Short cuts are always nice, but it seems like more work is always packed in to them.  Well at least it's Friday so that means this weeks edition of This Week in Skinning is here.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Star Trek 11 Enterprise 2 in Bootskins by I.R. Brainiac This is an awesome image of the Enterprise, and now you can see it when you boot up Windows.
	Gold Scarab for CursorFX by Libardo This is one of my new favorite CursorFX themes.  The details are amazing and it's just a really cool design.  Great work.
	Plasmatron A.I. in DesktopX Themes by knofsky I'm sure you will recognize the basis of this DX theme, and that is the popular Plasmatron WB skin.  Knofsky has done a great job at turning that style into a DX theme.
	Koi Pond Waterfall for LogonStudio Vista by OutdoorPictures A beautiful waterfall scene is the perfect addition for the Vista logon screen.
	Marbled Dock for ObjectDock Backgrounds by messiah1 The texture on these docks is just perfect, and the smooth look of marble makes this a very clean design.
	Full sails & a wind of fantasy in Wallpapers by ahabkaba This wallpaper pretty much speaks for itself.  The design is incredible, so be sure to check this one out.
	Corrosion in Wallpapers by Cavan1 Another one that is hard to describe, but this render is beautifully done and the colors are a nice fit on the desktop.
	Dockside II for WindowBlinds by jazzymjr  Here is the second edition of Dockside, and although it stays true to the original design, this one has a style of it's own.  Great job.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to submit their creations.  If you like the skins featured here, then be sure to stop by their pages and leave a comment for the authors.  See you next week!

The Los Angeles Lakers MyColors theme is probably one of the most popular screenshots that are viewed on my Flickr page.  I also get asked a lot of questions about it, so I thought I would start a new series of articles showing off MyColors themes.  If you have never heard of MyColors from Stardock, then you can read through a walkthrough or view a screencast with more information. 

Just as a quick introduction, MyColors allows you to easily change the appearance of your Windows desktop without having to worry about various software applications to download.  With MyColors, you choose the content and it's applied to your desktop with just a few steps.

Lets take a look at what is included with the L.A. Lakers MyColors desktop.

Gadgets

The MyColors themes are much more than just a visual style and wallpaper, they also have gadgets!  Gadgets are mini-applications that reside on your desktop and can display a variety of information or functionality.  One of the gadgets included with the Laker desktop is a weather gadget. 

The weather gadget will display your current weather condition at your selected location, along with the forecast for the next couple of days.  It also has an option to go into "mini-mode" for an even smaller size, which can be expanded at any time.

Next gadget in the Lakers suite is the media player.  The really cool thing about this player, aside from the fact it can play your media files, is the animations that this player has.  It can also be minimized down to a small basketball for when you don't need the full player open on the desktop.

Icons

MyColors themes also include a complete set of icons.  The set included with the Lakers theme matches perfectly with the skin colors, and includes many elements any basketball fan will love. 

Visual Style and Wallpaper

The basketball themed visual styles are some of my favorites.  They have the hard-wood details along with the other elements that match the team colors.  Just looking at the start menu you can see the fine details that went into creating this theme.

The visual style is also clean enough so that it can be used everyday.  It's not distracting and is certainly an improvement over the default Windows visual styles.

The Lakers MyColors desktop is available for both Windows XP and Vista.  If you are a subscriber to Object Desktop you also get a discount on MyColors themes.  For more information, visit the Los Angeles Lakers MyColors page.

This Friday is even better because it's the start of a long holiday weekend.  I spent a few hours last night going through all the galleries, trying to pick my favorite skins from the week, and skins that have been popular among our members.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Black System for CursorFX by 1MrPAul1 This is another skin to match the Black System WB theme, and this slick cursor theme will go well with any dark theme.
	Cursor FX Tester in DesktopX Objects by AVMAN If you create or use CursorFX themes you can use this tester to check the various states in the cursor theme.
	Political Machine 2008 Countdown in DX Gadgets by Island Dog This will count down the days until the release of The Political Machine 2008.
	Red Giant in Dreams by TheMasterBaron This latest Master .dream is probably my favorite so far.  Great job!
	Liquidox in ObjectDock Backgrounds by PixelPirate This is just one skin from the bunch that PixelPirate released for the Liquidox theme.
	L.O.E.S. RightClick Pack for RightClick by Fairry~ This RightClick pack is part of a community suite at Skinartistry.com.  It has a really sleek design and can go with many themes.
	Maelstrom in Wallpapers by Tiggz Not sure exactly what it is, but that doesn't matter because it's a very cool design.  Great job.
	Igloo for WindowBlinds by kittymalone Kittymalone brings us a new WindowBlinds skin, and slightly different than her usual style, but the result is always great.

Another week of great skins, and thanks to all the skinners for their hard work these week.  Be sure to take a screenshot of your desktop and post it in this months desktop thread for everyone to see.  See you next week!

This screencast gives an overview of the WinCustomize Wiki, and how to find resources and help for all things related to customizing your Windows desktop.

This is the screencast to accompany the IconPackager 4 Guided Tour article.

