Corky_O

Reply to 10 Windows Vista Customization topics in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Thanks for the outline, Brad. I had been wondering about IconPackager and the dynamic icons. From my experience using the various beta releases of Vista, I have grown quite fond of the new design that Microsoft has come up with in the icons. It would be a real feather in Stardock's cap if IconPackager could be developed to the point of accurately and efficiently replacing the icons while leaving all the same functionality in place. The idea of displaying the dynamic contents o

Reply to 2 problems with objectdock in Object Desktop WinCustomize Forums

aman2812, You can try creating a shortcut on your system to the Quick Launch button for show desktop and then create a dock entry linked to that file. - or - You can copy and paste the following into a notepad file and then save to your system as 'Desktop.scf': [Shell] Command=2 IconFile=explorer.exe,3 [Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop Note - make sure that the 'Hide extensions for known file types' is deselected under the

Reply to WGA Flags 22% of Windows Installs Invalid in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

There was an article about 6 months ago that had a statement from an official at MS that stated that the actual percentage of false-positives was less than 5% of the reported number of invalid copies. Sorry, I did not bookmark the article, but it was on one of the more prominent sites for MS reviews. I have done at least 50 clean installs on machines in the last 9 months without any issues on installs and updates on a number of machines. The only issue I have found is th

Reply to Touring Windows Vista - Part 5: Wrap-Up in Windows Vista WinCustomize Forums

Mike, Good article of which I agree on all your points (except the new Start Menu does not bother me). The expedition of application updates/upgrades and stable hardware drivers is a must - IMO - before feeling comfortable in recommending upgrading to any users. Do you know the exact price $.of the diffrent editions... RB,

Reply to Overwhelmed and Overcustomized in New Users WinCustomize Forums

Here is a mini tutorial I wrote (it seems like a long time ago) outlining the manual procedure for restoring Windows XP defaults https://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=98650 You may also want to perform a 'Clearing the Cache' which will remove all user preferences and force the Stardock programs to load with the defaults. Here is another mini tutorial I wrote some time ago outlining this procedure <A href="http

Reply to The Master Skins! in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Thanks for the answer. I second that! Brad wrote: "Master skinner Adni18 has uploaded literally hundreds of skins and themes to WinCustomize.com over the past 6 years. In that time, his skins and themes have been downloaded over 11 MILLION times.</P

Reply to The Master Skins! in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Long overdue. Great plan. The only proviso would be whether or not bugs in the skins (if they exist) are addressed in a timely manor. I would prefer to pay for a skin that functions as well as the WindowBlinds program allows (in other words; the only glitches in the skins are due to the unavoidable incompatibilities between WindowBlinds and some Programs - e.g., Office 2007 running on Windows XP). I would also agree that a filter to show/hide any Master Skins woul

Reply to Touring Windows Vista - Part 4: Tools for the Power User in Windows Vista WinCustomize Forums

Thanks for the article, Mike. I agree with the disappointing regression of the disc defragmenter interface. MS seems to have used the UAC train of thought on this one, apparently thinking that the average user will be using this tool now and it is best to leave technical information out. Too bad about that one.

Reply to ATI: Expect external video cards in the future in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Running the X1950 XTX here with the Catalyst 6.12 (same as link in comment #2). The card runs great.

Reply to How do you create an icon packager theme? in IconPackager WinCustomize Forums

madcat75, The basic procedure is the following: 1 - Start Icon Packager > View menu > Package Builder. 2 - Acquaint yourself with the icons that are available for use in the package (start with the default ones shown, you can add additional file types after you are comfortable with the basics). Close package builder and Icon Packager temporarily. 3 - Make a folder and fill with the icons you want to use for your package (this may be various ones that

Reply to Vista's Aero UI Does Not Impact Performance? in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

The study seems to be more geared towards responsiveness of the programs running on the two operating systems than attempting to compare the drawing of the shells vs. performance. It would seem that a change occurs when the PC warms up. I have been running the RC2 5744 for a while now, and there may be some heat increase in the system, but I suspect this is due to a combination of the greater video adapter use when running 'Aero' and the increase in process count which require

Reply to Icon Placement in New Users WinCustomize Forums

Too slow for Hankers!

