Disable Netscape's Wallpaper feature

[Bill Moseley]

Netscape has the feature that will set any image found on the web as the
Windows Wallpaper.  This feature is accessed by right-clicking the mouse
any image and selecting "Set As Wallpaper".

When an image is selected to be used as the Wallpaper, Netscape writes the
image to the Windows directory and then modifies the Windows wallpaper
setting to point to this new file.  In the 16bit version of Netscape this
file is called "NETSCAPE.BMP", and with the 32bit version "Netscape
Wallpaper.bmp".

This simple way to stop Netscape from setting the Wallpaper is to create a
Wallpaper that you find acceptable, rename it to the name used by Netscape
(depending on 16 or 32 bit), and change the file's properties to include
READONLY and HIDDEN.

Note: The Wallpaper uses memory, so I'd suggest keeping the .bmp file small.

Netscape 3.0 16bit seems ignores an attempt to set the wallpaper with the
file set as READONLY, but Netscape 3.0 32bit will crash when attempting to
set the wallpaper.  I don't see this as any problem, really, since Win 95
keeps on ticking.  Just restart Netscape.

BTW - I looked into using a resource editor disable or "gray" the Set As
Wallpaper feature, but that pop-up menu is created on-the-fly.  The "Set As
Wallpaper" string in the .exe file doesn't have the normal associated
resource header (which controls "gray", "inactive", etc.), so it seems that
it can't even be disabled using a binary editor.

Another solution is to make the WIN.INI file readonly, as this is where Win
3.1 keeps the Wallpaper setting.  But this won't prevent the current
session of Windows from displaying the new Wallpaper.  Also, it seems that
some HP Printers fail to print if the WIN.INI file is readonly.

If anyone has found other ways to disable this feature I'd like to hear
about it.


Bill Moseley
mailto:moseley at netcom.com