Customize your laptop

Ways to Personalize Your Laptop

Computers are inherently flexible. Not only can you determine exactly what functions your laptop will perform by installing the software of your choice, you change the look and feel of your machine to suit your personality and your work habits. Just as you might personalize your office or your cube to make it more inviting, you can warm up your laptop personalizing it. What's more, it's easy to change these settings so that, with a few clicks of your mouse, you can "redecorate" your desktop for different moods.

Windows Themes

Windows introduced the concept of themes with Windows 95. A theme coordinates the entire desktop experience from window frame colors to backgrounds to sounds. To download a theme for Windows 7 you can visit any number of site which offer completed themes, including Microsoft's own personalization gallery. Download the theme of your choice, open the downloaded file and your theme will automatically be installed and applied. To change themes in Windows 7 or to create your own, right-click anywhere on your desktop and select "Personalize." A selection of the themes you have installed on your PC will appear. At the bottom of the dialog box you will see icons for changing specific elements of theme. Some Windows 7 themes are continually updated by way of an RSS feed that regularly downloads new theme content from the Internet.

Windows Sounds

If you don't want to accept all the settings of a new theme, or you want to tweak a theme, you can change many of the individual settings of your Windows desktop. For instance, various Windows sounds can also be set from the personalization menu. To change the sound that's played when you receive a new email, click on the Sounds icon in the personalization menu. A dialog will open giving you the option to change a number of Windows event sounds. Scroll to the "New Mail Notification" item, select it and then click the "Browse" button. A number of sound options will be displayed. You can even select sounds you've recorded yourself as long as they are saved in the ".wav" format.

Windows Backgrounds

Perhaps the most common way to personalize a laptop is to simply change the background image. Not only does Windows 7 allow you to change this, it allows you to set up a slide show so that your background image cycles through a set of images at a regular rate. Select "Desktop Background" from the personalization menu. In the dialog that opens you can select a predetermined location or browse to a location to view available pictures. By selecting more than one you enable the slide show feature.

External Personalization

You can also customize the exterior of a laptop. As long as you avoid covering any vents, decorating your laptop should not effect its performance. Some companies sell decals that can liven up the look of your laptop but can be easily removed later. You can also send your laptop in to an engraving firm to have writing or pictures engraved on it. Obviously, if the machine belongs to your company rather than to you personally, you'll want to make sure anything you do isn't permanent.

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