Pimp My Desktop!
Lesson Four: Miscellaneous
You’re still reading this tutorial? If you’ve gone through the rest of the tutorial and got everything to work, bravo to you! Not only for coming one step closer to pimping your desktop, but for also understanding my horrible logic and typing! Good work.
The last lesson in the tutorial is basically the dumping grounds for anything else I felt important in customizing your desktop but didn’t necessarily need a whole page devoted to the topic. This will probably be where I’ll be adding any additional information, links, or programs in the future that I might find interesting for others to know about.
Calendar
Honestly there’s only one program that comes to mind, and that’s Rainlendar. There are a bunch of other calendar programs out there but none of them in my humble opinion are as awesome as Rainlendar. Plus it’s free. Free is always good in my books.
For those that do not know about the magic of Rainlendar, just check out my wallpaper entries to see how the program works. Simple easy to use calendar, to do list, and event reminder describe the program in a nutshell. What really makes the program have top marks is the ability to skin it, just like anything else. Just head over to devinatART’s Rainlendar Skin section and Rainy’s Rainlendar Skin section to see the wealth of skins avaliable!
Once I found out about Rainlendar my desktop has never looked the same since.
Desktop Add Ons
Ever want some of those cool looking stuff you’ve seen on Macs that PCs don’t have? Well thanks to free programs like Yahoo! Widgets and Avedesk, now PC users too can have similar desktop features like the Macs! Bigger and more interactive icons, weather report, news updates, and more are just some examples these desktop add ons can do.
I haven’t used Yahoo! Widgets at all but I’m sure it’s pretty straight forward. I suggest looking at their site for a more detail explanation on how to use the program. I have, however, used Avedesk along with Avedesk’s Docklets for awhile. Avedesk is pretty cool but very hard for the average user to use. A lot of the time I had to manually edit code or settings to get the program to work as I wanted it too. Do not, though, be drawn away from trying out the program yourself just because it sounds difficult. Avedesk is a good desktop enhancement program that does a good job mimicing some of mac’s desktop features. Definitely worth a look.
Speaking of macs, you can also go full blown and turn Windows into OSX thanks to the free program FlyakiteOSX. I’ve tried it out in the past and while it lags your computer a little bit, was very cool nonetheless. Individuals who like the OSX visual style but still hate macs should give FlyakiteOSX a try as they too can have the cool look without trading their PCs.
Icons / Cursors / Sounds
Sorry folks but I just don’t deal with these topics. For free icons I can once again point to the great resource that is deviantART. Everything else you’re on your own unless someone has some sites I can point individuals too. Sorry but that’s life.
Thus ends my short and hopefully helpful tutorial on desktop customization. Any questions, comments, suggestions, etc you can always e-mail me or leave a comment here. I’m always on the look out for new and interesting desktop related programs and sites, so any feedback would be helpful!
Great tutorial, Alex. Five Stars(or was it 2 thumbs xx;) Anyway, thankies for finally making the tutorial.
Wow this is wonderful, thanks for making this!
To answer this question, no the visual style/themes do not change your cursor. However, some VS do come with cursors to match the windows skin. Just double check the VS files to see if any cursors were included. Same can be said with icons for the theme too.
As for Aqua looking themes, I don’t use them. There are like a ton of OSX looking ones in deviantART so browse around and try them out.
I can recommend some VS that are my personal favs though. Anything by b0se is always good. Other than that, agroove, areao4, exeed, roguesi, and shaded are all great VS to check out.
Yeah, thanks a bunch for sharing this.
I have another suggestion for your desktop addons/widgets programs. I have in the past tried out a program called Konfabulator which used to be just for Mac. But a few months ago they released a Windows version.
I just looked at Konfabulator’s site and it appears that it is the same as the Yahoo! widgets that you linked to.
Nice bit of information you have. Just wanted to add a nice site for icons that I use.
oh, the HTML didn’t work. Sorry for the 2 posts. But the site is http://www.pixelgirlpresents.com
wow….I was trying to figure out how to do this myself after looking at your screens, but this helps alot. =) thanks for all your previous help and for this resource =)
I use WindowsBlinds because it has nicer skins, but its not free.
Also, i use “Wallpaper Changer” which is a free mircosoft powertool downloadable from here somewhere. You set a directory, and it changes your wallpaper every 15 or xx minutes to the next image in the folder. its wonderful
Hey moy, what theme is that you’re using in the screenshots for the Visual Styles section? I have area04 by =heylove over at DeviantArt, but it looks slightly different (and incomplete), I like your version much better. Where did you get it?
It’s actually Nano by the same people, I think.
Ah, thankies. Quick google search sent me to http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/8833258/
by ~whistl3r
For themeXP and getskinned, which one is the boot and which one is the login screens?
Shimi, boot screen is the initial screen you see (i.e. WinXP is loading). Login screen is the one you see aftewards, that might prompt you for a user password to get into Windows.
If you’re asking about which is which, I suggest you don’t fool around with them much. While not an advance customize, both are definitely not for novices; esp. if something goes wrong.
Moyism, thanks for this tutorial. Very very helpful! Very simple too, considering im a skinning newbie.
NB:Nano font is so tiny!! XD I like it.
Just wondering.. how u remove the recycle bin?
If you’re running WinXP, d/l the newest version of TweakUI. It’ll allow you to easily remove the Recycle Bin from the desktop.
mayu i know where i can d/L that?
This is the only blog I’ve added to my links after reading only two pages of it. You’re da man, but I just can’t find the Nano msstyles.
whoops, got it, nvm.
Thanks a lot for this tutorial.. it really helped me, who was always checkin’ your COOL desktops, and wonderin’ how’d i make them myself…
I think my desktop’s now a hella lot better…
Does this thing work with Windows Media Center, too?
I honestly would not know. I suggest googling to find out.
can u tell me where you got that wallpaper for your swordsman love post? or better yet, send it to me? i cant seem to find it on 4chan.org
oh, and nice tutorial btw. I read through it because i was bored, but i use an aternative desktop. so it was all pointless for me to read through it. strange? i thought so.
Fuck this, your tutorial says to do exactly what Ive tried and they just wont show up in my desktop preferences anywhere.
oh… i still not found where to download these wallpaper… -_-!