Windows Personalizing the Windows Desktop and Mouse Pointer
Personalizing the Windows Desktop allows you to pick a solid color, picture, inverted screen, and more. Move to the Windows Desktop, make sure no icons are highlighted, and hit the Applications key. Down arrow to the "Personalize" menu item and hit the Enter key one time. There are icons in rows and columns, and this view cannot be changed. This area is called the "Theme Gallery." Use your right and left arrow keys, and your up and down arrow keys to explore this area. When you right arrow across a row, the speech will stop when you have reached the end of the row, indicating that you need to left arrow to go back. You might try counting the columns and rows and multiplying them to get some idea of the number of icons involved. If you hit the Enter key on one of the icons a chime will sound letting you know that Windows has changed the background "wall paper." To the top left of the area where the icons are located are some links for adjusting the mouse pointer. Do the following activities. When you are finished move to the link at the bottom of this page titled "BACK" to go to the "Simple Windows Lessons" web page.
1. Press and hold down the Windows key and hit the letter d or m.
2. Right arrow one time to put focus on an icon.
3. Press and hold down the Control and hit the Spacebar to take the focus off the icons.
4. Hit the Applications key one time.
5. Down arrow to the "Personalize" menu item.
6. Hit the Enter key one time and you will be in the "Theme Gallery."
7. Use your right, left, down and up arrow keys to explore the various Windows wall paper backgrounds.
8. If you find an icon (wall paper) that you want to use, hit the Enter key one time. A chime will sound and your Windows Desktop background (wall paper) will be changed to what you have selected. Be careful if you are using a program such as ZoomText with an inverted screen. You do not want to pick a Windows inverted screen if this is the case.
9. Try picking another icon (background) and hitting the Enter key one time..
10. Hit the Tab key until you hear a link titled "Change Mouse Pointers."
11. Hit the Enter key one time.
12. Down arrow through the combo box to hear items such as "Magnified system scheme, Windows Arrow Extra Large, ..., Windows Black Extra Large.... Leave the focus on the item you want selected.
13. Tab one time and you will hear "Save As."
14. Tab a second time and you will be in a list of items to choose from. You do not want to pick one of these items unless you know what you are actually picking.
15. Shift Tab back up to the "Save As" button.
16. Hit the Spacebar one time and a small "Save Scheme As" dialogue box will come up, with a name already in it. If you want a different name, type that name.
17. Tab to the "OK" button.
18. Hit the Spacebar one time and your "Scheme" will be saved.
19. Press Alt F4 to close the "Personalization" box.
20. Practice the above steps until you feel you understand what is happening. Also, explore some of the other links in this area.