When you set up your account, you have a selection of pictures to choose from to use next to your name. The picture you choose is important because not only does it appear when you log on to Windows Vista and at the top of the Start menu, but you can also use it when you sign in to People Near Me, in your Contacts file and business cards, in Windows Meeting Space, and in other programs. If you don’t like the current picture, or if it has no relevance to your personality—and if you have a picture that’s just right—you can change the picture.

Change Your Picture

1. Click the Start button to open the Start menu, click your account picture at the top of the menu, and, in the User Accounts window that appears, choose Change Your Picture.

2. Click a picture you want to use.

3. If you don’t like any of the pictures, click Browse For More Pictures, locate and select any picture you want, and click Open.

4. Click Change Picture.

5. In the User Accounts window and/or on the Start menu, verify that you can now see the picture you want.

Tip

The space where the user account picture goes is designed for a square picture, so if your picture isn’t square, you might want to crop it in Paint or in another photo-editing program to eliminate any blank space.