thanks to all....
from
WinCustomize Forums
well I did it, thanks to all of your advice and patience, this newbie is now using copperdeck, my first skin.I got the clock (sysmetrix), icons (iconpackager) and logon screens working too.I love the techie looking skins with all the extras, icons, wallpapers etc...any recommendations? thanks again.

Welcome to the wonderful World of Customizing!