Wallpaper not working (PC)

[tech4all]

First off this a Windows problem, so bare with me here

Was at a relatives house today. Long story short, when opening a JPG file or anything that could be a wallpaper in the Windows Image and Fax viewer, and when you right click and choose Set as Background, the wallpaper does not change. The only wallpapers that work are the Windows wallpapers in Display Properties (like Bliss). Any ideas what the problem?

Specs:

• Windows XP Professional (I think it's PRO)
• 256MB ram
• I think the HD was at least 50GB, but only about 6 or 7 GB has been used.

While I was trying to try different things to fix it, I was thinking to myself....."This is why I have a Mac"


Thanks for any help

 

[Mav451]

Sounds like a spyware problem to me. I've never heard of this problem before--> even since '95, you could use pretty much any image for a wallpaper (.gif, .jpg, .bmp, etc.)

 

[clayj]

Go find the file "Internet Explorer Wallpaper" (typically located in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer) and delete it, then see if you can change the wallpaper. This file may have been set as read-only, or there may be another problem with it that prevents it from being replaced.

 

[cgratti]

Right click on the image and choose OPEN WITH > INTERNET EXPLORER.
Then once IE opens the pic for you, right click on the image and choose SET AS DESKTOP WALLPAPER.

I have the same problem on one of my PCs, and I just do it that way.
It works.

 

[tech4all]

Thanks for the replies!

Also wanted to add some more info. When I went under Display Properties to change the wallpaper from the custom one to a system one that worked fine, as I said. Then when I came back to the Display Properties later on, the custom wallpaper was no longer at the bottom of the list. Although I'm not sure if the original file was on the HD though which may have something to do with it disappearing.

I also did a virus scan with Norton which found no viruses, but during the virus scan the AOL (they have dial up, btw) spyware scanner went on and starting scanning for spyware. We never finished the scan, but it did say 1 item was found. Not sure if that was the problem though.

 

[tech4all]

Thanks for reply

Right click on the image and choose OPEN WITH > INTERNET EXPLORER.
Then once IE opens the pic for you, right click on the image and choose SET AS DESKTOP WALLPAPER.

I have the same problem on one of my PCs, and I just do it that way.
It works.

Will also try that, thanks.

 

[cgratti]

Thanks for the replies!

Also wanted to add some more info. When I went under Display Properties to change the wallpaper from the custom one to a system one that worked fine, as I said. Then when I came back to the Display Properties later on, the custom wallpaper was no longer at the bottom of the list. Although I'm not sure if the original file was on the HD though which may have something to do with it disappearing.

I also did a virus scan with Norton which found no viruses, but during the virus scan the AOL (they have dial up, btw) spyware scanner went on and starting scanning for spyware. We never finished the scan, but it did say 1 item was found. Not sure if that was the problem though.

It's a quirky Windows thing. Not a major problem if you just use your browser to open images and set the wallpaper from there/