If you're anything like me when it comes to your Windows desktop looks are just
as important as functionality so in this video I'm going to show you how to make
your Windows desktop look like mine with four basic tools. Welcome to Top Spec,
your one-stop shop for tech content! If you're a regular viewer here at Top Spec
you might not recognize me, so allow me to introduce myself. I'm
Connor, the graphics and branding lead here at Top Spec. Being a designer, I'm
always trying to find ways to make my day-to-day life more interesting and
creative, and let's be honest, the Windows desktop and taskbar can be quite boring.
So today we're going to solve that issue with four customization tools. One of
those tools is changing your taskbar icons. So in order to change your taskbar
icons, the first thing you're going to want to do is open up your browser of
your choosing and then you're going to go to icoconverter.com. So what this
website basically does is you click "Choose File" and you upload the icon that
you want to convert into a .ICO and then once that's uploaded you click
convert. The reason we do this is because the only file that Windows
accepts for taskbar icons is a .ICO file. So now that you have your icon
downloaded you're going to right-click on your taskbar icon and then
right-click the title and then click properties. So usually what opens first
is the general page, but you want to make sure that you're on the shortcut page.
Now you're going to click change icon, and then you're going to click browse, then
you're gonna pick the icon. Mine is Discord, so I'm gonna pick that one. I'm
gonna hit OK, and I'm gonna hit OK again. Now your icon should be changed.
Sometimes the icon changes immediately, but usually it's a little bit finicky
which means you might have to unpin the program from your taskbar and pin it
again or maybe restart your computer, but eventually the icon should refresh.
The next tool I use to customize my windows taskbar is TranslucentTB or Translucent
Taskbar. This app simply allows you to change your taskbar to be transparent or
make it whatever color you please. This is an app on the Microsoft Store so I'll
leave a link for you in the description below. The third customization tool I use
is a little built in trick in Windows that allows you to center your taskbar
icons. So the first thing you're going to do when you're centering your taskbar
icons is you're gonna come down to your taskbar and
right-click and then uncheck "lock all taskbars". The second step is you're
going to right-click your task bar again and then you're gonna go to toolbars and
show links. So now you'll notice these two little lines here these two little
lines here and this "links" text. So what you're gonna do is you're gonna drag
these two lines all the way over here so they appear on this side. So from here
you're gonna click on these two lines and drag them all the way to the center.
So you'll probably notice that you have this links text right here that is in
the bottom left-hand corner of your taskbar. In order to get rid of that we're
gonna right click and then we're gonna uncheck show title, and just be safe uncheck
show text. So now in order to actually get results from this you're going to
line it up just in the center. Right click and then click lock all task bars.
So what you'll notice is if you're using your monitor logo as a reference, is the
taskbar will be slightly centered to the left and notice I'm recording with OBS
right now so this program usually isn't here. So what you're gonna want to do is
center it slightly to the right and then lock it again so that way your center
icon lines up with the center of your monitor logo. It's sort of gonna be trial
and error so you'll eventually get it but it requires a little bit of patience
sometimes. This last technique is one that can really transform your entire
setup. This is an application on Steam called Wallpaper Engine that you can buy
for four dollars. It isn't free but if you want to add some animated or motion
wallpapers to your setup it's very much worth the investment. There are tens of
thousands of wallpapers out there that people have made based on characters or
color schemes or brands and plenty of other things. I bought wallpaper engine
over a year ago and I've been using it ever since. You might wonder how this
type of program affects your PC's overall performance. I've been using
Wallpaper Engine on a PC with a first gen AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and a GTX 1060 GPU
and I haven't had any issues, however I don't usually find myself playing games that
are that demanding of my GPU. But when I do I haven't had any issues with it.
So there you have it! Those are four customization tips that I'm giving you
that I think really could transform the overall look of your Windows Desktop. Let me
know how these tips work out for you guys, I'd be happy to hear or help you guys
out! If you enjoyed this video please leave a like it really helps us out, our
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Anyways that's about it. I'm Connor and this is Top Spec. Thanks for watching!