When getting a new Windows computer, the first thing many people do is tweak the background and themes to change the look and feel. In this article we will show you how to change themes and backgrounds, find hidden themes, and create a background slideshow on your desktop.

Change Themes and Backgrounds

Here we take a look at the default theme for Windows 7. It's actually not that bad looking and some of you may want to keep it.

If you want to customize the look and feel of Windows 7, a great place to start is with Themes and Backgrounds. To change the appearance right click an empty area on the desktop and select Personalize.

2personalize

In the screen that opens you can go through and try out different ones from Aero Themes to High Contrast Themes.

3theme

For example here we take a look at the Landscapes Aero Theme. You'll notice it changes the Background and color of the window border colors. It also changes the sounds specific to the Landscapes theme.

4theme

The Background will change images periodically. You can adjust time intervals by going into Personalization and clicking on Desktop Background, which will be set to Slide Show by default.

5theme

Here you can decide which background pictures are shown, how often they change, and the picture position. In this example one of the Landscapes pictures is unselected, it will change every 10 minutes, and are set to shuffle.

6theme

You don't have to use the pictures for the specific Themes either. You can go through all of the pictures and select the ones you want in different categories like something in Characters for example.

7theme

There are several different default pictures to choose from. Click the Picture location drop down menu to explore different categories.

8theme

Create a Custom Theme

So now you've played around with the default pictures and themes but you want to make your own and customize it up a bit. You can use your own pictures...click on the Browse button then navigate to the directory where your pictures are located.

9theme

Then the images in that folder will be displayed and you can use them for backgrounds.

10theme

Once you have a picture selected for the Background Screen you can then start customizing other features like the Window color.

12theme

You have several choices of different colors and can mix them around to get it to your liking.

13colors

You can change the sounds of your theme too.

14sounds

Here you can go through different sound schemes and see how they will sound for different program events like logon, system notifications, low battery alarm...etc.

15sound

You might also want to select a screensaver to go along with the theme.

16sound

Choose the Screen Saver you want to use and customize its settings then hit OK.

17screen

If you end up with a theme you like you can save it under the My Themes category.

11theme

You can also share your custom themes with friends, family, and co-workers. Right-click on the theme you want to share and select Save theme for sharing.

18share

Give it a name and it will be stored in My Documents folder, then you can share it with your family via Homegroup or email the file to them.

19share

To use the custom theme, they will just need to double click on the theme pack file.

20theme

Create Background Slide Show

By this time you have probably figured out that you can easily create a customized Background Slide Show. This comes in handy while you're at work or home and want to easily show off some pictures. Or you just might be bored and want to play around with the settings. We already have a guide that you can read -- How To Turn Your Desktop into a Picture Slideshow in Windows 7.

333

Discover Hidden Themes

Usually the version of Windows 7 you receive includes region specific themes based on your country and language. You can access other regional Aero themes that are hidden deep in the system also. In the example below it's a theme for South Africa. To find out how to access these hidden themes read our article -- Access Hidden Regional Themes in Windows 7.

21theme

Conclusion

This guide should get you started using the themes feature in Windows 7. You might find something appealing with the default themes offered by Microsoft, but the real fun comes when you create your own. If you're looking for some awesome wallpapers to use in creating your own themes, check out our list of collections below. Have fun!

How-To Geek Awesome Wallpaper Collections