One of the things I do on a daily basis is check out all the new skins people submit to Wincustomize.  I also check out countless other desktop customization sites and I am going to post some of the skins that have caught my eye in the past week or so. Be sure to click the artist name and check out other creations they have submitted.   LightHelix (CP) for CursorXP by Artur Berk I'm still amazed at some of the just plain cool cursors that come from the ga...

Stardock recently released Aquarium Desktop 2007, and I wanted to take this opportunity to take users on a "guided tour" of some of its features.  I'm sure many of your remember the screensaver from years ago that made your monitor look just like an aquarium with fish floating around.  However, that was just a screensaver, and you had to wait for the screensaver to kick in before you could look at this virtual aquarium. Well Aquarium Desktop 2007 takes it to the next level. ...

The Omega Premium Suite , done by Treetog for Stardock Design was recently launched and has been getting great reviews from the community.  For those of you who might have missed the launch or just wanted to see a bit more I am going to take you on a walkthrough of the Omega suite. The Omega suite contains the following items: WindowBlinds Visual Style Icon Package Wallpaper When you download the suite you will also get a pack of extras in a .zip file.  These in...

With all the new Premium Suites coming out I am having a real difficult time deciding which to use on my desktop at any one time.  Last week, Stardock Design and Essorant released the Pantheon premium suite, and it's elegant style will definitely stay on my desktop for a while.  This unique style is easy on the eyes, and is very usable for day to day use.  The matching calendar, weather, and clock gadgets also add a bit of class to your desktop using the same beautiful design. ...

Over the past few weeks I have found myself on the Vista desktop more and more despite the problems I have written about before.  So spending this much "extra" time with Vista means I can't get stuck with the basic Aero theme. I have spent a lot of time just trying out different skins and themes on Windows Vista.  WindowBlinds has done an incredible job of making XP skins works pretty flawlessly on Vista, and it has been nice to boot Vista and see some of my favorite themes on ther...

Since my switch to Vista full-time I have been having a great time customizing it and getting away from the typical "Aero" look.  Now some people have expressed to me that the like the Aero look, and I have no problem with it except it has now gotten old.  I used Aero for months and months, so now it's time to change Vista to the way I want it. In the last few weeks some skinners have released Vista versions of their WindowBlinds skins, but I have also been running skins made for X...

I have been trying to catch up with some of the tutorials and documentation I have been writing on WindowBlinds 6 .  I put out a new one recently so I wanted to take the time to post a list of some of the most recent ones.  If you have WindowBlinds 6 this will give  you a good, basic understanding of how to use and configure some of the basic settings of WindowBlinds. WindowBlinds 6 tutorials: User Interface Walkthrough Changing the Visual Style Ch...

To go along with the CursorFX theme editor tutorial I recently wrote, I also wanted to do a screencast that actually shows some of the process that I describe in the tutorial.  Both the screencast and article show how to create your own custom cursor using CursorFX. Making a Cursor with CursorFX  

This screencast is a companion to the article I wrote about creating and recoloring Windows icons using IconDeveloper 2.0.  The full tutorial can be found here. Link: IconDeveloper: Creatings and Coloring Icons from Images       If you have trouble viewing the video, click here for the video.

Well it's a short week here for some of us, but I still wanted to get This Week in Skinning out.  The 3rd WinCustomize Community Contest deadline has come, and from last count we have over 27 entries in the various categories.  The entries have been superb, and I can't wait to see the winners. This was also an exciting week in that both IconDeveloper 2.0 and SkinStudio 6 were released.  In case you missed it, there is an IconDeveloper tutorial and screencast up showing you h...

Is there really anyone here who isn't tired of the sounds when using Windows?  In comes SoundPackager . I always relate SoundPackager to IconPackager simply because both use "packages" to change their respective items. One of the best things about SoundPackager is that not only does it change a bunch of system sounds at once, it also allows you fine tune the sounds and easily add or delete specific sounds if you wish. Now that you have heard all that good stuff, let's go through usin...

Friday is finally here, and it took way too long to get here.  I'm starting to see a slight slowdown in skins, so I hope that is just something temporary.  Now for this weeks picks!   Maja Pearl CXP for CursorFX by Xiandi Xiandi gives us another great looking cursor theme this week.  Great job.   Rogue Proton Meters in DesktopX Widgets by philmar83 Here is a set of meters that are made to match the very popul...

Here is the screencast to accompany the article I wrote recently, which gives users an introduction to MyColors from Stardock.  

Object Desktop 2008 was just released, so I created a screencast which walks you through what is included with both Object Desktop 2008, and Object Desktop 2008 Ultimate.  Each application gets a brief overview, along with a look at Impulse.  This is great for anyone who might not be too familiar with the popular applications that are included. Link: Object Desktop 2008 Guided Tour

Yes, the week is finally over!  I have spent a bit more time in the galleries this week than usual, and I saw some really good stuff come through this week.  Now I get to share some of that with you, and always feel free to link to skins that caught your eye this week. Now for this weeks picks!   Bluerr in Bootskins by sydneysiders Change that plan default image to something really cool, like this "blue" boootskin by sydneysiders.  Very nice. ...