Babbling

[UnderADarkenedSky]

I have recently been getting into the world of skinning Windows XP. It is fun and demanding, but in the end can give you results that are far from the bleak and ugly OS you started with. This thread is meant to be a guide to skin XP yourself. I hope someone can use it because it is really fascinating. I also included a section on Mac OSX emulation.

Okay, lets start by going to www.stardock.com and downloading the shareware version of WindowBlinds4. It has no spyware or adware, but will occasionally ask you to buy the full version. Dowload WindowBlinds4 and install it. When you first start up WB4, it has a few preloaded skins. You can choose whichever one you like from there, or you can go to www.wincustomize.com. Here there are thousands of skins and other skinning paraphanellia. Simply click on the link on the left hand column for WindowBlinds Skins and browse through them. When you find a nice looking skin, click the download button and save it to you desktop. When its done, click the icon on your desktop and WB4 will tell you it has found a new skin. At this time you can apply the new skin.

Next, lets cover icons. Icons are the little folders, recycling bins, My Computer, IE, etc. things that you click to open programs. XP's are pretty dull, but your in luck, you can change those too. Go back to www.stardock.com and download IconPackager. This handy program will change all of your computer's icons to the set you collect in just one click. After downloading and installing IP you are ready to download icons. Go to www.wincustomize.com again and click the IconPackager link on the left column. Download a set you like, again to the desktop, and open it with IP. Select it in IP and hit apply. Every icon throughout your PC should now look different.

Next, this section covers Mac OSX emulation for XP. First, download this skin: http://www.wincustomize.com/ViewSkin.aspx?SID=1&SkinID=4881&LibID
=1 called OS X Tiger. It comes with dones of variants of the OSX's look. Next, go to the IconPackager section and download this icon set:http://www.wincustomize.com/ViewSkin.aspx?SID=1&SkinID=1118&LibID
=2 called Panther Hybrid. After applying those, you are ready to move on to the "dock". Go to www.stardock.com and download ObjectDock. ObjectDock is freeware so there is nothing to worry about there. Open up ObjectDock and drag whatever shortcuts you wish to the dock. You can also download icons for ObjectDock of of www.wincustomize.com but its not truly necessary. Next comes the "finder" bar at the top of the screen. You can either dowload a Finder emulator from www.osx-e.com, or just do what I did and drag the Start Menu/ Windows Taskbar to the top of the screen. You are now done as far as I'm concerned, but there is a bunch of other crap that you can do. This site, http://features.engadget.com/entry/8828351836181248/, has an walkthrough of their process witha bunch of links. Most of the stuff can be found on www.osx-e.com, and it also has a great forum dedicated to the subject.

Other crap you can do: www.wincustomize.com has tons of other customization tools for all sorts of XP things. I suggest you browse the whole site in case you find something interesting I didn't mention.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

- After dowloading 2 or 3 files from WinCustomize, it makes you sign up. Its free, just do it.

- When dowloading files to your desktop, do not delete them or else they won't work with their program. I suggest you send it to "My Documents" or elsewhere for safekeeping.

- If you have any other questions ask me here or check the forums on www.osx-e.com or www.aquasoft.com.

Thanks for reading. Hope some of you try it, it can be really cool.

Message Edited by UnderADarkenedSky on 03-29-2005 11:24 PM

[TrekDude]

i like the way it looks now, why would i want to change it?

[UnderADarkenedSky]

oh and BTW, anyone who does'nt wanna try it should at least check ou the galleries on www.osx-e.com. Some of those people are really talented and do thing with their computers I could never begin to comprehend.

[UnderADarkenedSky]

bump

[R.I.P.The_Bride]

It's a very nice idea and you're post is extremely helpful but most people here don't want to put effort into such things.

[UnderADarkenedSky]

uuuuuuuuuuuugh

[UnderADarkenedSky]

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The_Bride wrote:
It's a very nice idea and you're post is extremely helpful but most people here don't want to put effort into such things.

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haha thanks I guess, and I suppose you are right...

[R.I.P.1029384756]

I like resource hacker better but that can give you problems if you dont know what your are doing because it moddifies the acual kernal files. There was an aricle on it a techtv on the screensavers but since it went to g4tech i dont know were the article is. If you dont want to mess with the kernals i would use wincustomize and stardock. That way it is easyier to set back to defalts. One more thing to remeber is that the boot time will be longer due to the change in the skin but should not add too much time.

[UnderADarkenedSky]

yeah i barely notice it tho

[R.I.P.1029384756]

Where did you go to get your forum

[UnderADarkenedSky]

the forum in my sig?

[R.I.P.1029384756]

yeah

[UnderADarkenedSky]

proboards.com

[R.I.P.MexicanSamuri]

can you help me with this problem i have? yes or no

[UnderADarkenedSky]

iono depends what it is

[R.I.P.1029384756]

thxx and if ya need a mod i could if ya need one

Message Edited by 1029384756 on 03-30-2005 12:32 AM

[UnderADarkenedSky]

really? I would want a mod. Join my forums and I can hook u up. Do u have AIM?

Message Edited by UnderADarkenedSky on 03-30-2005 12:33 AM

[R.I.P.MexicanSamuri]

ok. i download this game called ureal tournament from download. com *chaching* and when it is done i try to install it but it says i cant. or somtimes while im doing it a little message will apear and say internet explorer cant do that. i have winows xp if that helps any. im not a computer person such as yourself.

[UnderADarkenedSky]

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MexicanSamuri wrote:
ok. i download this game called ureal tournament from download. com *chaching* and when it is done i try to install it but it says i cant. or somtimes while im doing it a little message will apear and say internet explorer cant do that. i have winows xp if that helps any. im not a computer person such as yourself.

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hey man I never said anything about being a computer person. I **bleep**ing hate when **bleep** doesn't work. Skinning is like the only thing im good at on computers besides AIM. Sorry not my area.

[R.I.P.MexicanSamuri]

what will skinning do to my computer? im sorry i thought you were a computer person. what is AIM

[UnderADarkenedSky]

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MexicanSamuri wrote:
what will skinning do to my computer? im sorry i thought you were a computer person. what is AIM

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Skinning~ as in changing the way windows XP looks, like the appearance

AIM~ as in AOL Instant Messanger

[R.I.P.MexicanSamuri]

can it make it look retarted.

[UnderADarkenedSky]

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MexicanSamuri wrote:
can it make it look retarted.

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depends on your idea of retarded. you can make it look like it got the **bleep** beat out of it.

[R.I.P.MexicanSamuri]

what does yours look like

[UnderADarkenedSky]

kind of like this http://www.wincustomize.com/Preview.aspx?Source=SteveGrenier/wb/4
881.jpg