Changing your Windows desktop wallpaper is very simple to do, and is one of the best ways to customize the way your computer looks. All you need to know is your resolution, what picture you want, and how to do it. Like I said, it's easy, so let's get started!

The first thing we need to know is what resolution your screen is at. No problem, here's how to check. Go to your desktop, meaning minimize all the open windows you have until you can see the background picture. Click the right mouse button anywhere in that area, and a menu will come up. You want to point all the way down at the bottom of that menu and left click on "Properties." Now, another window will show up, and on this one you'll see several tabs at the top. Click on the Settings tab. You should see a bounding box with a slider inside of it. The box will be entitled "Screen Resolution," and below the slider it will tell you what resolution y ou have (800 x 600 for example). That's your resolution. This is also where you can change it, if you feel so inclined, by moving the slider. If you screw it up, don't worry, because Windows will go back to your old resolution in a few seconds if you don't like what you've done.

Now you have to find your picture! If you haven't done so already, check out my Gallery. All of my images come in three resolutions - 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, and 1600 x 1200. If one of those matches your resolution, then you're all set. Find an image you like and choose your resolution. What if your resolution doesn't match any of my image sizes? No problem! All you have to do is find the next higher resolution and use that. For example, if your resolution is 640 x 480 (I hope not, but there are still a few of you out there), then you would choose 800 x 600 and Windows will automatically scale it down for you.

Once you've found your picture in the right resolution, you might want to try it out and see how it looks before you download it. That's easy! All you have to do is right click on the image and select "Set as Desktop Background..." If it gives you the option, select stretch so it fills the whole screen. Go back to your desktop and it should be there. See? Easy. You may, however, want to download this image and save it on your computer. That way you have it if you ever want to change you background again. Just right click the image, select "Save Image as..." and give it a name and location. Remember where you put it! You'll need it later.

Ok, so you've downloaded a bunch of images from here and other places online, and you want to start using them as your background. Remember how we checked your resolution, we'll we're going to the same place to change your desktop wallpaper. Right click on your desktop, select properties, and now go to the Desktop tab. There you'll see a picture of your current background. To change it, you can scroll through the list supplied by Windows, of course, or you can put one of those nifty images you just downloaded on there. Let's do that. Click "Browse." Now you'll need to figure out where you put all those pictures at. Once you've found them, just click on the one you want to use, click "Open" at the bottom, and then click "Apply." Viola! You have just changed your desktop wallpaper and customized Windows. Told you it was easy.