How to Decorate Your PC for the Holidays

Make your Computer Look Festive for the Holiday Season

Install Holiday Themes to Decorate Your PC

Happy December to all!  We are in the middle of the Holiday Season, and people are decorating houses, cars, and yards to make them look more festive.  Why should your PC be left out?  Today, we are going to look at a few ways you can decorate your computer for the Winter Holidays.  Specifically, we are going to look at using Themes to change the appearance of your computer screen.

PC Themes

A PC theme is a combination of desktop background pictures, window colors, and sounds. Themes can also change the appearance of the task bar, title bars, dialog boxes, etc. along with the wallpaper.  Windows comes with several themes pre-installed, and often, manufacturers add their own.  In fact, many new computers come out of the box with a manufacturer's theme installed, full of their logos.  To change your current theme, go to Control Panel...Personalization.  Click on any of the installed themes to activate it on your PC.

Microsoft offers additional themes in their online store, and most of these themes are free.  You may download these themes to change the appearance of your Windows PC.  Some themes just offer different Desktop Backgrounds, while others change the appearance of menus, dialog boxes, and other Windows System components as well. Most offer a changing "slideshow" of wallpaper.  Some themes even come complete with sounds.  

Microsoft offers several free Holiday Themes.  These themes can give your PC a holiday appearance to go along with the rest of your house.  That way, your computer can look just as festive.

Holiday Themes are available at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13992/windows-desktop-themes-holiday-seasons. These themes are compatible with Windows 7 or later, (including both Windows 8 and Windows 10.)  They are as safe to download as any other Windows Update.  You will neither compromise your personal data nor download malware to your PC by installing new themes from Microsoft.

The Holiday Themes include:

• Holiday Lights
• Ice Castles
• Snowmen
• Snow Panoramic
• Snowy Night
• Sugar and Spice (includes Holiday Cookies)
• Twinkle Wish
• Winter Garden

To install one of these themes:

• Visit https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13992/windows-desktop-themes-holiday-seasons
• Find a theme you like.
• Click on the "Download" Link. A dialog box will pop up asking you if you want to save the theme, or open it using "Personalization CPL." Select "Open."  Click "OK".
• The Theme will install itself to your desktop, and in the future, will be available to reinstall through the "personalization" component of "Control Panel."
• To revert back to a non-Holiday theme, go to "Control Panel"..."Personalization." A window will appear showing thumbnails of all your installed themes. Click on the appropriate thumbnail to install that theme.

Some additional themed wallpapers are available at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/18825.  Downloading wallpaper will just change your desktop background.  To change your wallpaper to one of the images at the link, click on "Get it now." This will open the image in its own window. To use the image as your wallpaper, right-click on the image, and select "Set as Desktop Background."

Many of the wallpaper images on this page come from the themes found at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13992/windows-desktop-themes-holiday-seasons.  You can decorate your computer for the Holidays either by changing the Theme, or by merely changing your wallpaper (Desktop Background.)  When you are ready to change the background once again, you can do so by going to "Control Panel"... "Personalization," and selecting a different Theme.

Browser Themes

If you use Firefox or Chrome for browsing the web, you can decorate your computer using a Browser Theme.  (Edge does not offer Browser Themes yet.) Browser Themes are an easy way to add some Holiday flair to your PC's Web Browser.  A Theme is merely a special type of extension that changes the way the browser looks. Themes may change the "borders" and/or "backgrounds" displayed by your web browser. They may also appear as the background on the "New Tab" page.  Themes are packaged like regular extensions, but they don't contain JavaScript or HTML code.   Both Firefox and Chrome maintain web stores where you can obtain free browser themes.

Both Firefox and Chrome also offer free, Holiday Themes so you can decorate your browser.  Some of these themes are linked below.  When downloading and installing a theme, you need to visit the Web Store in the browser you wish to extend. If you want to decorate Firefox, browse the Web Store using the Firefox Browser. Likewise, if you are decorating Chrome, you need to visit the Web Store using the Chrome Browser.  If you try to install a Chrome Theme using Firefox, you will get a notice that you need to install Chrome. Likewise, if you visit the Firefox Store using Chrome, you will be prompted to download and install Firefox.

Chrome Themes

Holiday Theme - Lavasoft Antivirus:

This is a theme put out by Lavasoft, the Anti-virus maker, to add some Holiday Spirit to Chrome.   It both changes the background, adding a festive picture, as well as the borders, menus, toolbars, etc. in Chrome.  

To install, visit https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/holiday-theme-lavasoft-an/bpmojfappbfcnikiimlhokinbiikopog?hl=en-US using the Chrome Browser, and click "Add to Chrome."

Google Santa Tracker 2012 Theme:

Developed by Google, this extension puts North Pole snowflakes and imagery from Santa's village in your browser.  It echos the look of Google's Santa Tracker app.  This theme replaces the New Tab page, as well as adding decorative elements to the browser's borders.  

