silicon pop culture!

I know many people will be doing the opposite of this, but is anyone “dressing up” their desktops? I normally only do this on my desktops which are fully loaded but I normally strip down my notebooks for maximum speed. However, the added speed of the TR (compared to what I’m used to) has allowed me to add some eye candy to the desktop.

I’m playing around with WindowBlinds, WindowsFX and MobyDock. It’s frivolous stuff but it’s fun and makes working in Windows much more aesthetically pleasing.

Feel free to post pictures or your thoughts…

I customized my TR2 with the Mac OSX look-and-feel using the Metallic Shades theme (http://www.themexp.org) and Windows Aqau login screen.  I have also done some customization to a few of the bitmaps contained within the SHELL32.DLL.  There are some very nice Windows icons at http://www.foood.net

PS:  You can extract a 1600 X 1200 pixel version of the Mac background from the Windows Aqua login files.

Vince

Here’s a shot of mine in progress…i haven’t quite settled on a consistent theme yet…but it’s fun dressing it up.

gr00vy how do you get the desktop to look like that?  is it just a program you download or something else invloved?

Thanks

[quote author=“sillyrabbitt123”]gr00vy how do you get the desktop to look like that?  is it just a program you download or something else invloved?

Thanks

The desktop is comprised of a few different applications. The dock on the bottom is MobyDock which is free and gives you a “mac-like” dock. The skin for Windows is StyleXP’s   SSStudio. Alternatively, you can use WindowBlinds for the skinning. The skin for Trillian Pro 2.0 (my IM client) is a new one called iChatAV.

My preferred skinning app is the “hacked” version of the Windows XP uxtheme.dll that has been modified to allow non-signed themes. Then go to themexp.org, neowin.net or deviantart.com and download themes. All for free. The latest Mobydock is a huge sep up, but I still prefer the now-dead Y’z Dock.

I have a couple of my current desktops, including two of my TR logins, on my website . Warning: One image is R-rated.

On edit: Eye kant spel.

[quote author=“gr00vy0ne”][quote author=“sillyrabbitt123”]gr00vy how do you get the desktop to look like that?  is it just a program you download or something else invloved?

Thanks

The desktop is comprised of a few different applications. The dock on the bottom is MobyDock which is free and gives you a “mac-like” dock. The skin for Windows is StyleXP’s   SSStudio. Alternatively, you can use WindowBlinds for the skinning. The skin for Trillian Pro 2.0 (my IM client) is a new one called iChatAV.

sorry to be so thick but are these free or do you have to pay for software to do this?  and is it hard to change the themes etc… or is it easy?  i dont want to mess anything up.

THANKS!

[quote author=“sillyrabbitt123”][quote author=“gr00vy0ne”][quote author=“sillyrabbitt123”]gr00vy how do you get the desktop to look like that?  is it just a program you download or something else invloved?

Thanks

The desktop is comprised of a few different applications. The dock on the bottom is MobyDock which is free and gives you a “mac-like” dock. The skin for Windows is StyleXP’s   SSStudio. Alternatively, you can use WindowBlinds for the skinning. The skin for Trillian Pro 2.0 (my IM client) is a new one called iChatAV.

sorry to be so thick but are these free or do you have to pay for software to do this?  and is it hard to change the themes etc… or is it easy?  i dont want to mess anything up.

THANKS!

ObjectDock (dock thingy) is free.
MobyDock (dock thingy) is free.
WindowBlinds (Used for OS skinning) has a free version although it’s worth buying.
StyleXP (Another OS skinning app) is not free although they have a hack (which might be too involved for some people) that is free.
Trillian Pro 2.0 (IM client) is not free. The free version is 0.74.

ObjectDock (dock thingy) is free.
MobyDock (dock thingy) is free.
WindowBlinds (Used for OS skinning) has a free version although it’s worth buying.
StyleXP (Another OS skinning app) is not free although they have a hack (which might be too involved for some people) that is free.
Trillian Pro 2.0 (IM client) is not free. The free version is 0.74.

thanks again for all the info.  one last question: 

is this and easy thing to setup or am i asking for possible problems?

Well, in my opinion, it’s easy stuff but if you’re new to all of this then I suggest installing these programs one by one and testing them out on your system and seeing how well they work for you.

It’s not all useful stuff but it definitely makes your desktop more fun and alive.

i got mobydock working on my desktop computer.  i like it!  its a little herky jerky and slow at times but i need to play around with it.  if it is stable then i am really going to love this.  i had a mac for a while and i definately miss the dock.  but now i got it back :D

If it doesn’t work or you want to try another similar product then you can try ObjectDock at http://www.objectdock.com. It’s almost the same, is free, and uses less aggressive methods of getting the Dock to work.

MobyDock is DirectX accelerated and relies on stable DirectX drivers. ObjectDock is software based using the Windows GDI plus some tricks to work (and is thusly more compatible).

so i guess you are recommeding the objectdock?  what do you use?

THANKS!

I’ve used both…i like the idea of using DirectX and MobyDock but it hasn’t worked on all of the systems that I’ve tried.

For my TR1, I’m using MobyDock since it’s working well. I’m customizing mine right now…  :D

[quote author=“gr00vy0ne”]I’ve used both…i like the idea of using DirectX and MobyDock but it hasn’t worked on all of the systems that I’ve tried.

For my TR1, I’m using MobyDock since it’s working well. I’m customizing mine right now…  :D

cool!  it is a pretty neat app! 

i have been surfing around reading a little bit i found you can chage the bootup screen picture.  have you done that and could that mess anything up if i do?

thanks for the help

Does the free windows program tweak ui do the same sort of thing?