Windows wallpaper question

  • Thread starter Thread starter lynx
  • Start date Start date
L

lynx

for some unknown reason, the 'display properties' box for the desktop is
listing EVERY image on my hard drive in the 'background' frame so that
it can be set as a wallpaper instead of just the ones that came with
windows. (i hope i explained that properly) I don't know how or why this
has happened, but how can I get rid of all these pics without actually
deleting them from the disk? thanks,

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'The trouble with work is.. it's so daily!'
 
lynx said:
for some unknown reason, the 'display properties' box for the desktop is
listing EVERY image on my hard drive in the 'background' frame so that
it can be set as a wallpaper instead of just the ones that came with
windows. (i hope i explained that properly) I don't know how or why this
has happened, but how can I get rid of all these pics without actually
deleting them from the disk? thanks,

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'The trouble with work is.. it's so daily!'
Click to expand...

disable active desktop,

Open the Control Panel
Open Display Properties.
Click the Desktop tab
Click the Customize Desktop button

Click the Web tab in the Desktop Items window.

to disable Active Desktop, make sure all checkboxes in this window are un-checked.
 
Fergus said:
disable active desktop,

Open the Control Panel
Open Display Properties.
Click the Desktop tab
Click the Customize Desktop button

Click the Web tab in the Desktop Items window.

to disable Active Desktop, make sure all checkboxes in this window are
un-checked.
Click to expand...

Thanks. But that's not really addressing the problem. I don't have
active desktop switched on. What I want to do is to remove most of the
pics/jpg's listed in the properties>desktop>background frame. I don't
know how they got there. I never added any extra pics.

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'RAM DISK is NOT an installation procedure!'
 
lynx said:
Thanks. But that's not really addressing the problem. I don't have
active desktop switched on. What I want to do is to remove most of the
pics/jpg's listed in the properties>desktop>background frame. I don't
know how they got there. I never added any extra pics.
Click to expand...

Click on Browse. The default location is:

C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper
 
JD said:
Click on Browse. The default location is:

C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper
Click to expand...

Ok, I did. That folder has only the normal pics in it. So the question
still remains how do I get rid of all the others? seems like it's a hard
one!

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'Error detected: Operator failure'
 
lynx said:
Ok, I did. That folder has only the normal pics in it. So the question
still remains how do I get rid of all the others? seems like it's a
hard one!
Click to expand...


Move them out of whatever folder they are in?
 
Ok, I did. That folder has only the normal pics in it. So the question
still remains how do I get rid of all the others? seems like it's a hard
one!
Click to expand...
I believe this is "normal operation" for images in *standard locations*
(\windows, My Pictures, Shared Pictures).
Moving them to a new home that is not located in the old neighborhood
(C:\goodhome\My Pictures) should work.
There might be a registry hack that could kill the default behavior, but it
might have other side effects or as happened to me after time, "Why does that
work this way on this machine and that way on yours?" :^)
 
lynx said:
Ok, I did. That folder has only the normal pics in it. So the question
still remains how do I get rid of all the others? seems like it's a hard
one!
Click to expand...

The others are located in another folder. Do a search on your hard drive
for the file name of one of the other pictures that is not in the
default location. With the browse function you can use any folder to
hold the pictures.
 
JD said:
The others are located in another folder. Do a search on your hard
drive for the file name of one of the other pictures that is not in
the default location. With the browse function you can use any folder
to hold the pictures.
Click to expand...

I've been following the thread, with same problem.
Will changing folder remove them once they are already in the wallpaper
list?

Sylvia M
 
Sylvia said:
I've been following the thread, with same problem.
Will changing folder remove them once they are already in the wallpaper
list?

Sylvia M
Click to expand...
It's seems to be a little more difficult than I anticipated. I changed
the name of my folder from BkgndPhotos to BkgndPhotosNot and the Browse
button went to the new folder so the pictures were still in the
wallpaper list.

So first, you need to figure out what folder besides
C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper
contains the photos you want to remove from the wallpaper list. Have you
done that?

As far as I can tell, you have to delete the photo or better yet, move
it to a new folder and then when you go back to display properties the
photo will be gone. That did work for me but then I don't have photos in
the wallpaper list that I don't want there.

And I'm not sure how other users would affect this, I'm the only user on
this computer.
 
Steve said:
I believe this is "normal operation" for images in *standard locations*
(\windows, My Pictures, Shared Pictures).
Moving them to a new home that is not located in the old neighborhood
(C:\goodhome\My Pictures) should work.
There might be a registry hack that could kill the default behavior, but it
might have other side effects or as happened to me after time, "Why does that
work this way on this machine and that way on yours?" :^)
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve. I've determined that it's the 'my pictures' folder that is
being used, and removing pics from it does remove them from the listing.
But I have to say that if this 'feature' has been installed by M$ in one
of their updates, it's a really stupid idea. I have literally hundreds
of pics in the 'my pictures' folder, all sorted and categorized into
sub-folders, and I have no desire to move them. This seem to be just
another example of M$ forcing us to use our computers as they want us
to, no how we want!

