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Roffles
Pitcairn19291 Posts
So I come asking for a little help. What steps should I take to make my desktop look a little nicer? Wallpaper? Sidebars? Skins? Where to start/What do I really need/not need. Stuff of the sort. Any suggestions/feedback would be greatly appreciated. Any program/skin recommendations?  | ||
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Athos
United States2484 Posts
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JeeJee
Canada5652 Posts
also, what are you looking to get out of your desktop? i thought i needed all those cool gadgets and all, but after actually setting them up, i realized they kinda suck and took em down..  on my linux, i set up conky (sysinfo that's kind of embedded in your desktop) which was somewhat neat but also in the end pointless.. and plus linux blows anyway in the end, the only customizations i'm left with (that stood the test of time and usefulness) that directly affect how my desktop (winXP) looks is 2 things: -just a generic darker skin (slanxp2) -putting all commonly used programs into c:\windows so that i can run them in 2-3 keystrokes, without any need for shortcuts cluttering up my desktop | ||
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Roffles
Pitcairn19291 Posts
On September 02 2009 12:43 JeeJee wrote: let's start off with asking what OS you got also, what are you looking to get out of your desktop? i thought i needed all those cool gadgets and all, but after actually setting them up, i realized they kinda suck and took em down.. on my linux, i set up conky (sysinfo that's kind of embedded in your desktop) which was somewhat neat but also in the end pointless.. and plus linux blows anyway Well, first of all I'm on Vista. Second of all, I'd like to get rid of all my icons on the desktop and hopefully throw my most used ones onto a dock up top or bottom. And secondly I'd like to have a sidebar that has the capability to keep me organized (Calendar, Weather, To Do List, Maybe CPU Performance, stuff of that sort). Not too fancy, but still aesthetically pleasing . | ||
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Athos
United States2484 Posts
On September 02 2009 12:43 JeeJee wrote: let's start off with asking what OS you got also, what are you looking to get out of your desktop? i thought i needed all those cool gadgets and all, but after actually setting them up, i realized they kinda suck and took em down.. on my linux, i set up conky (sysinfo that's kind of embedded in your desktop) which was somewhat neat but also in the end pointless.. and plus linux blows anyway I used to be a linux user. Having my own cube was nice for a while, but the inability to play most games combined with a shitty response from my wireless card ultimately made me switch back to windows exclusively. | ||
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JeeJee
Canada5652 Posts
In vista, what you're asking for is actually simple, there's a lot of widgets/gadgets/whatcha-ma-callits that can do the lists/clocks etc. And to get rid of the icons on the desktop.. I must be missing something, since I'm sure simply deleting them has occurred to you. I believe the C:\Windows trick also works in Vista, you can take a look at that and see if it's something that works for you (so that you can run programs without needing shortcuts), but if not then you will have to find another way around it edit: @athos, haha that about sums up my nix experience as well did you have to fuck around with ndiswrapper? that's some fun stuff | ||
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Fr33t
United States1128 Posts
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OrderlyChaos
United States1115 Posts
As far as docks, there are a few programs for that. Objectdock http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/ and Rocketdock http://rocketdock.com/ pretty much do the same thing. I've used both, and I liked them pretty much equally. Objectdock is technically commercial, but the free version does the big things. I now use launchy as my application launcher though, but that's just preference (I like being able to alt-space, type a few letters, enter and have my program go). For wallpapers, there are a lot of sites out there. I like Interfacelift, which offers some good HD desktops. http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/downloads/date/any/ If you browse through lifehacker.com's featured desktops ( http://lifehacker.com/tag/featured-desktop/ ), you might find some others you might like. I keep telling myself I'm going to be beautifying my desktop, but I never actually do it... Hopefully this is helpful. | ||
DivinO
United States4796 Posts
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Athos
United States2484 Posts
On September 02 2009 12:50 JeeJee wrote: edit: @athos, haha that about sums up my nix experience as well did you have to fuck around with ndiswrapper? that's some fun stuff Yup  It sucked because the wireless would always disconnect and once that happened I had to restart. Otherwise I could never I never figure out how to get back on the internet. Ndiswrapper was a nightmare to use and it sucks that there isn't a high end professional version that does all the work for you. That was one of the benefits of using Linux, it makes you less lazy. | ||
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caldo149
United States469 Posts
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jodogohoo
Canada2533 Posts
it makes i so you can't open folders and everything on your desktop is gone, but it looks real nice if you have a good wallpaper, btw don't get stupid shit the clouds up your desktop. tldr if its clean it looks nice | ||
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Lyriu
Canada108 Posts
On September 02 2009 13:05 OrderlyChaos wrote: The main tool that people seem to use for the desktop widgets and such is rainmeter. http://www.rainmeter.net/ It's a fairly powerful program that's pretty customizable. It also comes with a set of themed features. I've tried it out a couple times, but have been too lazy really to play around with it and make things perfect. It has a lot of the features you seem to be looking for though. You could also just try to find random widgets for the standard vista sidebar. As far as docks, there are a few programs for that. Objectdock http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/ and Rocketdock http://rocketdock.com/ pretty much do the same thing. I've used both, and I liked them pretty much equally. Objectdock is technically commercial, but the free version does the big things. I now use launchy as my application launcher though, but that's just preference (I like being able to alt-space, type a few letters, enter and have my program go). Yup, I'd advocate for both Rainmeter and Launchy as well (used to use rocketdock, hassle to make all the icons though =/). I believe the latest version of Rainmeter by default comes with the Enigma configs, you would have fun playing around with those I hope =). Other than that, try going through the customization section at deviantart. If you want to change the look of your task bars and stuff without any 3rd party programs, check out the Visual Styles section under Windows Vista utilities. Hope that helps =D. | ||
MrHoon
10183 Posts
I have an XP, how can one reskin my XP so it looks cool :O | ||
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lac29
United States1485 Posts
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doktorLucifer
United States855 Posts
On September 02 2009 14:06 MrHoon wrote: wait I wanna join this thread too!!!!!! I have an XP, how can one reskin my XP so it looks cool :O Get the UXTheme.dll patch. This will allow you to reskin the windows file explorer/taskbar/etc with visual styles. (.msstyle files.) You can find it here. Be sure to read at least the first two posts, since the method in post 1 might not work. Manual might be better. VSstyles har. Old as hell style-manager, which I still use for some reason: ofc, you can use WindowBlinds to manage the standard VS style files, but I haven't bothered with that. Styler, if used, will load all the default color/size settings every time, but will save font settings. If you use the display properties menu for font/size settings, you probably won't have this issue. Other things you can do for aesthetics/functionality: install meters/widget apps like rainmeter/samurize or install a custom shell, like blackbox for windows, or litestep. GL HF. | ||
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Roffles
Pitcairn19291 Posts
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Sadistx
Zimbabwe5568 Posts
On September 02 2009 13:07 pLaTypu5 wrote: www.digitalblasphemy.com Has good desktops. It costs money. | ||
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