The seventh modification of the Windows operating system is not in vain that users like it, because, unlike its predecessors and followers, it received a unique translucent Aero interface. In addition, the personalization of Windows 7 has a fairly wide range of features that allow you to completely rebuild the appearance of the system interface to your taste. In general, looking ahead, it is worth saying that this is a very interesting tool for designing the system, although there is nothing fundamentally new compared to versions of Windows below the seventh. This toolkit is familiar to everyone. But here are a couple of interesting nuances to pay attention to.
What is interface personalization?
For the first time, the concept of personalization appeared in Windows Vista, but at that time it was only weak hints of tools that made it possible to radically change the appearance of the graphical interface. In considering the term itself, one should pay attention to the fact that many users consider personalization exclusively from the point of view of designing the “Desktop”, windows or panels, completely forgetting that you can use the sound settings, select the mouse cursor icons, and etc. By and large, all this could be done in systems of a lower rank, only in them such a section was called “Design”, so if you are familiar with the settings of, say, the XP version, you won’t be able to deal with the parameters of the seventh version.
Where is the design and personalization in Windows 7?
As for access to the main parameters and customizable options, as usual, you can get to them through the RMB menu on the empty area of the "Desktop" or use the corresponding section of the "Control Panel".
When you enter the personalization of Windows 7, the user immediately sees the entire toolkit and parameters that can be changed or customized to suit your taste.
Basic desktop settings
So, the first thing the user sees in this section is a window with a set of standard themes that can be applied in the design. Please note that Windows 7 personalization themes do not only contain wallpaper. They are used as a complete solution with the installation for each theme and drawings, and cursors, and the appearance of windows, and sound design. In other words, there is no need to change the “Desktop” background or other parameters yourself.
Simply select your favorite theme and apply it for decoration. All components will be changed automatically. Then, of course, all the settings can be completely elementary changed, leaving only what is needed from the theme and save it as a user template.
But let's first see how to change the background of the "Windows 7" Desktop. In the corresponding section, you can select either predefined images or use your own images, indicating the path to them through the browse button. But it was in the “seven” that a new opportunity appeared to be used for designing a slide show, when pictures after a certain time interval replace one another.
To set up, you just need to select several images (standard or custom) and set the frequency of their change, simultaneously setting the desired position on the screen.
Personalization of Windows 7 also allows you to change the color scheme of the design of active and passive windows or their borders. The tool, in principle, is an amateur, since most users usually do not change the standard scheme for windows. At the same time, the background of the "Desktop" Windows 7 will remain unchanged. To change the color, just select the desired shade, and adjust using the intensity slider. If you don’t like a single color, in the advanced settings you can set your own hue using several basic parameters. Here you can enable or disable the so-called transparency mode, which, like all other options, can be adjusted at the request of the user.
Next, you can configure a screen saver or, as it is also called, a screensaver by selecting the desired model from the list. However, today the use of screensavers as an energy-saving tool is completely unjustified, but rather plays a decorative role.
In the personalization section of Windows 7, you can also change the picture of the account that will be displayed at the login screen on the welcome screen and in the Start menu with the option to set your own photo. There is also the possibility of changing the “Desktop” icons, which can be selected from the standard set or from special collections downloaded from the Internet.
Mouse Cursor Selection
As for the choice of cursors, this is not limited to this. In fact, when setting up the manipulator, the system simply displays the same section that can be easily called from the “Control Panel”. It turns out that the personalization developers decided what they called, not to reinvent the wheel, but to use the standard mouse settings mechanism.
Sounds
As it turns out, the situation is the same with sounds. When you try to change them, you are redirected to the standard section, where you can either select the standard sound scheme, mute the sound altogether, or set your own sound for each type of operation presented in the list.
Program for personalizing Windows 7: what to choose?
Programs for changing the appearance of the interface and some other parameters for Windows 7 today, whatever you say, you can find as many as you like. If at one time WindowBlinds was considered one of the most powerful, now there are so many applications on the Internet that they simply run their eyes.
But among the most popular utilities, the following can be singled out separately:
- UltraUXThemePatcher;
- AeroGlass;
- Black Glass Enhanced;
- Moo0 TransparentMenu;
- NeonVisual;
- OldNewExplorer;
- Lock Screen Customizer;
- Window FX5;
- TaskBarPinner and many others.
Each of these programs is interesting and unusual in its own way, so you need to try them yourself, because even briefly describing all the applications will not work out just physically.
Finally
This is briefly about what personalization is in Windows 7, and what parameters can be configured with respect to the system interface (not only graphical). Actually, there should not be any special difficulties in setting up. If you don’t like the standard toolkit, on the same Internet you can find whole packages with themes. Simply download them to your computer and place them in the Resources folder, which is located directly in the Windows directory.