I received a PowerPoint presentation a friend sent through email, and would like to use a picture contained in the presentation as my Windows wallpaper. How can I extract the picture from the presentation? Also, I would like a scene from a DVD set as my wallpaper. However, the screen capture function does not work. I am using Power DVD on Windows XP.

PowerPoint has an inbuilt method to save pictures in presentations. Right-click on the picture in PowerPoint and select ‘Save as picture’ from the context menu. You will be prompted for a location to save the picture. Also notice that you can select the file type. I recommend you save as a GIF, JPG, or TIFF as these formats can be opened by most programs. Once you have saved the picture, double-click the picture to open in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Right-click on the displayed image and select ‘Set as Desktop Background’. This picture will now be set as the background image. Should you wish to change the image later, go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘Display’ control panel. Click the ‘Desktop’ tab. From here you can change the Windows desktop image.

Regarding your question about capturing a scene from a DVD, this is because the DVD player software you are using has copy protection which does not allow screen captures to be taken of the DVD scene. Depending on your version of PowerDVD, you may be able to use the PowerDVD in-built capture facility (for instructions see www.gocyberlink.com/english/products/powerdvd/tips_tricks/screen/screen_tips.jsp) as some DVD player software does support screen captures, but you must use the facility in-built into the software as opposed to a third-party method (such as using the Windows screen capture facility, by pressing the PrtScn key). Should your version of PowerDVD not support screen capturing, you may need to use a different DVD player which does support screen capturing, or alternatively find a screen capture program which is able to capture DVD scenes, regardless of player support. Before taking screen captures of any DVDs, make sure you observe any copyright restrictions on the DVD.