BITMAPS

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BITMAP IMAGES
DESKTOP BACKGROUND
WALLPAPER FOLDER

I've grouped these three items together on this page for a good reason. So you can turn off the "Show Web Content" on the "Active Desktop" but still use any image as a desktop background. As an added bonus You'll see how to put the images in the right directory so you don't have to keep them all in the "My Pictures" folder in order to use them as a background.You can also delete unwanted images from your desktop background list.

Active desktop is nothing but trouble so turn it off. Doing so however will not let you use jpeg (.jpeg or .jpg) or gif (.gif) images as wallpaper. But you can convert those files to windows bitmap (.BMP) files using the Paint program that comes with Windows or by using other photo editing software. The new image can be used as wallpaper without activating the desktop.

As with anything to do with Windows or computers there are many ways to get the job done. The following is one way to get this job done.

First turn off the active desktop. Right click an empty area of the desktop. Select "Active desktop" and make sure there is no check in "Show Web Content" If there is left click it. Just that simple.

Now click properties and then the background tab to see the list of available backgrounds. These images are stored in the "wallpaper folder" in explore or the "My pictures" folder in documents. Notice that there are different icons for different file types. What we want to do is convert all non bitmap files to a bitmap file.

Start with the images in the "My Pictures" folder. Right click one of the images then left click properties. If the "Type of File" says BMP than you can leave it alone for now. If it says JPEG or GIF than convert it with "Paint".

To do this right click one of the pictures. If you added Paint to the SendTo folder you can simply select "Send To" and then click "Paint".

Otherwise choose "Open With" then click "Paint". (95,98 users may need to hold down the Shift key when right clicking the file to display the "Open With" option when the file type is a known type)

If "Paint" is not listed in the "Open With options" click "Choose Program" instead. Scroll down and follow the next set of directions.

From the list of programs click Paint.

Make sure the "Always use this program to open these files" box is not checked.

Click OK.

Your image should now be displayed in Paint.

In Paint click "File" on your toolbar.

Click Save As.

At the top where it says "Save in" choose where you want to save it.

In the "save as type" box use the arrow to open the sub menu.

Click "24-bit Bitmap".

Click "Save".

All you have to do now is copy the BMP image files into the Wallpaper folder. Then you can delete the originals if you want to. You can also delete any Wallpaper images while your there. To get to the Wallpaper folder you can use different methods.

One way is to use File search and type in Wallpaper. Use the capital W.

Then double click the Wallpaper icon to access the folder directly.

Another way is to right click "Start".

Click "Explore".

In the folder view to the left scroll down to the folder named "Web".

Click on the + sign.

Click on the folder named "Wallpaper".

The path in Explore is slightly different for XP users. See below.

And still another way is to type into any address bar C:\WINDOWS\WEB\WALLPAPER

The path for XP is different. C:\Documents and Settings\type your user name here\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Internet Explorer Wallpaper.bmp

And one last thing. Convert any images in the "wallpaper" folder to a BMP file type if you intend to use them as a background.