I'm new to Vista too, but I'll give you some tips on this.
Right click the desktop > Personalize.
You'll get a window titled Personalise Appearance and Sounds.
In this case, because of the more "visual" aspect of Vista, all the
Display/Settings options have been separated instead one neat dialogue box
as in previous Windows versions
If you want background picture changed, choose "Desktop Background"
If you want the Windows Theme changed, choose "Theme"
If you want to change display settings choose "Display Settings" etc.
There's also the option to change the screen saver, mouse pointers, system
event souds and so on.
To answer your other question, "My Computer" in Vista is simply called
"Computer"
to see the icon on the desktop, click desktop and select View > Show Desktop
Icons. Amongst these should be the one called "Computer".
The alternative is to press and hold down the Start Key then press the "E"
key (in earlier versions this started Windows Explorer, same thing here).
Hope the above is what you're after.
