How to change desktop Windows 10

Is the desktop space of your Windows 10 PC always chock full of windows and you often have difficulty managing the countless open content? I understand. Well, know that you can easily cope with the problem by putting some order on your desk thanks to virtual desktops, additional desktops to the main one that, in fact, help create greater organization.

How do you say? This seems to be particularly interesting and would you like to learn more about it? Well, then you’ve landed on the right guide, at a time that couldn’t have been better. With this tutorial of mine today, in fact, I wanted to explain to you just how to change Windows 10 desktop, going to take advantage of the functionality mentioned above.

Still on the subject of desktop switching, I thought it might be convenient for you to also find out how to change the wallpaper and icons of the latter, which is why I proceeded to talk about it in the second part of the tutorial. Now, however, let’s not waste any more time chatting and let’s take action. So, position yourself comfortably in front of your PC and read everything listed below. I sincerely hope that in the end you can feel very happy and satisfied.

Index

• How to change the desktop on Windows 10
  • How to change desktop Windows 10: shortcut
• How to change Windows 10 desktop wallpaper
• How to change Windows 10 desktop icons

How to change the desktop on Windows 10

As anticipated at the beginning of the tutorial, virtual desktops are a feature of Windows 10 that allows you to create separate desktop environments from the initial one, in order to have a better organization of the work done on the computer, better distributing open windows and spaces.

That said, if you want to change the desktop on Windows 10, the first fundamental step you need to take is to click on the Task View icon (the one with the three rectangles ) located on the taskbar, next to the Start button (the one with the Windows flag ). If you don’t see the Task View icon, it’s evidently because you’ve changed some Windows 10 settings related to the appearance of the taskbar. To solve, right-click anywhere “empty” of the taskbar and select the item Show Task View button in the menu that opens.

After enabling the Task View function, to create a virtual desktop click on the New desktop button at the top, as many times as there are virtual desktops you want to generate. By doing so, the thumbnails of the various desktops will be added to the top of the screen and when you deem it appropriate you can change the Windows 10 desktop by selecting the one related to the desktop you want to use.

If you deem it necessary, you can move certain open windows from one desktop to another, simply by moving the mouse pointer to the reference virtual desktop from the list at the top of the Task View screen, in order to select it, by left-clicking on the window to be moved and, continuing to hold clicked, dragging it to the target virtual desktop thumbnail.

I also point out that always from the Activity View screen you can close the open window on a virtual desktop by placing the mouse pointer over it and clicking on the (x) that appears. You can also search the activities by typing the keywords in the text field at the top right.

If you want, you can also change the name of the virtual desktops created (which by default are called Desktop [number] ), by clicking on their title, deleting the highlighted content, typing the new name to use and pressing the Enter key on the keyboard.

In case you have second thoughts, you can always and in any case delete the virtual desktops you have created, by accessing the Windows 10 Task View screen, moving the mouse pointer over the thumbnail of the virtual desktop in relation to which you are interested in going to act and do click on the (x) you see appear above.

How to change desktop Windows 10: shortcut

If you prefer the use of keyboard shortcuts, I inform you that you can also change the Windows 10 desktop via shortcut. To be precise, you can use the following key combinations.

• Windows + Tab: allows you to access the Task View function.
• Windows + Ctrl + D: allows you to create a new virtual desktop and view it immediately.
• Windows + Ctrl + Left Arrow / Right Arrow: Switch between virtual desktops.
• Windows + Ctrl + F4: allows you to close a virtual desktop.

If you are using a laptop, please note that instead of keyboard shortcuts you can also decide to change the desktop on Windows 10 through some gestures to be performed on the touchpad. More precisely, to access the Task View function you just need to swipe with three fingers from bottom to top, while to switch from one desktop to another swipe with three fingers from right to left or left to right.

How to change Windows 10 desktop wallpaper

In addition to how to change the desktop on Windows 10, it might be convenient for you to know how to change the Windows 10 desktop background, always in order to better organize your virtual desk. Please note, however, that background changes are made not only to the current desktop but to any existing virtual desktops as well.

If you wish to perform the operation in question, just right-click with the mouse in a point on the desktop without icons and select the Personalize item from the context menu that opens. Alternatively, click on the Start button on the taskbar, select the Settings icon (the one with the gear wheel ) from the menu that appears, then the Personalization item in the window that opens on the desktop and make sure that in the sidebar, the wording Background is selected (otherwise you can do it yourself).

In the screen you now see, if you want to set an image as a background, select the Image option from the Background drop-down menu on the right and choose one of the backgrounds in the Choose your image below or click on the Browse button and select the file of the image of your interest. You can also decide to change the position of the background by choosing the option you prefer from the appropriate drop-down menu

In addition to as I just indicated, you can set a specific image as your desktop background by right-clicking on its icon and selecting Set as desktop background from the context menu that appears.

If instead of an image you prefer to set a solid color as your desktop background, choose the Solid color option from the Background drop-down menu in the Settings> Personalization> Windows 10 background section and click on the color you prefer among those you find listed under the Choose your background color section. If the color you want to use is not available, add it yourself by clicking on the Custom Color item.

If instead of a single image it is your intention to apply a series of different alternating backgrounds to the desktop, you can do this by choosing the Presentation option from the Background drop-down menu in the Settings> Personalization> Windows 10 Wallpaper section, selecting the photo album from use from the Choose albums for presentation section or by clicking the Browse button and indicating the folder containing the reference images. Using the menus and options below you can then also determine how often to change the image, whether to activate random playback and the position of the images on the desktop.

For more details about the information I gave you in this step, you can consult the guide focused specifically on how to change the background of your Windows 10 PC.

How to change Windows 10 desktop icons

Staying on the subject of organizing the virtual desktop of the PC, it seems only right to explain to you how to change Windows 10 desktop icons. Note that even in this case, the changes you make will be applied not only to the current desktop, but also to any other virtual desktops that may be enabled.

To change the default icons of the desktop of your Windows 10 PC, right-click in a point of the virtual desktop without icons and choose the Personalize item from the context menu that appears. In the window that opens, select the Themes item in the left sidebar, then the Desktop icon settings located on the right.

In the new window that opens, first select the default icons that you want to make visible by placing a checkmark next to those of your interest in the Desktop icons section, then click on the icon you want to change that you find in the box below and press the Change icon button located a little further down.

Select, therefore, the position in which the replacement icon you want to use is located by first clicking on the Browse button, then the icon file and press the OK, Apply and OK buttons, to save and apply the changes.

If, on the other hand, what you are interested in doing is to change the icons used for the links, right-click on the reference element, select the Properties item from the contextual menu that appears, then the Link tab in the window that opens, then press on the Change icon button, select the location where the icon you want to use is located by clicking the Browse button and then the icon file and save and apply the changes by pressing the OK, Apply and OK buttons.

To change the icons used for the folders, instead, right-click on the reference folder on the desktop, select the Properties item from the context menu, the Customize tab in the window that opens, then press the Change icon button, select the location where the icon you want to use is located by clicking the Browse button and the icon file. Finally, save and apply the changes by clicking on the OK, Apply and OK buttons.

For more information about the practices described in this step, I invite you to read my tutorial dedicated exclusively to how to customize icons.