One of the galleries that doesn’t get a lot of attention is the Sound Schemes gallery for SoundPackager .  While not as flashy as some other galleries, there have been some fantastic sound packages uploaded recently, and everyone should take a minute to check them out. If you are new to what SoundPackager is, the simplest way to describe is it’s like IconPackager for sounds.  You can change Windows sounds individually, or create and use packs of sound schemes that are found her...

In the first edition of the WinCustomize Member Spotlight for 2009, everyone give a big congrats to Domat.  Domat caught my eye because of some of his wallpapers that have been making their way into WinCustomize.  Many really catch my eye because they each have an individual style, and his gallery has quite a varied selection. Domat has been a member of WinCustomize since September 2005, and we look forward to many more contributions. Visit domat’s personal site on WinCusto...

Theme Manager 3 is a great tool to organize and apply the various skins you have collected over months, and even years.  It’s also a great tool for skinners to package their skins into a .suite file for distribution, which can include a variety of skin elements such as visual styles, cursors, icons, wallpapers, and more. I wrote up a walkthrough today to show you some of those features, and some of the other things that Theme Manager 3 can do for you. Link: Theme Manager 3 Walkthr...

Some had a long weekend, and some others didn’t, but regardless if you had a day off or not, the skins keep rolling in.  A lot of good stuff in the galleries overall, but I’m really seeing some cool stuff in the wallpaper section lately. If you see some skins you think I missed, go ahead and post them in the comments for others to see.

The latest edition of This Week in Skinning is up!  Friday is the day we scour the WinCustomize galleries looking for the coolest and most popular skins from the past week.  It’s a great way to check out some skins that you might have missed normally.

PC Magazine has a featured article listing their picks for the “Best free software of 2009”.  They have a variety of categories, and coming in at number two on the list in the App Launcher category, we have ObjectDock ! If you don’t have ObjectDock, go get it.  Next, we have a huge gallery on WinCustomize for custom dock backgrounds and icon packs to use with ObjectDock. 

Since the first of the year, we have been getting a steady stream of WindowBlinds skins in.  Maybe everybody decided to finish off their skins during the holiday break.  Well no matter the reasons, I’m glad to see them coming in. These are just a couple of my favorites, but I would love to hear which ones you are using.

I’m happy to announce the promotion of Vlad of Vlad Studios to Master Skinner here on WinCustomize.  Vlad is one of the most talented and creative wallpaper artists I have ever seen.  Many of his works are done by hand, and he often takes a very unique approach to designs.  Vlad has been a member of WinCustomize since 2001, and think this promotion is a long time coming.  Visit his gallery on WinCustomize for a small sample of the works that he has created and share...

I’m a little late on posting, but the January Desktop Screenshot thread is open in the forums.  Being a new year, many will wipe their desktop completely and start fresh, so have you made that commitment yet? Our members have been showing off some super cool looking desktops with a variety of skin combinations.  Head over to the screenshot thread and post your desktop, and be sure to let everyone know what skin you are using.

We have had a few Master skins come in over the last couple of days, and in case you missed them, here they are.  Don’t forget that if you are a subscriber to WinCustomize, you get a 20% discount on any Master skins.

We are just a couple of weeks into the 2009 WinCustomize subscription, and we need to pick up the pace.  Subscribing or renewing your subscription will help with the development of the new site. If you already have your subscription set, you can also easily purchase a subscription for a friend or a fellow community who might need one.  We also have a post about WinCustomize 2009 brainstorming to give you an idea of some of the changes floating around. If you would like to help p...

I love seeing new WindowBlinds skins come together, and I get even more happy when I see they have some matching skins to go along.  Sometimes the WB skinner will put together the whole suite themselves, or others from the community might jump in and help.  I have seen a couple of these lately, and I wanted to give them a spotlight. Today, I wanted to feature Aqueous by Mirsguy.  The WindowBlinds skin is clean, minimal, and although it’s based on a darker color, it makes good u...

Is it Monday already?  I completely forgot!  Well anyways, if you missed some of the skin submissions to WinCustomize over the last couple of days, don’t worry, we are here to help. Take a look through some skins that caught our eye, and that you might have missed.

CES 2009 is coming to an end, and without a doubt, it was a very exciting year.  The big news was definitely the Windows 7 beta, but there were plenty of other items that show 2009 is going to be a stellar year for tech.  The Stardock crew has been posting pictures and video of the event. Check out their latest updates: CES 2009 Live – Video Tour of Microsoft’s booth CES 2009 Live – Dawn of War 2 CES 2009 Live Day 2 – Random Encounters CES 2009 Live – Video Tour of C...

The first 2009 edition of Impulse Weekly is up!  You don’t want to miss out on this one as we have Kalypso Media titles on sale throughout the month of January.  You can pick up some really great games at a low price. Also check Impulse Weekly for any game updates you might have missed, and to get a look at some of the upcoming releases we have in store.