taskbar is located (usually the bottom of the screen).

Create A Desktop Slide Show

A further step would be to turn the desktop itself into a slide show. To do this right-click on your desktop and select Personalize. This will bring up the option to “Change the visuals and sounds on your computer”.

 

In the bottom part of the screen select Desktop Background to bring up the panel to “Choose your desktop background”.

From this screen point the Picture location to a folder containing your favourite images, then click all the pictures you want included (or just Select all). Make sure you set Picture position to Fill (or Fit, Stretch, Tile or Center to your preference) and choose how option you want to change the pictures – from 10 seconds to 1 day. You can also randomise the images by selecting Shuffle. Click Save Changes, then close the Personalization window and your desktop will now have a rolling slide down in the style of a digital photo frame.