Display Properties - Windows^® XP Tips

by Bill Holder

Here are some useful settings in the Display section of the Control Panel that are often overlooked. To access these options, right-click on an empty part of the Windows desktop and select Properties.

Control desktop icons. In the Desktop tab, click on the Customize Desktop button to bring up the Desktop Items dialog. Here you can choose whether to display icons for My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer, as well as select which icons will represent them. If you check the box Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days, Windows regularly moves less used icons into a folder on your desktop named Unused Desktop Shortcuts. Click on the Clean Desktop Now button to launch the wizard manually.

Secure your screen saver. After you select a screen saver, check the box titled On resume, password protect. Now nobody can access your system while the screen saver is running without knowing your log-on password.

Fine-tune details of appearance. All previous 32-bit versions of Windows let you access the color and size of individual system elements, found in the Appearance tab of the Display Properties dialog. In Windows XP, the options are drastically reduced if you use the Windows XP style. For access to the full range of Appearance options, click on the Advanced button.

Choose dazzle or performance. Click on the Effects button in the Appearance tab to control graphical effects such as fade-in menus and ClearType font smoothing. Turning these effects off can improve performance, especially on slower systems.

Restore menu item underlines. By default, Windows XP doesn't display the underlined shortcut characters for menu items, making it hard for keyboard-shortcut enthusiasts to learn them. To restore the underlines, click on the Effects button in the Appearance tab and uncheck the box titled Hide underlined letters for keyboard navigation until I press the Alt key.

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