If you keep program icons on your desktop as I do, large pictures may not be what you need for the "wallpaper."

I usually use a favorite picture at about 750 pixels wide by 600 pixels high, and paste it in the lower right corner of a 1024 x 768 blank page, so the picture isn't covered by the icons, and doesn't interfere with seeing what the icons are for.

I'd suggest that a dark background shows the icons better, but you can match it to the background of the inset pic you use in most cases so that it doesn't look too much like you've just hung something on a thumbtack.

I tend to use "people pictures" rather than landscapes, so an inset works nicely. Your mileage may vary.

Any Windows version Win95 and after lets you set any image (that Windows can display) from anywhere on your machine as a "background." Just right click any blank space on the desktop, click Properties, Background Tab, and Browse.

WinXP lets you select "My Picture Gallery" to display all the pictures in any folder as a screen saver. This feature isn't in Win95, and I don't know when it was introduced. Same place, right click desktop, click Properties, and the Screen Saver tab, select the "My Pictures" screen saver and then browse to the folder you really want to display.

(Alternate access to the Display setup is Start|Control Panel|Display.)

John