To install, visit https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-santa-tracker-2012/cgmkeoaheilhpfachlmmonhnapbjaijf/support?hl=en-US, and click on "Add to Chrome."

Christmas:

This is another theme that replaces both the borders and the background of the New Tab page with decorative elements.  The background shows Christmas lights on a tree, and the borders change to a candy cane type design.

To install, visit https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/christmas/ggjalgkgpddfbegjfclgnokpkdbgfhbj?hl=en-US and click on "Add to Chrome"

My New Web Tab -- Holiday Edition:

This is not a full Chrome Theme, but rather a Holiday Themed replacement for Chrome's "New Tab" Page.  Installing this extension will give you the option to replace Chrome's usually blank "New Tab" page with a Holiday Themed image, complete with Google Search Box.  It also comes with a variety of Holiday Music to make your browsing experience even more festive.  This extension includes rotating galleries, falling snow, a live fireplace, and a Santa Tracker as well.  

To install, visit https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/myweb-new-tab-holiday-edi/gfhpcmbojloimhhakfjhlboepbdmheom/related?hl=en-US using the Chrome Browser, and click on the "Add to Chrome" button.

Christmas Lights Theme:

This is another theme that adds Christmas Lights to your browser chrome.  Lights decorate both the borders and the New Tab Page background.  To install, visit https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/christmas-lights-theme/dojhihmbofgblnnjkgilnggdbkabdpbf?hl=en-US and click "Add to Chrome."

Firefox Themes

Animated White Christmas:

This theme adds a decorative set of Christmas lights to the top of your Firefox browser. The lights blink as well. To install, visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/animated-white-christmas/ and click Install Theme.  To see what it looks like before installing, click on Preview.

The Nightmare Before Christmas:

This changes the top border of Firefox so that it displays Jack Skellington, and a few other graphics from the movie of the same name.  To install, visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/the-nightmare-before-christmas/ using Firefox, and click Install Theme.

Menorah:

This theme is for those who celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.  It puts a menorah at the top of your browser window  and changes menu text to a golden color. To download, visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/menorah/ and click Install Theme.

Menorah Blue:

Another decoration to honor Hanukkah, this theme places a row of blue menorahs at the top of your browser window.  To download, visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/menorah-blue/ and click Install Theme.

Christmas Lights Animation: 

Another animated Firefox theme, this places a row of blinking Christmas Lights at the top of your browser.  To download, visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/christmas-lights-animation/ and click on Install Theme.

Uninstalling Holiday Themes at the End of the Season:

At the end of the season, you can either install a non-seasonal Theme, or you can revert back to the "default" theme.  To change a browser theme back to the default, or to another theme you previously installed, open the Hamburger Menu. In Firefox, select "Add-ons," then click on "Themes." Click on the previously installed theme, or the default theme, to un-do your browser decorating. In Chrome, you'll need to go to "Settings," then "Appearance." You'll see an entry for "themes." Click on "reset to default" to uninstall your Holiday theme.  You may also install a different Chrome theme to remove the Holiday one.

Summary:

This post discussed using Themes to decorate your computer for the Holiday Season.  Free Holiday Themes can be downloaded from Microsoft. These Themes will change your Desktop Background, toolbars, menus, etc. to coordinate with a set of Holiday-themed wallpapers. If you prefer to only change your background, Microsoft offers free Holiday themed wallpapers as well.

You can also decorate your web browser for the Holiday Season if you use Firefox or Chrome.  Chrome offers mostly Christmas and Winter-related themes, while Firefox includes themes for Christmas as well as Hanukkah.  We have highlighted a few of the available themes, as well as provided links to them, in this article.  But of course, this list is not meant to be comprehensive. Additional themes are available in the respective Web Store.  

I have enjoyed installing Holiday Windows Themes since the days of Windows XP.  However, I have learned to select themes that do not come with sounds. My very first Holiday Theme changed the wallpaper, mouse cursor, and system sounds. EVERY system sound was replaced with "Simply having a wonderful Christmas Time," by Paul McCartney.  It only took about a week for me to grow to loathe that song.  Having learned my lesson, I now only install Holiday Themes that change the graphical elements.  But I do like having a touch of the Holidays on my PC each year, and I usually install a Holiday Theme before putting up any other decorations in my house.  And it is a LOT easier to un-decorate my PC. It only takes like three clicks and thirty seconds to "put away" my computer's decorations.  It takes a whole lot longer to put away the tree.

Do you decorate your computer for the Holidays?  Were you aware there were Holiday Themes available for your web browser?  Do you have a favorite Holiday Theme we failed to mention? Hit us up in the comments and let us know.

We'd like to wish all of our readers a Happy Holiday Season. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and/or Festivus, Techlaurels hopes your season is filled with friends, family, joy, and all of the presents on your Wish List.