Windows Vista is here, and regardless of whether you upgraded from XP, or just purchased a new PC with it installed, I’m sure you are ready to customize the way Vista looks.  Now we can go in all sorts of directions in customizing Vista, but I wanted to cover some of the basics as that is enough for most people.

Let me also take this time to cover a few questions about customizing Vista that you might have.

Q. Will it use many resources or “slow” Vista down?

A. By using the tools I will show you, your system performance should not be affected at all.

Q. Will this somehow “hurt” my computer?

A.  Not at all.  The methods used here are not system hacks, and the software I will show here is fully tested on Vista.

Q. Is this free?

A. Some applications are free, and some require a purchase after the trial period runs out.  The price of the applications are typically small and well worth the investment.

Changing the Vista Logon

The logon screen is basically the first thing you see when you start your computer.  Windows Vista has a nice default logon screen, but why not personalize it?  To do that, just go and grab yourself a copy of LogonStudio Vista and have at it.  LogonStudio Vista (free) lets you easily change a create the Windows Vista logon to any number of downloadable logons already available.  If you prefer to use an image of your own, it’s as simple as drag and drop to create your own.

Read the full Customizing your Vista Desktop article….

JJ Ying has updated one of his GUI Champs ‘06 WindowBlinds skins to be Vista and WB6 compatible.  This is a really nice skin to use on a daily basis, thanks for updating JJ Ying!

Download: V!VA by JJ Ying

The WinCustomize SkinCast has made it to episode #4, and the momentum keeps going and the support so far has been great. Both Zoomba and I are still relatively new to this whole podcasting thing, but I think we are getting the hang of it.  Just a quick recap of what the SkinCast is exactly for people just now seeing this.  The WinCustomize SkinCast is a podcast dedicated to basically all things related to desktop customization, the technology behind it, and the community that drives it. 

iTunes: Episode #4

Link: Episode #4

New Tattoo

Originally uploaded by Island Dog

You hear me talking about how to skin your desktop all the time, but look, I skinned myself this past weekend.

In the last month or so, many Twitter users (including myself) were bombarded with friend requests from Twitter accounts that were obviously spammers.  I was glad to see the reports that Twitter will start blacklisting these accounts, although I wish there was a more convenient way to report spammers/abusers.  This past weekend I was tipped off to several Twitter accounts that are being used to distribute links to illegal copies of software and games (warez).  So far, I have only found a few Twitter accounts that seem to be doing this, so I hope this is something that can be nipped in the bud quickly.

I have sent DMCA notices to Twitter regarding the posting of software related to the company I work for, and I also informed Twitter about these activities in hope the accounts will be removed completely, not just the offending posts.  Now normally I don’t give dealers in warez any type of public attention, but I feel that since Twitter is becoming more and more popular, and is heading for the so-called “mainstream” status, that this is something that needs to be addressed.  I am personally a big fan of Twitter, and I am not putting any type of blame on them, I just hope they are prepared to deal with situations like this.

So now we just wait and see how Twitter deals with these people, and I will be sure to keep everyone updated on the situation.

I have been following the Jing Project since nearly the beginning, and I have been very impressed with the progress so far. I noticed they issued an update yesterday bringing Jing up to version 1.6. This update includes some features that were highly requested from users, including:

• Return of the Save button
  
• New Copy to Clipboard button
  
• Modified UI

This update is for both Mac and PC versions.

Download: Jing

On the PC I mainly use Office 2007 for my work, but on the Mac I haven’t invested in an office suite like iWork or Office as of yet. For the past couple of years I been a big user of NeoOffice, it’s a great alternative to something like Microsoft Office. OpenOffice was available for OS X also, but required X11 which was something I personally didn’t want to have to use.

OpenOffice.org 3 will be the first version which doesn’t require X11 to run, and they have a beta available for the public. That was enough for me to go and grab the download as soon as possible. I have been using it only for a couple of days now, so I’m not prepared to write any type of preview for it. I just wanted to help spread the word and get people to try it, and help submit any issues or feedback to help the development.

Download: OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta

J. Aroche is one of my favorite CursorFX skinners. He makes cursor themes with some truly amazing animations and effects. He recently put out another cursor that stays true to his style.

Link: Conspiracy for CursorFX

The WindowBlinds 6.1 update is available to current customers as a free update, and users can upgrade either through Stardock Central or the Impulse preview.  The WindowBlinds 6.1 release includes the following updates:

• Several maintenance and performance tweaks.
• Option to force start button to the middle of skins.
• Explorer background feature.

WindowBlinds has a free download available for evaluation, and is $19.95 for the full enhanced version.  WindowBlinds is also part of the Object Desktop suite of desktop enhancements.

Link: WindowBlinds

This is the screencast to go along with the article about changing Windows cursors with Stardock’s CursorFX.