Datasheet

CHAPTER 3

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MANAGING THE WINDOWS DESKTOP

Figure 3.7. The “Mystify” screen saver uses few computer cycles but still

looks good.

Themes

Themes affect nearly every aspect of the desktop, including wallpaper, icons,

audio events, transitions, effects, and other glitz and sizzle that give you the

feeling of looking at a completely different version of Windows.

Themes are where artistry and creativity can truly soar; there are thou-

sands of themes available on the Internet and new ones are being created

every day. Most first-run blockbuster movies have desktop themes available,

and of course there are plenty of fan-built themes for everything from aard-

varks to zeppelins (air and Led).

Unfortunately Windows comes with only two themes in the box: the

Windows XP theme and the Windows 2000 theme. You can experience the

raw excitement of changing between these two by right-clicking the desktop

and then clicking Properties. The Display Properties dialog box defaults to

opening on the Themes tab. The drop-down list includes Windows XP and

Windows Classic (see Figure 3.8); if you have installed other themes you will

find them listed here. The mini-monitor shows you what your new theme will

look like; click OK if you want to keep the new theme.

You can also save your current settings as a theme so that you can switch

between themes without losing your custom settings. Click the Save as button.

Windows defaults to saving a .theme file in the My Documents folder, which is

normally a great place to save personalized information. However, the themes

listed in the drop-down list box are found in the Windows\Resources\Themes

folder, so you should browse to that folder and save your .theme files there.

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