With both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer you can open a JPEG image and choose to save it as wallpaper. This converts it to a Windows Bitmap file and places it in the Windows directory (usually c:\windows). Netscape calls the file Netscape Wallpaper, and Internet explorer calls it (you guessed it!) Internet Explorer Wallpaper. One difference is that Internet Explorer allows you to save the JPEG in bitmap format under its own name. You can do this by clicking on the image with the right mouse button and choosing Save Picture as. In the Save dialogue box choose Bitmap in the Save as type field.
Software that can be used for editing photo images is also capable of converting image formats. If you are going to do much photo-editing you are probably going to buy a scanner. All scanners come with some sort of photo-editing software. Usually something pretty basic. If you are buying anything except a cheap scanner, you can often choose the software you want bundled with it. Amongst desktop publishers and graphic artists, the industry standard software is Adobe Photoshop, though there are many other good quality packages available. At the other extreme you can't go past shareware packages such as LView Pro (available from http://www.lview.com) and Paintshop Pro (http://www.jasc.com). Both packages will allow you to crop, resize and convert the format of images. They also let you enhance the image using filters and other tools. Paintshop Pro is renowned for the number of file types it can convert. It also allows you to edit and draw on the image.
- Roy Chambers