How Can I Customize My Windows XP 2?
Change various settings on your computer to customize its appearance, such as changing its wallpaper with one from My Pictures folder.
Your desktop icons come with various font sizes that you can change by right-clicking an empty space and selecting Properties.
Change the Start menu
The Start menu serves as more than just a collection of shortcuts; it forms the backbone for Windows environments. When adding programs to the Programs menu, they also appear in Documents and Settings-All Users-Start Menu-Programs folder (and thus all user’s Programs menus). You can customize either Start menu folder by adding, removing or rearrange programs and submenus as you see fit.
Your Start menu allows you to tailor which programs appear in its lower-left area. By default, Web browser and email programs are pinned here; other applications, like notepad or media players, may also be added here if desired. Furthermore, Microsoft controls which Most Frequently Used list appears below these items and has its own preferences; although these items remain under your direct control.
For easier removal from the lower-left section of the Start menu, right-click a shortcut or icon and choose Remove From This List from its context menu. Using this command also enables you to unpin any entry in the upper-right section.
If the color of your Start menu does not meet your aesthetic needs, navigate to the Taskbar tab of the Customize Start Menu dialog box and click Skin. There you can configure various options pertaining to its background and text colors.
Change the order in which Start menu listings appear by dragging and dropping them. For instance, in the lower-left section of your Start menu you can move an application or program up or down with just a drag of its listing; an indicator will show where its new position will appear within it. Do this for other areas as well – simply drag-and-drop to modify how things appear!
Change the desktop icons
The desktop is where you will find icons representing programs and folders on your computer, both those installed with the operating system as default icons and new programs that you install yourself. You may have some default icons already added when installing Windows; new icons will be created as you add programs to it. To remove or add icons to the desktop simply right click and select Properties from the resulting menu; through this same menu you can also adjust their sizes if necessary.
Long-term computer users often complain of eyestrain due to staring at small icons for hours on end, potentially leading to vision problems. One solution for easing this strain is through Windows XP’s advanced display settings; simply minimize all windows, right-click an empty area of your desktop, right-click again, then select “Properties”.
Right-clicking an individual shortcut and selecting “Properties”, followed by Shortcut Tab > Shortcut Properties > Change Icon in order to modify its icon. From here you can either select one from a drop-down list or search your computer for one you like better – changing name or balloon text may also be possible in some instances; unfortunately however, system objects’ icons are considered unchangeable and cannot be modified this way.
An alternative approach is using IconTweaker, a freeware application which makes changing program icons quick and straightforward. Available for both Windows XP and Vista systems alike, this program enables users to quickly create icon themes which can later be applied across computers.
After customizing desktop icons, you can also alter the taskbar and Start menu to look more like their XP counterparts. To do this, open Control Panel’s Appearance and Themes category; in its dialog box select Taskbar and Start Menu Properties then adjust options within it to make XP-style changes before clicking OK.
Change the system clock
Staying current is vital to making sure the time and date displayed by Windows matches your actual location, as well as maintaining accurate game clocks. In Windows XP, setting the system clock can either be done manually or set automatically through Microsoft servers.
To adjust the system clock, right-click its clock in the notification area of the taskbar and choose Adjust date and time from the context menu. This will open the Date and Time window which allows you to customize time, date, region settings on your computer as well as disable “Adjust for daylight savings time automatically” if applicable in your region.
Change your screen refresh rate by navigating to the Date and Time window’s Settings tab, choosing Display refresh rate drop-down menu, and entering a value from there. It should be noted that changing this value may cause issues on some monitors such as cathode-ray tube (CRT) screens; laptop LCD or flat-panel LCD monitors tend to automatically adjust their refresh rates anyway, so changing them manually would likely cause issues.
If you have a dialup Internet connection, Windows allows you to synchronize the system clock via Internet by selecting “Update now” in the Date and Time window. Doing this often results in faster clock synchronization than using local servers for time syncing.
User environment variables are established by Windows XP Setup or programs and stored in the registry for use by other software programs. After making any changes to these variables, it is advisable that any software programs currently running restart to ensure that their new values can be read by them. You can modify user environment variables by right-clicking My Computer > Properties and selecting System Variables tab; clicking New will create a new variable name/value pair or Edit will modify an existing one.
Change the sounds
No matter when or how your PC starts up, or when an email or instant message comes through, you have complete control over how the sounds play on Windows XP system. From customizing individual events with custom sounds to turning off all system sounds altogether based on your preference – everything can be changed accordingly.
To customize the sounds on your computer, first open up the Control Panel and change View Category to Sound and Hardware. Here, click Sounds tab then Program Events list; choose any shutdown/logoff sound you would like to replace before clicking Browse to access.wav file you downloaded previously.
Once you have customized the sound, click the Play button to hear how it sounds and then, if satisfied with what it produces, click OK and close out of the dialog box for good. Your new sound scheme should now begin being utilized!
Your system sounds are comprised of various files that play when certain programs or events take place on your computer, such as restarting or rebooting it; when signing in to Windows; signing into your account; shutting down, etc. Additional sounds can be downloaded from the Internet or recorded to create custom sounds for different events or occasions.
Customize the sounds on your system by editing the registry file that controls them. To do this, press Win+R to access Run command window; type regedit in and hit Enter key; locate ExcludeFromCPL registry file and change its value data to 0. You may also edit other sound files controlled by it as long as they’re wav formats; you could even create your own ringtones using this technique! Once this has all been accomplished, your custom system sounds can help inform you when something needs attention on your PC.