Reply to Icon Placement in New Users WinCustomize Forums

The icons to the right of the start button are in what is called the 'Quick Launch' toolbar. To show this toolbar, you need to right-click an empty spot on the taskbar > mouse-over 'Toolbars' > select the 'Quick Launch' listing. The quick launch will probably have a few icons there by default (at least one due to the 'Show Desktop' icon being a resident). Items of note on the quick launch toolbar: 1 - To resize the toolbar, right-click the taskbar and deselect the 'Lock

Reply to Touring Windows Vista - Part 2: UI Changes & Additions in Windows Vista WinCustomize Forums

Good second installment on the series, Mike. I have found that once I started using the new OS (been running the betas since RC1), it all becomes natural quickly. The single most helpful item I have found so far is the ability to select locations (navigate) from within the address bar. This feature alone - IMO - is a big step in making it easier for all users. You can stay in one explorer window and navigate anywhere with ease. One feature missing from window

Reply to What are Your 2007 Tech Predictions? in Personal Computing WinCustomize Forums

1 - A significant increase in High Definition component development and sales (TV's, Vista Home premium or Ultimate based home computer systems, and various service providers and programs). 2 - A trend towards making home technology an 'all-in-one' system, whether from Microsoft, Apple, or other emerging alternatives. I suspect this will be something that consumers will consider and probably plan to accomplish in the next 3 years based on continued advertisement of the technology

Reply to Have a Safe and Happy New Year! in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Well, US West Coast made it! Happy New Year, All!!

Reply to January Desktop Screenshots in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Switched machines to Vista (currently RC2 - 5744, until I can afford to purchase after Jan. 30) - for good. Here is the home-built desktop shot with rating included. Processor = Intel Core2 Duo (e6600) Memory = 2 GB DDR2 PC800 Graphics card = ATI X1950 XTX 512MB (single card) Hard Drive = Seagate SATA (3.0 Gb/sec.) 300 GB Happy New

Reply to Office 2007 Problem in Stardock Software WinCustomize Forums

Corky_O: The last WB4 release was about 1.5 years ago. As for better support for office 2007 and IE7, the current released builds of WB5 have no issues with either of them. Thanks, Neil.

Reply to Office 2007 Problem in Stardock Software WinCustomize Forums

WB4 was produced well before the release of both IE7 and WB5. This accounts for the lack of support in skinning IE7. I am not a coder, but have read a few comments by the lead developer that IE7 handles things differently than IE6 does. This placed a hold on the development of skinning IE7, and limited it to WB5 only due to the fact that it is the current version being developed. As for the lack of options in WB5, I have noticed this as well and have to assume that it has to do with o

Reply to Touring Windows Vista - Part 1 in Personal Computing WinCustomize Forums

One thing I have noticed in testing the RC2 build 1544, is that it becomes more and more obvious that one will indeed want a dual core processor. I say this because you may notice as I did that once you launch component functions such as 'media center' and 'tablet pc', the process count increases significantly (high 40's - lower 50's). The advantage of multiple cores should balance the increase in processes and allow machines to actually see improvement in responsi

Reply to I cannot remove mt object dock in ObjectDock WinCustomize Forums

Make sure to unload ObjectDock and kill the 'SDMCP.EXE' process if listed in task manager before attempting to uninstall (whether using Stardock Central, Add or Remove Programs, or the 'UNWIZE.exe' file found in the ObjectDock sub-directory). If all else fails, try reinstalling, kill the 'SDMCP.EXE' in task manager, and uninstall.

Reply to The Godfather Has Passed in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

A true artist in the soul community. He will be missed.

Reply to MERRY CHRISTMAS! in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

Reply to How Stardock failed the skinning community in 2006 in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Speaking again from the standpoint of a creator of standards and assembly manuals, a product should not go to retail status until a completed user's manual accompanies it. I understand that this is hard to accomplish with a software product that is released in many beta versions previous to final release, but this is - IMO - a large part of a perceived lack of official support. I would divide the documentation into two groups: Group #1 = a user based manual (

Reply to How Stardock failed the skinning community in 2006 in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

The following comments to the content of your article are purely my own perspective: 1 - Stardock does have serious issues with documentation if they want users to understand the programs. 2 - The skinning programs have become more complex, which in turn creates more time consumption for the average user simply trying to use the program. This is magnified if one tries to actually create what would be considered a high quality skin or theme. 2 - For the past 6 - 9 month