Some sites offer desktop pictures and wallpaper in non-standard sizes, which may be centered on screen by your system software, while any area not covered by the picture may be filled with a color of your choice (or tiled pattern, for some systems). If the picture you want to use as your desktop background doesn't match your screen resolution - especially if it's less wide or less high - centering may be a better choice than stretching, because the original proportions of the picture are preserved. You can even make portrait format pictures look good this way.
On a Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC, from the Start menu, choose Control Panel, then click "Change desktop background" (under the heading "Appearance and Personalization"), then under "How should the picture be positioned" in Vista, choose the centered image, or under "Picture position" in Windows 7, choose "Center." Another way to get to this control panel is to right-click the desktop, choose Personalize, then click "Desktop Background," which is near the top of the window in Vista, and at the bottom in Windows 7. (Either way the path is Start > Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > Desktop Background.) You can also choose a background color here for areas of the screen the picture may not cover.
On a Windows XP PC, from the Start menu, select Control Panel: Appearance and Themes: Display: Desktop, then choose Position: Center (right-clicking the desktop, and choosing Properties: Desktop is another way to get to this control panel - you can also choose a color here to fill any screen area the picture doesn't cover).
For earlier versions of Windows, from the Start menu, select Settings: Control Panel: Display: Background, then choose Center (right-clicking the desktop, and choosing Properties: Background is another way to get to this control panel - you can also choose a pattern here to fill any screen area the picture doesn't cover).
On a Mac (operating systems prior to Mac OS X), from the Apple menu, select Control Panels: Appearance: Desktop, or Control Panels: Desktop Pictures: Picture, then choose Center on Screen (control-clicking the desktop, and choosing Change Desktop Background... from the pop-up menu, is another way to get to the same control panels - you can also choose a pattern here to fill any screen area the picture doesn't cover).
For recent versions of Mac OS X (earlier versions of Mac OS X lack options for positioning and resizing), from the Apple menu, select System Preferences: Desktop & Screen Saver: Desktop, then choose Center (control-clicking the desktop, then choosing Change Desktop Background... from the pop-up menu will also get you to this control panel - you can also choose a color here to fill any screen area the picture doesn't cover).
Also see How to Stretch Desktop Pictures and Wallpaper to Fill Screen and Saving and Displaying Desktop Pictures.
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