2 questions: how do themes work and how do I pin stuff on the left side of the start menu

[onewarmslime]

So I just upgraded to windows 10, and it transferred all of my themes, but I can't set how often the desktop background changes. Does anyone know if it changes automatically?  If so, how often? Cause I want to set it to change daily.

Also, does anyone know how to pin stuff on the left side of the start menu?

(by stuff I mean, my own folders and programs, not just my documents, settings etc)

[SMELTN]

As far as pinning stuff, I think you can only pin stuff on the right side of the start menu.. 

 

As far as background images I would like to know that as well. 

[cacoe]

You can't add a background image to the start menu as far as I know

[SMELTN]

You can't add a background image to the start menu as far as I know

I don't think he was talking about the start menu.. I think he was talking about the standard desktop image.. It used to have a time to change image, etc button but don't see that anymore

[onewarmslime]

Yeah I'm talking about the desktop background. So far it's been like 10 hours and it hasn't changed so I'm assuming it's a 24h thing (which would make sense).

 

Also I'dlike to say, microsoft should really add more flexibility to the start menu. If nothing else, let us pin My Computer and recent documents.

[SMELTN]

you can pin those.. Again on the right hand side.. 

[onewarmslime]

yeah I kinda meant the left side... cause I kinda removed the right side

[RandPC]

I'm not running Win10 right now (still on 7) so I can't guarantee these still work, but they did in earlier builds of Win10 so you'll have to try to see if it still works in the RTM build.

Registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Personalization \ Desktop Slideshow   there should be a value there that's set in milliseconds that can be changed to whatever you desire.

Assuming that's been removed you could also try modifying the theme directly.
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes. Open the theme in a text file and search for interval. Same thing, listed in milliseconds change as desired.

1 Hour = 3600000 milliseconds.

Not sure why they would remove this from the GUI, but I would think it likely that either of the above options still works

[cacoe]

I'm not running Win10 right now (still on 7) so I can't guarantee these still work, but they did in earlier builds of Win10 so you'll have to try to see if it still works in the RTM build.

Registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Personalization \ Desktop Slideshow   there should be a value there that's set in milliseconds that can be changed to whatever you desire.

Assuming that's been removed you could also try modifying the theme directly.
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes. Open the theme in a text file and search for interval. Same thing, listed in milliseconds change as desired.

1 Hour = 3600000 milliseconds.

Not sure why they would remove this from the GUI, but I would think it likely that either of the above options still works

They didn't remove it

 

Though what does drive me mad, is that they removed the ability to view all built in wallpapers and just 4 random ones display at once.

[onewarmslime]

The option is only available if you set the background to be a slideshow of some folder, eg Pictures. You can't do it if you want to use a theme from microsoft.com.

My desktop changed to the next picture, roughly 24 hours after the upgrade so I guess it's a daily thing. I don't want to mess with the registry but it's a good tip

[SMELTN]

mine was changing much quicker than 24hours and I am using some waterscapes on from MS