Tailor-make the look and feel of Windows to suit your tastes and PC habits.
As any Mac-obsessive will happily assert, the default settings of Microsoft’s Windows OS can look pretty darn dull. This is obviously the case with Windows XP and earlier versions, what with their deathly uninspiring windows, super-square buttons, and revolving text screensavers.
However, it also applies to a degree with Windows Vista, as while this is better looking than XP from the off, the platform can easily be pimped for your delight and viewing pleasure.
Here we show you how to polish, primp and preem your rig’s software skin so that its aesthetic is absolutely in keeping with your style. You’ll find Basic, Intermediate and Advanced options for each pimping category, and we’ll explain which tricks work with Vista, XP or both.
So let’s start by reinvigorating that dire desktop…
Desktop delightsEscape Microsoft’s default wallpapers and get creative
Basic
At the very least, you can jazz up the inane home of your program shortcuts by adding your own favourite image as a background.
The process is simple: right-click on the desktop, choose Properties, click the Desktop tab and then hit Browse to select your photo from any folder on your PC (or CD/removable drive). Vista users should do the same, but choose Personalize instead of Properties, and then ‘Desktop Background’.
Note:Be sure to choose a picture that is high-resolution (or at least larger than 100 kilobytes) if you intend to ‘stretch’ this across the whole desktop. (To stretch it, hit the Position button.)
Intermediate
Another option is to choose a shot you like from the raft of free desktop wallpapers online. If you like your artwork to look ‘gamey’ and graphically enhanced, head for the wallpapers at Jurko.net (http://wallpapers.jurko.netb).
Just click on the thumbnail of the image you want, then again on the larger version on the next page (this brings up the high-res shot), then right-click to save this onto your PC and follow the Basic step above.
Advanced
Although an app that is arguably the daddy of all desktop dazzlers called DreamRender (www.dreamrender.com) is well worth mentioning here, we were unable to install the .exe file we downloaded from the site (it was corrupt).
However – and luckily – the same fantastic video desktop functionality is available from another source in the form of Stardock’s Deskscapes. Available from www.stardock.com/products/deskscapes/, Stardock DeskScapes is a program that allows users to have animated wallpaper on their Windows Vista desktop (any version of Vista too unlike Vista Premium’s ‘Extra’ Dream Scene.
Deskscapes supports playing video as animated wallpaper, dynamically generated content as animated wallpaper, and more.
Note:DeskScapes is available as a free trial, which includes three free dreams (full-motion videos in the firm’s ‘.dream’ format – the only format that DeskScapes currently supports.
To run the software, which supports Vista Home Basic, Premium, Business and Enterprise, you’ll also need to download a special MPEG-2 Video Decoder from the site.
Try it out first – if you like it, the full version of Dreamscapes costs $19.95.
Vista users:If you’re running the Ultimate version of the OS then you already have easy access to great desktop offering in the form of a Vista ‘Ultimate Extra’ called ‘Dream Scene’, a HD-ready feature that creates a DreamRender-like high-definition animated wallpaper.
First, download the entire Windows Vista Ultimate Extras package from Windows Update (see www. windowsupdate.microsoft.com).
As far as Dream Scene content goes, you then have a ton of options:
• Download some relaxing, largely undersea-focused videos for Dream Scene from http://vistadreamscene.googlepages.com/
• Download more varied Dream Scenes from www.dreamscenevideo.net (click the blog of the picture you like, then hunt out the video download link at the bottom of that entry)
• Search out yet more videos at http://www.vistahd.org/
• Google ‘dream scene videos’
• Use your own content (.mpeg and .wmv format only).
When you have Dreamscene installed, just open Windows Explorer, right-click the video you want to set as your background, and choose ‘Set as Desktop Background’.
Note: To run Vista Ultimate – and in particular to run full-motion wallpapers like these, you’ll need a high-spec PC with at least a gigabyte of RAM and a modern and preferably dual-core processor for best results. Skins & themes
Progressive pimping that includes your windows and buttons
Setting your desktop background is one thing, but to really revamp what you see you can apply what’s called a ‘skin’ (or officially, a Windows ‘theme’). This approach changes your background and tailors the look and feel of Windows’ buttons and dialog boxes (windows) to fit a theme, be this outer space, babelicious actors, World Of Warcraft characters or whatever.
Best of all, most themes are free and once you’ve found one then applying it is usually just a one-click process.
Basic
Beginners can learn how themes work by changing the default Windows theme to another Windows-supplied offering.
XP users should right-click the desktop, choose Properties, then hit the Appearance tab and play around with the Windows and buttons, Colour scheme and Font size options. Also try Effects to enable features like menu bar shadows and other nifty things.
Vista owners, meanwhile, must right-click the desktop, choose the renamed Personalize option, and use the ‘Theme’ option. (For future reference, any Microsoft-downloaded themes will be stored in the default file location for themes shown in the next pop-up window you see.)
Intermediate
You can download a myriad of additional Windows themes from the web. One of the best Vista-focused sites we’ve found recently is My Vista Themes (http://www.myvistathemes.com/category/skins-and-themes/), which includes no less than 15 full pages of themes. You can even apply these themes to XP by installing the site’s tweak application ‘My theme patcher’.