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand'
 
JD said:
It's seems to be a little more difficult than I anticipated. I changed
the name of my folder from BkgndPhotos to BkgndPhotosNot and the
Browse button went to the new folder so the pictures were still in the
wallpaper list.

So first, you need to figure out what folder besides
C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper
contains the photos you want to remove from the wallpaper list. Have
you done that?

As far as I can tell, you have to delete the photo or better yet, move
it to a new folder and then when you go back to display properties the
photo will be gone. That did work for me but then I don't have photos
in the wallpaper list that I don't want there.

And I'm not sure how other users would affect this, I'm the only user
on this computer.
Click to expand...

I've determined that it's the 'my pictures' folder that is being used,
and removing pics from it does remove them from the listing. But I have
to say that if this 'feature' has been installed by M$ in one of their
updates, it's a really stupid idea. I have literally hundreds of pics in
the 'my pictures' folder, all sorted and categorized into sub-folders,
and I have no desire to move them. This seem to be just another example
of M$ forcing us to use our computers as they want us to, not how we want!

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'Support your local Search and Resue unit. Get lost!'
 
lynx said:
I've determined that it's the 'my pictures' folder that is being used,
and removing pics from it does remove them from the listing. But I
have to say that if this 'feature' has been installed by M$ in one of
their updates, it's a really stupid idea. I have literally hundreds
of pics in the 'my pictures' folder, all sorted and categorized into
sub-folders, and I have no desire to move them. This seem to be just
another example of M$ forcing us to use our computers as they want us
to, not how we want!
Click to expand...

Microsoft didn't do it. Microsoft updates didn't do it. If you have the
problem you describe, some ****ed up shitware _YOU_ installed did it.
 
Dozzer said:
Microsoft didn't do it. Microsoft updates didn't do it. If you have the
problem you describe, some ****ed up shitware _YOU_ installed did it.
Click to expand...

Nope. Is the sun out today? is that why you came out from under the rock?

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'He who laughs last.. thinks slowest'
 
lynx said:
Nope. Is the sun out today? is that why you came out from under the
rock?
Click to expand...

Afraid I'd have to agree with Dozzer. None of the fully updated machines I
see have your problem.
 
relic said:
Afraid I'd have to agree with Dozzer. None of the fully updated machines I
see have your problem.
Click to expand...

One poster has commented already that it's normal for Windows to do it,
and I don't have any shareware type apps on my system. And why would a
TP app make a change that is only OS related?

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'You're a very good argument for birth control'
 
lynx said:
I've determined that it's the 'my pictures' folder that is being used,
and removing pics from it does remove them from the listing. But I have
to say that if this 'feature' has been installed by M$ in one of their
updates, it's a really stupid idea. I have literally hundreds of pics in
the 'my pictures' folder, all sorted and categorized into sub-folders,
and I have no desire to move them. This seem to be just another example
of M$ forcing us to use our computers as they want us to, not how we want!
Click to expand...

Let me think about all this before I reply. When I removed the picture
from the folder that was listed under Browse, they were removed from the
list. You may have to edit the Registry. Are you familiar with doing that?

It does seem like you've found a little "bug" in our Operating System.
Once you list a picture as a Background Picture it doesn't go away.

Anybody else reading along have any suggestions?
 
lynx said:
One poster has commented already that it's normal for Windows to do
Click to expand...

It's not. I've used XP since it was released and played with every feature
of the Display Properties. I've never encountered anything like what's
described.
it, and I don't have any shareware type apps on my system. And why
would a TP app make a change that is only OS related?.
Click to expand...

Usually, I suspect a downloaded "Theme" (not an app) when something isn't
right in Display Properties. A lot of them are "use at your own risk."
 
lynx said:
One poster has commented already that it's normal for Windows to do
it, and I don't have any shareware type apps on my system. And why
would a TP app make a change that is only OS related?
Click to expand...

It's quite certain that XP adds all pics in the 'my pictures' folder.
This from Windows Help using the search term 'backgound files' and under
the 'change your desktop background' topic: "You can use a personal
picture as a background. All of your personal pictures located in My
Pictures are listed by name in the Background list." So XP does it of
it's own accord whether we want it done or not.

--

rgds,

Pete
=====
http://pw352.blogspot.com/
'Software isn't released, it's allowed to escape'
 
JD said:
Let me think about all this before I reply. When I removed the picture
from the folder that was listed under Browse, they were removed from
the list. You may have to edit the Registry. Are you familiar with
doing that?
It does seem like you've found a little "bug" in our Operating System.
Once you list a picture as a Background Picture it doesn't go away.

Anybody else reading along have any suggestions?
Click to expand...

That's true, but I get the impression that the complaint involves almost the
entire My Pictures folder. Have I misread the complaint?

Look for Wallpaper or ConvertedWallpaper in:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-842925246-1425521274-839522115-1003\Control
Panel\Desktop
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\LastTheme
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-842925246-1425521274-839522115-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\LastTheme
(probably several more...)
 
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