What Does your Desktop look like?

I live those images any chance there is a blue one?

for the icons download tweak ui its a xp powertoys for microsoft that will rid you of the horrible shortcut icons

 

Unfortunately, I do not think that there is a blue one. If you really needed it, you could just convert one of those to grey (gray?) scale and change the hue / saturation. I made a pitiful attempt at it here:



Image size: 104KB (400x300) | Linked image size: 405KB (1024x768)

If you have any experience with Photoshop or Fireworks, it should be a piece of cake to make. The hard part is making it just the right color. I also tried the same thing on the other picture:



Image size: 120KB (400x300) | Linked image size: 555KB (1024x768)

Have fun!

- tf

 

link my try

 

I had a go using photoshop 7, changing the hue/stauration and i got the right colour but it just doesnt look right. All the smoothness in the shapes has gone. link btw i cant direct link so you will have to copy the link to the taskbar.

 

how do you guys alter windows like that???

 

and like this...?

that is ****ing tight i need to know how 2 do that

 

Do you all use programmes to have the awsome themes?
I used style xp... but it added like 10 seconds on start up, which is annoying

 

There are many different applications that can do that, and most of them you have to pay for. One that I know of is WindowBlinds, just Google it is you are interested.

The main thing that I did not like about WindowBlinds, and other applications such as Samurize, was that you would have to work really hard to find a consistent theme. If you could not find a particular set of the theme, for example icons, you were either stuck or you had to make your own. Another thing that bugged me about them is that most of the themes and skins were put together by people that don't have a clu as to what they are doing. My last bone to pick with them is that they are a major system hog. Just as the Windows XP theme takes more than the Windows Classic theme, WindowBlinds and Samurize can really slow a system down.

Okay, I lied. There is one more thing that I don't like about thme that is worth mentioning. They, usually, do not add much functionality. Samurize, while it does report some useful information, is totally superflous. Does you really need to know, every 1000ms, how much RAM is free, or how much free hard drive space you have? Certain features, like Winamp control, are okay, but not totally fleshed out.

I guess you could liken these desktop changes to computer mods. They end up costing you money, time, and valuable resources, and they may not do much, but if you like them, then all the power to you. Whatever floats your boat, as the saying goes.

If you want some more information, please go to Win Customize, I believe that it was mentioned in this thread earlier. You can also look on Google, and you may be able to find some freeware alternatives. Good luck! For some good backgrounds, boot screens, and login screens, check out ThemeXP. They have a large selection of all of the mentioned categories, although their server is a bit slow.

I apologize for the length of my rant.

- tf

 

I tend to use a hacked uxtheme.dll file rather than any special programs to change themes because as you said it adds to load times and quite frankly most of it is bloatware for what it does, a hacked uxtheme dll file allows for any old .theme or .msstyles files to be used as themes via the normal desktop theme settings.

 

Still a work in progress.



DDK

 

My new one...

http://xdeltax.net/Screenie-copy2.gif

Also.. how can i make my desktop show up as a preview in the post?

Thanks

 

Do you mean as a thumbnail? You just have to resize the picture to something suitable. 400 width is usually the best size. Then, you enclose the small picture's IMG tag with a URL tag of the big image. Here is an example, replacing the brackets with braces:

{URL=http://www.bigpicture.com}{IMG}http://www.smallpicture.com{/IMG}{/URL}

Viola.

Also, instead of resizing the picture, you could just crop out the most interesting section and use that as your thumbnail. I hope this helps.

- tf

[EDIT]
daydreamingknight: Uptime: 00:04? That is a good time for Windows. I am hoping that the time indicated is HH:MM, not MM:SS, or even possibly SS:milliSmilliS
[/EDIT]

 

Here is mine. Daydreamingknight, did you use Aston Shell too? It looks like it.

 

Halgy3000: Is that a binary clock in the upper-left hand corner? I have one of those in my room. They are quite fascinating.

Hmm, let's see...

11:59:51

And no, I did not cheat by using the clock in the lower-right. How does the binary one indicate AM / PM, or does it?

- tf

 

Yes I use Aston...


[EDIT]
daydreamingknight: Uptime: 00:04? That is a good time for Windows. I am hoping that the time indicated is HH:MM, not MM:SS, or even possibly SS:milliSmilliS
[/EDIT][/QUOTE]



?

I took the screen 4 mins after start up. I have yet to have a problem with WinXp.. it's been stable and what problems I have had have been due to user error.


DDK

 

Problems can always be traced back to a user error, it is just how the OS reacts on them that makes it stable or not. I agree with you though, Windows XP is a very stable operating system imo, and I've got no problems with it.

 

?

I took the screen 4 mins after start up. I have yet to have a problem with WinXp.. it's been stable and what problems I have had have been due to user error.


DDK[/QUOTE]



My uptime:

20:03:54:06 days:hours:minutes:seconds Only reason its this low was I had to take the system apart to paint it.

This is using Windows Server 2003 configured to work more like a workstation, so its basicaly a little bit beefier Windows XP Pro wih some nice networking and built in server functionality for me to se with LANs and for running my own mail and webserver.

 

Perhaps none of you noticed, so maybe I should add this wonderful little 'tag':

</sarcasm>

- tf

 

After downloading Samurize again, I upgraded my desktop. I do realize how ironic it is that I have downloaded this program o soon after bashing it and its ilk, but I found many useful things that I can make it report, along with some of the more mundane ones that I mentioned, such as CPU usage. Have a look:



Image size: 74KB (400x320) | Linked image size: 393KB (1280x1024)

Before anyone says that I have the date and time on my screen three times, I can explain. I like having the clock in the tray because Samurize is not always on top. The digital time is shown because it looks cool, and the calendar is there because I can make it tell me when I have important stuff coming up.

In case you can't tell. I like everything on my desk to be simple. That is why I moved all of my icons to the taskbar. Notice the folders labeled: 'My Apps' and 'My Games.'

So, that is desktop MkII

- tf