If you don’t find anything there to strike your fancy however, other great destinations include:
• The geek’s skin of choice – PC maestro Alienware’s ‘AlienGUIse Theme Manager’ is at www.alienware.com in the Community section. Four versions are available (one of them good for Vista, all good for XP), spanning desktop, buttons, windows and a Media Player skin (for XP only). Whether you own an alien rig or not, we reckon you’ll love these.
• At www.themexp.org you’ll find a range of XP ‘visual styles’ (themes). Before installing, just download TGTSoft’s ‘Style XP 2.0′ software – available through this site. There is even a section on ‘Making your own’ theme using more of TGTSoft’s software (www.tgtsoft.com).
• Automatically installable and featuring some beautifully rendered images in a cartoon-esque style, the themes at www.dowtheme.com should wow non-geeks. Allow up to five megabytes of hard disk space for each theme you download.
Advanced
Serious tech tweakers with dollars to spare shouldn’t even think about which theme site to hit first… they should just download the trial version of ‘WindowBlinds’ – from www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/index.asp – which works with the site’s .wba (‘windowsblinds’) format themes – and get busy with the 30-day trial version. It’s more than enough with plenty of options.
If and when you decide you love this app, you can then splash US $19.95 for the full version.
Likely to want to tweak and add effects to objects in future? Then consider Stardock’s larger ObjectDock suite of apps. See the firm’s site for full details of this. Wait in styleDump the revolving text and wow your colleagues…
A screensaver is a screensaver right? Wrong, wrong, wrong. It’s arguably only true in the case of Windows’ default offerings, which even with Vista are pretty brain-numbingly dull, because in the case of third-party screensavers it’s as far from the truth as it is to say VoIP is actively encouraged by UAE ISPs.
Basic
To help us prove our point about Windows screensavers being, in general, a pile of unwashed pantaloons, right-click your desktop, hit Properties and prepare to be amazed by clicking the Screen Saver tab. Just look at those! Beziers, mystify, 3D flying objects and more… it’s like the future, today. Or not.
If your motivation is limited, the best option here is probably the My Pictures Slideshow option (providing your pictures are in that folder and you don’t mind others seeing them when not at your PC).
In Vista, the equally jaw-dropping list of options is over at Control Panel/Personalize/Screen Saver Settings.
Intermediate
Worry not however, as hunting out and downloading screensavers is simple, with one very decent URL being www.screensavergallery.com.
Animated high-definition screensavers are also available from http://www.screenspro.com/. Try the free selection, or pay $29.99 for access to them all.
Warning:Do not search or download any screensavers (or generally access the net) unless you are running fully updated anti-virus software and spamware – such as Adaware – on your PC. Many screensaver sites play host to all kinds of malware nastiness (though not, we believe, those listed above), so be on your guard. (For more advice on this, check our ‘Keep ‘em out’ feature on www.itp.net.)
Advanced
The Holy Grail of screensaver sorting is an eye-catching, self-produced version.
The easy way to determine what you see – in a traditional ‘moving patterns’ screensaver sense – is to download WeiserWare’s Electric Art Screensaver 1.04. This release, from www.weiserware.com, lets you customise the patterns you see based on what effects you prefer. You can also set the screen resolution and brightness, which is an unusually advanced degree of flexibility.
To really go to town on it however and create your own from scratch, we suggest employing the help of Ace Screensaver 2.40, which helps you make your own self-installing executable screensaver (meaning you can also send this type of instant installation file it to family and friends).
This app lets you display any number of your own images or pictures, plus it supports sound files such as MP3s and WAV files to. The smooth-tailoring functionality comes along via its inclusion of over 90 slideshow-type effects. We think it’s well worth grabbing the free trial version from www.zb2000.com, while the full version can be downloaded for just $15. Interesting others
Yet more options for PC pimpers
Put the boot in
You know the Windows boot screen (the one with the Windows logo on it that appears when your PC is powering up)? You can change this too, using free Stardock’s Bootskin app.
Check it out here: www.stardock.com/products/bootskin/. Unlike some other apps of this type, Bootskin doesn’t change the Windows XP boot screens or patch the Windows XP kernel (which can be dangerous) – so it’s suitable for everyone.
Here’s Johnny
Transform your screensaver in an old-skool style by grabbing ‘Screen Antics: Johnny Castaway’.
One of the most popular original Windows screensavers, this resoundingly silly release presents you with long-lost Johnny perform all manner of amusing and increasingly desperate antics (building sand castles, lighting fires etc.) while he struggles for daily survival on his tiny desert island. You’ll find the adapted XP version here: http://web.onetel.net.uk/~gnudawn/johnny/.
Here’s hell…
A scary modern version of Johnny’s on-screen meanderings meanwhile is Skeleton Adventures. Costing just $4.95 this excellent 3D game-like animated screensaver is like watching a movie with a thousand different endings. A free trial is available too, all from www.skeletonadventures.com.
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