My WindowsXP Background will not display in Center or Tile modes. The screen is white. I read that .htm documents are displayed in this way (Stretch only) but don't know what I did so that all images only display in Stretch mode. System Restore is no help.

Right click on a blank space on youu desktop and click on Properties from the menu.. then on Desktop. You will see a "position" drop down which is where you can manage this. Ive attached a clip.

Thanks for answering, Jon B, but maybe I wasn't clear. Choosing Center or Tile at this point results in a white screen, seeming like an overlay that can't be deleted, as the Centered or Tiled image CAN be seen for a few seconds on shutdown. I've been living with this for a long time, and System Restore only goes back a few months. I appreciate the try. -Raleigh Whalers

How big is the image you are using for the background image and what file format is it ?

I change the image quite often from My Pictures files, they are usually at least 600 X 600 pixels and usually jpg's. Is the fact that .htm documents can only be stretched a clue? - Thanks for logging in - Raleigh Whalers

It could be. Let's try something. From the desktop properties screen (as shown in Jon's picture), click on the "Customise Desktop" button. From here, click on the "Web" tab. In the white box labelled "Web pages:" there may be one of two items with a checkbox. Are any of these checked? If so, try unchecking them all and OK'ing the changes. See if that helps.

I went to the "Web" box you suggested, LTheobald, and found 5 choices: My Current Home Page; 4 image descriptions from Documents and Settings which I deleted. None were checked, however. It didn't help, though I didn't restart. Thank you .