Unable to change Windows 7 Starter wallpaper!

It is indeed true, as evidenced by every piece of Microsoft literature comparing the features of Windows 7 Starter with any other edition of Windows 7 on Microsoft's packaging.  Oddly enough, this important piece of information is missing from Microsoft's Web site touting the features of Windows 7 editions, especially on the page most likely to have this disclaimer:http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/compare?T1=tab15

Microsoft's official answer is that the desktop wallpaper can be changed in Windows 7 Starter by clicking on the Start button, choosing "All Programs," and choosing "Windows Anytime Upgrade," a menu item which has a prerequisite ranging from $79.95 (to Home Premium) to $169.95 (to Ultimate) in the US.

The mods here are powerless to do anything about it, but the corporation should definitely have made this limitation more discoverable without regard to industry news coverage.  This fact is a surprise to all but the most well-informed members of the public, and that surprise is the mistake.

Windows Genuine Advantage disadvantaged my genuine Windows. Posted from genuine Ubuntu.

On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:35:04 +0000, versitalbear wrote:

>I bought a netbook and was giddy on the size and ability it has, but after finding out that there are so many things that I am "NOT ALLOWED" to do, microsoft can stick their new wonder OS up their corporate ____. I am contacting Microsoft and letting them know they will unlock their windows 7 starter so I can do anything I want to do with it or they will furnish a different OS! If I buy a computer with an OS installed I never ever want to be told I don' have access or permission to change anything, or move anything, or delete anything! Microsoft has got their nerve thinking they can tell me I can't do something on my computer period! If I want to screw up the whole thing I want that choice. What they are doing is forcing people to upgrade "with a huge cost" to be able to have access to their own computer! No matter how they justify this it is illegal and I hope they get sued threw the nose for this one! THIS IS MY COMPUTER NOT MICROSOFTS AND THEY WILL GIVE ME COMPLETE 100% ACCESS OR

>GIVE ME A OS THAT WILL! WHO THE ____ DOES MICROSOFT THINK THEY ARE, TELLING ME WHAT I CAN DO AND WHAT I CANNOT DO?

Hopefully next time you will do a bit of research before buying. Also

the word starter is a big clue to the limitations in the OS.

Aussie Camper

Hi guys its me!

Don't make me laugh. Microsoft needs to learn their place and get to their scenes as soon as possible. As a first step to regain the trust from their costumers Microsoft needs to issue a fix patch that will allow users to either keep the basic layout of windows 7 starter or to enable the personalization of features including screen saver, aero and wallpaper. My wife had just spent a long time in searching for a netbook to fit her needs and her budget and after carefully going over tens of models she finally opted with the one that had windows 7 on it. At first I thought it was a bug, then I thought it to be a bad joke and now I understand judging by the amount of people that actually searched hard enough to find this forum and reply in it that Microsoft had just lost its understanding of how to make software. What a bunch of stupid people is Microsoft exactly? Or rather the people who did this EXECUTIVE decision to  intentionally write code to cripple windows 7 home just to force users to upgrade, what a lame scam. One must ask what went through their minds as they all finished that specific brain-storming meeting in which they decided that "John Doe's" idea is excelent and will increase their profit from new users upgrading to a better version. My guess is that they are plain dumb. If I was not of poor means and had some time on my hands I would sue Microsoft for misleading their costumers again.

As other people here replied I too am a MS user by choice, but this latest neat new feature left a seriously bitter taste in my mouth and building rage in my heart.  Chris, Sharon, you are good people but if you are professionals you should see what is going on in here and send it straight to the top! Make some noise ! talk to the guys upstairs that pay you money and let them know about this huge wrong being done to their most loyal users. Or else Microsoft is going to see great losses because of silly little tricks like this one.

 P.S

On my wife's netbook we changed the background by using the Suggested Hack to HACK the Windows OS . It worked , thanks for asking.

Oh and Sharon don't give me that at&t contract thing I don't buy that for one second.

yours J/L

tldr: MS you bunch of DuCKS!

As other people here replied I too am a MS user by choice, but this latest neat new feature left a seriously bitter taste in my mouth and building rage in my heart.  Chris, Sharon, you are good people but if you are professionals you should see what is going on in here and send it straight to the top! Make some noise ! talk to the guys upstairs that pay you money and let them know about this huge wrong being done to their most loyal users. Or else Microsoft is going to see great losses because of silly little tricks like this one.

 P.S

On my wife's netbook we changed the background by using the Suggested Hack to HACK the Windows OS . It worked , thanks for asking.

Oh and Sharon don't give me that at&t contract thing I don't buy that for one second.

yours J/L

tldr: MS you bunch of DuCKS!

Hi J/L, it's me!

Well, "good people" aside, Chris is the one ... I'm just an out-there user and have no connection with the top. As for the AT&T thing, I was just repeating the content of a much earlier post for the sake of "argumentative completion". Not to take sides, just to represent all sides ...  It made sense at the time.

Anyhow, since my earlier posts I have found resources other than fixing the wallpaper that may help your wife get more use from Windows Starter. Have a look at this:

Other personalization

There are instructions on the How-to Geek website on how to turn on other options for personalization. What's cool about this is that they areavailable directly from Windows but are simply "hidden". Here's a direct quote from the How-to Geek web site:

Windows 7 Starter still has a lot of customization options, but they’re not as apparent as they are in other editions of Windows 7.  With these tips, you should be able to customize your netbook more than you originally thought possible.  And these all work without installing any 3rd party software!

See what's available in this link from the How-to Geek website:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11243/how-to-personalize-windows-7-starter/>

There's more for the "die hards"!

I also recently discovered a tip on the How-to Geek website. I don't have any history on this but I've always trusted the "How-to" geek group. This tip actually puts the Personalization option on the right-click context menu. (Note: this may go against the Microsoft EULA so you might want to think about it first ...):

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16041/change-the-wallpaper-and-customization-settings-in-windows-7-starter-edition/ 

Hope it helps. A bit.  ;-)

Best,

Sharon

Sharon Roffey

Queensland, Australia