My company just "upgraded" my Laptop and the new version has the Windows Wallpaper & Screensaver facilities locked i.e. cannot display wallpaper (all the options are greyed) and likewise with the Screensaver options.

I already asked my IT dept to unlock but they said it is the new policy - something about security...

I seem to have at least limited Admin rights as I can install most software but I can't find an obvious way to re-enable those options. Presumably somewhere in the Registry?

Or does anyone know some standalone software that I can install that will automatically run a screenshow of my favourite pictures if I haven't used the laptop for 10 minutes (I have Picassa but seems that only works if I manually run the slideshow option)

Appreciate any tips or advice.

My company just "upgraded" my Laptop and the new version has the Windows Wallpaper & Screensaver facilities locked i.e. cannot display wallpaper (all the options are greyed) and likewise with the Screensaver options.

I already asked my IT dept to unlock but they said it is the new policy - something about security...

I seem to have at least limited Admin rights as I can install most software but I can't find an obvious way to re-enable those options. Presumably somewhere in the Registry?

That's part of the Windows policies. To tweak these:

Start Microsoft Management Console (MMC), and then open the following items:

Local Computer Policy

User Configuration

Administrative Templates

Control Panel

Display

But your account probably won't give you enough privileges to do this, unless your IT folks have seriously overlooked the issue

If your laptop is part of a Windows domain, it's probably part of the domain policies and there isn't much you can do against this. If it's standalone, you can always hack a local administrator account, but that may put you in trouble if "they" find out!

--Lannig

ERD Commander software - change admin password and login. Set your background and be done with it. (maybe add your account to admin group too while you are at it)

Lannig: thanks for the advice. After some searching I eventually found the MMC and changed the Display settings in a file called gpedit in my windows\system 32 folder. But alas, no impact. So must be in the Windows domain settings.

Britmaveric: thanks for that new option. I'll give it a go tonight.