GRAPHICS 101 

To copy graphics that you find on the internet, right click on the graphic of your choice.

You’ll get this dialogue box.  Then left click on Save Picture As.

Then you will get a dialogue box like this.  Note that it will save it as the type of graphic that it already is, usually a .gif or a .jpg format.  If you hit the down arrow next to Save As Type, you can also change it to save it in  .bmp format.  These are just different styles of pictures that compress differently.  .bmp format is the type of format that you have to use for wallpaper.  .gif and .jpg formats are the formats usually used for internet graphics.

Animated pictures are always in .gif format.

See also where the dialogue box say Save In.   The default will usually be My Pictures, but you can change that to any folder you want.  If you want to have a folder called just Pictures, create that folder and save all your pictures there.  It will make them easier to find later. 

See also where it says File Name.  Sometimes the picture will have a name that make sense to the person that posted the file, but it won’t make sense to you.  You can re-name it before you save it.  For example, the one above just says GreatPicture.  That doesn’t mean anything.  If it is a picture of a gray cat, you can change the name to GrayCat before you save it.  Just overtype the original name.

Then click SAVE.  When you do that, look in your pictures folder.  You should now have a file called GrayCat.gif.

Keep in mind that pictures on the internet do belong to the owner.  Some may freely offer to let them be downloaded.  Some may object.  Some sites will block downloading.  Particularly if it is a site that specializes in pictures, they should post their policies.  Most commonly, sites do not object to downloading for personal use, but do object to downloading for commercial use.

Windows has a simple graphics program called Paint, under START,  PROGRAMS, and then ACCESSORIES.

But, if you’re going to do much at all with graphics, you should get a graphics program.  Paint Shop Pro is the one I use.  You can use it to resize your graphic, to cut parts of it out, to re-color it. 

Here is a shareware version of Paint Shop Pro 4.0.  This is an older version, but it is pretty easy to use and pretty easy to learn.  If you have any questions, let me know.

PaintShopPro4  Click this link and Save This Program To Disk.  When it is done downloading, locate it with Windows Explorer and double click PSP4.exe to unzip it.  Then double click SETUP.EXE to install it to the folder of your choice.  I would suggest creating a folder called PaintPro4 before you start and saving the files in that folder.  

As with any shareware, if you decide to keep it, you are supposed to pay for it.