create default profile for new users

[jim]

I would like to set up a default profile for new users on my server.
I want to get the desktop to all look the same as well as have a few applications startup when they login.

So what file do I edit to achive this?
to
1 change the default theme
2 change the background image
3. run a fwe different applications
4. set up some default icons on their desktop

[codergeek42]

As I understand it, everything in /etc/skel is copied to a new user's home directory when it created. Thus, you need to create a new "dummy" user that you will then login as and change the settings as appropriate. Once that is done, run 'su -' in a terminal to become root and copy over everything from their home directory (probably /home/dummyuser or similar) to /etc/skel.

Hope that helps!