Choosing a Desktop Background Photo

Mark Jones asked how to use a personal photo as his Desktop Background (a.k.a. "Wallpaper") without having it stretched to fill up the screen (along with making people and objects appear wider).

In WinXP right-click your Desktop and choose Properties>Desktop, where you will find a Browse button to search for photos in your My Pictures folder. Double-click the desired image and then select Center, Tile, or Stretch from the dropdown Position options. (Choosing Center, rather than Stretch, will avoid Mark's problem.)

In Vista or Win7 right-click your Desktop and choose Personalize for a variety of Desktop appearance options, including background theme, image, and/or screensaver.
    Lorrie Wolverton said a picture had suddenly appeared on her Desktop and she didn't know how it got there or how to remove it. Just follow the instructions above and choose None, rather than an image.

    As for how it got onto Lorrie's Desktop, it's anybody's guess. However, it's not uncommon to find pictures online accompanied by a button that says, "Click Here to Make this Picture Your Desktop Background." and to click on it unintentionally.
Creating a Simple Database for a Collection of DVD Movies

Robert Hubbard says he's new to computing and wants to create an alphabetical list of all his DVD movies, along with the names of two actors in each one.

In MSWord this can be done by typing the movie's title and the actors' names separated by commas followed by pressing Enter. When finished, put the cursor ahead of the first title and click on Table>Sort.

In Excel each movie's data could be typed into a single cell in Column A. When finished, mouse-select Column A and click on Data>Sort>Column A>Ascending.

One can also opt to use three columns, with a movie's title under A and the actors' names in the B and C columns. When alphabetizing by Column A's titles, you will be asked if B and C should be ignored or move with their titles in Column A.

You will also be asked if you would like to use Row 1 as a "Header" row. Choosing Yes would allow typing in headers (such as Title, Male Lead, Female Lead, etc.).

If you have already used Row 1 as the beginning row of your data, mouse-select the row and click on Insert>Row. All data will move down one row to accommodate the new top one.
    No matter which of the above methods you use, a movie or actor/actress could be found by pressing Ctrl F and typing a word or phrase into the Find box, which will appear.

    Nick Del Sesto asked how to create a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word that would be divided into two columns, along with having a string of periods going from each Chapter Title to its corresponding Page Number.

    The illustration below is a sample (pre-2007 versions of Word):

    TOC, 2 columns, Word
    1. Information on how to create a basic Table of Contents (using MSWord's Horizontal Ruler) can be seen here: TOC Instructions.
    2. If you don't see the ruler click on View>Ruler.
    3. Then establish a Right-Align Tab on the ruler that is approximately 2.5 inches from your page's left margin.
    4. Type in your First Chapter's Name, press TAB, then type in the First Chapter's Page Number.
    5. Mouse-select the line and click on Format>Tabs>Leader, and choose No. 2 (dots/periods).
    6. Place your cursor to the right of your First Chapter's Page Number and press Enter.
    7. Type in your Second Chapter's Name, press TAB, then type in the Second Chapter's page number. You will find that the formatting of this line (complete with the connecting dots) will be the same as the line above. This will happen every time you press Enter and type in another line.
    8. After typing in the final chapter's name and page number, press Enter twice.
    9. Mouse-select all the above and click on Format>Columns. Choose 2 Columns. Click OK and all the typing will be arranged into two columns, similar to the example shown above.
      Another 2-Column Question

      David Burton wrote to say a single-column list of names in MSWord became a 16-page printout and that he'd like to put the list into two columns, thus reducing it to an 8-page printout. There are several ways to do this, but the easiest is to use the same "multiple columns" procedure described above.

      Click on Edit>Select All and then click on Format>Columns and choose Two.


    © Donald Ray Edrington – All Rights Reserved

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Don Edrington - Computer Columnist for The Californian and San Diego's North County Times

Senior Computer Tutor
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