Printable View
I want to customize my XP desktop and have found many different systems on the web.
Can someone with experience of this answer my questions?
Which is the best/worst software for the above?
Which are most/least stable?
Which draw most/least on system resources.
Which are most/least supported.
In other words whigh rock? and which suck?
Please help as I dont want to get it wrong and fuck my OS
Thanks liquidacid you have confirmed some things i have read but you cant trust impartial opinion.Quote:
am i correct in thinking window blinds eats resources and StyleXP doesn't?
have you used or heard anything about other software?
I want to get this right first time so any experiences with any software would be helpful
Also how much customization can each package realy do with safety?
If anyone can help as I am impatient to get started.
CNET
One thing, don't mess with boot screens if you aren't sure what you are doing. It can get tricky and really isn't worth it.
Thats for sure. I wish someone told me about 2 mounths agoQuote:
Originally posted by liquidacid@29 May 2003 - 23:26
CNET
One thing, don't mess with boot screens if you aren't sure what you are doing. It can get tricky and really isn't worth it.
Ok you cot me steering clear of that cheers guys.
styleXP is a nice program, take a look at this: http://www.lightstar1.com/ use the patch from the site, if you do this you don't need Style XP for non-microsoft styles, on the site are also the best styles! :D
Thanks {I}{K}{E}. Looking nowQuote:
Originally posted by {I}{K}{E}@30 May 2003 - 12:42
styleXP is a nice program, take a look at this: http://www.lightstar1.com/ use the patch from the site, if you do this you don't need Style XP for non-microsoft styles, on the site are also the best styles! :D
Also its looking like Style XP is the platform I will try going to do a full C: backup with ghost before I begin.
If anyone knows areas of style xp that can cause conflicts, is it safe at all it does?
windows blinds is alrite
stylus xp all the way... umm i use
corna... itz decent... :P i should dl new themes...
I'd use aston shell if i were u it really cool,stable,and has lot of themes...
www.astonshell.com ... U can download ver 1.8.2 the newest version there and if u want the key for it PM me
thanks freak I havent heard of them before,Quote:
Originally posted by freak@31 May 2003 - 21:14
I'd use aston shell if i were u it really cool,stable,and has lot of themes...
www.astonshell.com ... U can download ver 1.8.2 the newest version there and if u want the key for it PM me
Going to the site now.
Style XP uses the least resources, so if you haven't a very powerful pc use that. WindowBlinds uses more resources, because it iirc it doesn't use the ms skinning engine provided with XP, but you can have more items skinned if you use WindowBlinds.
Also, if you don't want a 3rd party program, you can get a patch for you uxTheme.dll (mentioned above) - this will enable you to download Style XP themes, and use them, without Style XP :D
aston uses little resorces too i have a crappy computer and don't see any slow down when useing compared to not using it!!! :D so aston get my vote over all the rest and it even makes windows itself more stable
make sure you get Y'z Shadow (http://yz.designtechnika.com/software/yzsh...w/index_en.html) It does some cool shit but it can slow down your computer. Don't worry about the japanese, there is a english version on that site. Make sure you get Y'z other stuff too.
edit: forgot to mention that its completely free
edit again: haven't used the program in a while. Just downloaded it. It makes windows so much prettier and it does install itself anywhere. No reg keys :) or anything else that would mess up your computer
Duties are not performed for duty's sake, but because their neglect would make the man uncomfortable. A man performs but one duty - the duty of contenting his spirit, the duty of making himself agreeable to himself.
Mark Twain
I am a bit confused.Quote:
Originally posted by {I}{K}{E}@30 May 2003 - 13:42
styleXP is a nice program, take a look at this: http://www.lightstar1.com/ use the patch from the site, if you do this you don't need Style XP for non-microsoft styles, on the site are also the best styles! :D
After installing the patch, can I just download any theme and it'll work?
I am a bit confused.Quote:
Originally posted by Penis Monkey+1 June 2003 - 15:04--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Penis Monkey @ 1 June 2003 - 15:04)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--{I}{K}{E}@30 May 2003 - 13:42
styleXP is a nice program, take a look at this: http://www.lightstar1.com/ use the patch from the site, if you do this you don't need Style XP for non-microsoft styles, on the site are also the best styles! :D
After installing the patch, can I just download any theme and it'll work? [/b][/quote]
If its a style XP theme, yes. Style xp themes are usually .msstyles - just download one, extract it if its in a zip, and then click the .msstyles -' it'll open the display dialog and apply the theme.
I have a reasonably fasy system so I'll take a look at that alsoQuote:
Originally posted by wienerschnitzel@1 June 2003 - 09:29
make sure you get Y'z Shadow (http://yz.designtechnika.com/software/yzsh...w/index_en.html) It does some cool shit but it can slow down your computer. Don't worry about the japanese, there is a english version on that site. Make sure you get Y'z other stuff too.
edit: forgot to mention that its completely free
edit again: haven't used the program in a while. Just downloaded it. It makes windows so much prettier and it does install itself anywhere. No reg keys :) or anything else that would mess up your computer
Can you recommend any sites (other than themexp.org) which you can download .msstyles themes from?
