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Windows Vista - Personalization Menu

The Personalization menu in Windows Vista allows users to change desktop backgrounds, themes, sounds, and more. Many of the options in the Windows XP Display Control Panel can be found here.

To access the Personalization menu, right-click on the desktop and click Personalize.

Windows Vista does a good job explaining what each menu option allows you to personalize. The following descriptions are taken from Vista's Personalization menu:

• Window Color and Appearance: Fine tune the color and style of your windows.
• Desktop Background: Choose from available backgrounds or colors or use one of your own pictures to decorate the desktop.
• Screen Saver: Change your screen saver or adjust when it displays. A screen saver is a picture or animation that covers your screen and appears when your computer is idle for a set period of time.
• Sounds: Change which sounds are heard when you do everything from getting e-mail to emptying your Recyle Bin.
• Mouse Pointers: Pick a different mouse pointer. You can also change how the mouse pointer looks during such activities as clicking and selecting.
• Theme: Change the theme. Themes can change a wide range of visual and audiotry elements at one time including the appearance of menus, icons, backgrounds, screen savers, some computer sounds, and mouse pointers.
• Display Settings: Adjust your monitor resolution, which chnages the view so more or fewer items fit on the screen. You can also control monitor flicker (refresh rate).

In addition to the features listed above, Personalization also has a "Tasks" menu along the left side of the screen. Two important features located in this menu are "Adjust font size (DPI)" and "Connect to a projector or other external display."

Adjust font size (DPI)

This menu allows you to adjust the font size within Windows. The two choices present are "Default scale" and "Large scale." Default scale fits more information on the screen, while Large scale makes text more readable. You can also create a custom scale by clicking on Custom DPI....

Connect to a projector or other external display

This menu allows you to connect a projector or external display to a laptop.

• To connect an external display, go to the "External Display" section of this menu. Connect the display and click on Connect display.
• To connect a projector, go to the "Presentation Settings" section of this menu. Connect the projector and click on Turn on.