Object Desktop is a suite of desktop enhancements that lets you change the look and functionality of Windows. Being an Object Desktop member gives a lot of great value with full access to many popular Stardock applications, betas, and any new or updated apps. Check out all the apps included with Object Desktop here. https://www.stardock.com/products/odnt/ As long as your membership is active, you will always get updates to the latest versions of everything within Object Desktop...

ShadowFX is the newest desktop customization app from Stardock that gives you the ability to add drop shadows to your windows in Windows 8.  It’s very easy to use, just select which shadow you want from the drop-down list, and you’re good to go.  ShadowFX is also easy to customize, and making your own shadows is very simple.  You can create your own shadows to use for yourself, and you can submit them and share with others on WinCustomize.com . Learn more abo...

We have completed our server-side changes to relax the activation limits for Fences and Object Desktop subscriptions. You can continue to use Fences version 2.13. If you have any issues or concerns, please contact support at support@stardock.com. Thank you for your patience!

We had some questions come in asking about some of the additional features of WindowBlinds regarding textures and backgrounds, so I wanted to write a post going into more detail about it.  These are all features that aren’t really difficult to use, but if you are a new user you just might not be familiar with where everything is and how they work. If you are completely new to WindowBlinds, let me recommend you also take a read through the  WindowBlinds 10 Walkthrough:...

Animated wallpapers were introduced to Windows back in the Vista days and has since been continued with the DeskScapes app created by Stardock. By using DeskScapes, you can have beautiful animated wallpapers on your Windows desktops. DeskScapes also lets users manage both animated and static wallpapers, add effects, and more.  You can get a more detailed of what DeskScapes does with this article found here . There are thousands of animated wallpapers, also called Dreams, available for d...

The ability to customize your Windows desktop has been around for quite some time now, and there's never been a better time to jump in and start making Windows look and work how you want it to.  We've previously talked about how Stardock has several $5 apps to make Windows 8 more usable, and today we're going to take it a step further with some other customization and enhancement apps that are just $10. Lets take a look at some of the best and most popular desktop customizati...

There are a lot of Object Desktop users out there, and while there are some great resources available for skins and themes like WinCustomize.com , but some people just want a custom theme pack that can give them a new desktop look.  We have a bunch of premium themes designed and built by the top skin artists available, and they include a premium WindowBlinds skin, icon package, wallpapers, and useful desktop gadget.  When you purchase a premium theme, you will receive a .zip fi...

The holiday season is here!  Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, or just like to give your desktop a winter inspired look, I wanted to give some tips on how to achieve a festive look.  There are thousands and thousands of skins and themes available here on WinCustomize, and the holiday season is one that has a lot of skins available.  Whether you want just a festive wallpaper, or a complete theme for your desktop, we have it covered. Holiday WindowBlinds Skins ...

Since we’re spending this month celebrating 15 years of skinning WindowBlinds , I wanted to find out what was the most popular download on WinCustomize.com.  From the best I can tell and confirm, Vista Plus Version 3 comes in with over 900,000 downloads since it was released in 2006. Vista Plus Version 3 by adni18 It’s a little funny a Vista skin has been one of the most downloaded, but as some of you might remember the glassy look was really popular and many skinners created a...

CursorFX allows you to apply custom cursor themes to your Windows PC. Users can easily apply skins, shadows, motion trails and sounds to your cursors. CursorFX comes complete with several unique cursors installed, but you can also create your own to use and share with others in the WinCustomize community. We'll show you how in this tutorial. Get CursorFX here Creating the graphics I'm going to show you how to create and put together the actual cursor, but something you ha...

This is a detailed tutorial for SkinStudio which shows you step-by-step with images on how to create a WindowBlinds skin.  It was created by Master Skinner Vampothika and we give her a big thanks for helping out the community with this.  Also, another big thanks to gmc2 for getting the resources for this so we could share it with the community. There’s a lot of images with this tutorial, and it’s broken up into 3 directories.  I wanted to make it easy to view,...

Since we don't have a wiki any longer, I wanted to at least have a place where tutorials and guides can be listed for easy reference. More will be added.   Object Desktop Object Desktop: The Benefits of Membership Reminder: Backup Your Object Desktop Apps! Using Object Desktop Manager   Stardock  Store   Gift Purchasing from the Stardock Store   Stardock Store: Downloading Your Purchases Managing your Stardoc...

This is just a real quick video demo showing WindowFX 5.1 running on Windows 8.  Nothing new if you are familiar with Windows 8, the same fun animations and effects are just now available on Win8. http://www.screencast.com/t/MRuDLHjFf  

Every so often I like to focus on the new users of WindowBlinds, as although it’s very easy to use, there are some things that a new person skinning their desktop could miss.  Some people just apply skins and go no further, and while that’s perfectly fine, WindowBlinds can let take things a bit further to enhance that experience even more. Lets take a look at 5 of my favorite tips for new users. Get WindowBlinds – www.windowblinds.net 1. Make Finding Install...

Welcome back to another edition of This Week in Skinning!  It’s nice to see that people aren’t slowing down much summer in regards to skinning.  Typically, summer is a slow time for skinning but that doesn’t seem to be the case as the uploads keep rolling in.  Hopefully we’ll have some more GUI Champs 2012 news coming up soon as we are hard at work behind the scenes getting things ready.  Follow @stardock   Now for this weeks picks! ...