Also, could you recommend any themes to download? I've tried a few but some of them are weird and don't work. PS. I have the patch.
IMHO best theme for this is Crystal, it's on themexp.org I think.
windowblinds sucked the resources out of my pc and i found quite a few errors with it and the skins, im going to try style XP, at the mo im just running normal XP with silver colour scheme
Quote:
Also, could you recommend any themes to download? I've tried a few but some of them are weird and don't work. PS. I have the patch.
Try crystal and this black one.
Also lightstars site.
Your right by the way, there are so many themes that are spoiled by small imperfections. These two are the biz.
Yeah. Some of the themes which look really good HAD to be made with ResHacker. Damn it. I would love to have a decent Matrix, Simpsons, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon theme.Quote:
Originally posted by liquidacid@2 June 2003 - 19:45
Quote:
Also, could you recommend any themes to download? I've tried a few but some of them are weird and don't work. PS. I have the patch.
Try crystal and this black one.
Also lightstars site.
Your right by the way, there are so many themes that are spoiled by small imperfections. These two are the biz.
I heard that everwhere so I wont be going near itQuote:
Originally posted by RGX@2 June 2003 - 18:18
windowblinds sucked the resources out of my pc and i found quite a few errors with it and the skins, im going to try style XP, at the mo im just running normal XP with silver colour scheme
Also liquidacid
the black pro theme looks great
It's wicked isn't it!!! Glad you like it. I bet you're glad to see the back of luna now :)Quote:
the black pro theme looks great
bah hahaha astons better then them all :D sorry i'll quit spamming now <_<
To be completely honest I don't like those kind of theme progs because the completely change th elayout of the computer and make it more confusing. Eg. Where are all the desktop icons?Quote:
Originally posted by freak@3 June 2003 - 08:50
bah hahaha astons better then them all :D sorry i'll quit spamming now <_<
windows blinds. no dought at all make sure you get the crack
you can make quick link type icons on you desktop! thats why i like it u can change the whole layout.....and u can use shortcut on ur desktop if u really wanted! i just don't like the shortcuts. u can pretty much do what ever u want. if u would like a screenshot of my desktop Penis i'll show u mine it might explain what u can do with it a little better....
lol sounds kinda kinky with ur name in there <_<
"screenshot of my desktop Penis i'll show u mine"lol that just sound funny for some reason :P
I use WindowBlinds.
BUT YOU DON'T NEED TO DOWNLOAD A HACK FOR WINDOWBLINDS!!
WindowBlinds is part of a suite called Object Desktop. Search for Object Desktop in Kazaa and download the "Object Desktop Enhanced Full", 5,874KB, "Object Desktop Enhanced 2002.exe"
The serial number is in the NFO file. Once you install this, you will have access to all of the products in the Object Desktop Suite, including...
BandVWM, Component Tray, ControlCenter, DesktopX, Drivescan, Object Edit, Object Sweeper, ObjectZip, SkinStudio, SpringFolders, Tab LaunchPad, TweakShell, WebBlinds, WindowBlinds, and WindowFX.
What's even better is when a new version is released of any of the programs listed above, you just download it through this program, because you are a "registered user." No need to wait for the file on Kazaa and chase down a keygen. It's all right there.
I HIGHLY recommend this download.
Jaker
I'm still very wary of windowblinds as it sucks resources or so many people say.
Aston shall is great it doesn't install anything in windows it keeps everything and I mean everything it the install directory and nowhere else except a stert group and a desktop icon.
therefore it's a completely clean install,(I don't know what effect the program itself will do to windows) but with a ghost image of c: I feel safe using it.
it's a bit tricky to get used to and I am no way near yet only had a couple of hours with it yet
but it looks quite stable all the shells need editing as shortcuts that are on the theme are not on my hard drive so have to be reasigned but a bit of donkey work and thats easily sorted.
if you only want to customise a few things then CursorXP,and Icon packager are great from Win Customize haven't tried anything else from there yet but will soon and I'll get back
Cheers again guys for all the help.
IMO, you're best of sticking with XP's inbuilt skinning engine.
Just use the small uxtheme patch from lighstars site. Thanks to {I}{K}{E} for the heads up on that one, i'd tried the version available from TGT Soft and it didn't work.
This Object Desktop sounds like way too much clutter for my liking. Having said that, i've not tried it.
Looking at the uxtheme patch now sounds like an interesting alternative. cheers to you and {I}{K}{E}Quote:
Originally posted by liquidacid@4 June 2003 - 11:43
IMO, you're best of sticking with XP's inbuilt skinning engine.
Just use the small uxtheme patch from lighstars site. Thanks to {I}{K}{E} for the heads up on that one, i'd tried the version available from TGT Soft and it didn't work.
This Object Desktop sounds like way too much clutter for my liking. Having said that, i've not tried it.
Let me know if you have any problems with it. Just follow the instructions provided with the dl, you'll be fine.
Having done that, move any downloaded themes or visual styles to C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes, then click on the msstyle. It'll bring up Display Properties where you select said theme or visual style. Simple.
With the amount of themes available from ThemeXP alone, why install a 6mb utility to do the same job?
Does anyone else have any favourite themes or visual styles? Post them here please!!!