This has been a really crazy week, and I'm so glad it's Friday!  I'm sure you are to because, as you know, it's time for TWiS.  Remember, if you see skins that you would like to see featured, always feel free to drop me a PM or e-mail.  I'm always interested in what the community likes.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Impulse for CursorFX by Seabass Seabass shares with us a really cool cursor theme based on the Impulse logo.  I really hope to see more stuff like this.
	Impulse in Dreams by Seabass Ok, just one more Impulse thing today.  Seabass is on a roll today, and next up is a .dream based on the Impulse logo.
	Nebulae in Dreams by CarGuy1 This is a really cool animated wallpaper of a space scene in a nebula-type environment.  Great job.
	Midnight Glass Docks for ObjectDock by Mirsguy Here is another great set of dock backgrounds that can easily go with a wide variety of themes.
	USB Sticks in ObjectDock Icons by Winmodify I have quite a few USB drives, and this icons are cool because I can now sort them by color.
	CubeConstructions in Wallpapers by TauRuZ2 This wallpaper immediately caught my eye, it has a beautiful design and looks great on the desktop.
	V!VA for WindowBlinds by JJ Ying JJ Ying took one of his entries from the '06 GUI Champs and updated it for Vista and WindowBlinds 6.  If you missed it at the GUI Champs, now is a great time to check it out again.

There was just a bunch of awesome submissions this week.  I recommend everyone go through the wallpaper gallery, as there were many great wallpapers in there from the past week.  Thanks to everyone who contributed this week, and I look forward to seeing more.  See you next week!

IconPackager 4 is here and with this new release comes several new features, some of which will definitely please users of Windows Vista, and XP alike.  If you aren't too familiar with IconPackager, let me first start off with telling you what exactly IP does.  IconPackager is an application that allows you to change the icons in Windows.  The big advantage of using IconPackager is that it changes nearly the entire set of Windows icons at one time, so you don't have to change each icon individually.  This is done using sets of icon "pack", which there are hundreds available for download.

New User Interface

The first thing you will most likely notice is the completely new user interface.  The layout is much more clean and it's way easier to find both common and advanced settings and functions.  At the top of the configuration you have a set of tabs, that when clicked, will give you several more options for that particular section.

In the "Look & Feel" section this is where you can browse, preview, and apply all your installed icon packages.  If you have a bunch of icon packs installed, IconPackager will let you sort through those by category type, and there are two different views for you to browse from.

Coloring Icons

There are so many great icon packs available, but what if you find one that just isn't the right color?  IconPackager will allow you to easily recolor the icons in a given set.  Using the various sliders in the Colors section, you can adjust the icon packs to a color more suitable for your skin or theme.

If changing the color just isn't enough, then IP4 also has several filters that allow you to really change the looks of the icons.

Live Folders

If you use Windows Vista than you might be familiar with the Live Folders feature.  This feature in Vista gives you an icon showing the contents of the folder, not just a static icon.  IconPackager not only supports this, but will also allow users to set Live Folder icons independent of the icon package.  This can be very useful for icon packs that don't have Live Folder icon specified.

Shell Integration

If you are browsing through your files in Windows Explorer and stumble upon one that needs an icon change, there is no need to open the IP configuration.  Right-click the file and select the icon tab from the popup menu.  A new menu will appear and you can simply drag and drop a new icon in its place.  There are also several options available here also such as just changing the icon for the selected file only.  I use this to change the icons of individual files to make sorting and finding them even easier.

Scale Pre-Vista Icons

Windows Vista has been out for a while now, but there are still many more icon packages made way before Vista was around.  IconPackager 4 introduces a feature that will scale icons to the 256x256 size of Vista icons.  This is great because you can now use those icon packs that had icons that just weren't made for Vista.  This setting can be found in the Settings tab.

IconPackager is part of the Object Desktop suite of desktop enhancements, and is also available as a stand-alone application for Windows XP and Vista.  There is a free trial available and the full version is $19.95, with discounts for existing IconPackager users.  More information can be found at the IconPackager website.

Link: IconPackager

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.

Changing the Visual Style/Theme

Vista Aero is also somewhat decent to look at, but as usual, it gets old after a while, and if you really want to personalize your desktop, changing the visual style (skin) is the way to go.  WindowBlinds (30 day trial, $20 full version) is the best way to change the skin of Windows Vista.  It includes several high-quality skins, and there are thousands more available to download at the WindowBlinds gallery on WinCustomize.

WindowBlinds will not only change the visual style, it also has advanced features like changing skin colors, adjustable transparency levels, customizable Explorer backgrounds, font customization, and much more.

Add a Dock

When people talk about adding a dock to their desktop, many people think it's just to emulate the look of OS X.  Well that can be done, but it really isn't about that anymore.  Docks are a fantastic way to keep your desktop organized  and free of icons.  It's also a great productivity booster has you can have your most common shortcuts right where you need them. 

ObjectDock (free) has many options and what seems like a countless amount of backgrounds and icons to use with it.  If you want more features like multiple docks and tabbed backgrounds, then there is ObjectDock Plus ($20).  Both versions also have the ability to use docklets (mini-applications) that let you check the weather, search Google, etc.

Change the Cursor

The cursor, that little thing you navigate all over the desktop throughout the day.  It's plain, it's boring, why not change it then?  CursorFX (free, Plus version $19.95) is the replacement to the extremely popular CursorXP.  The free version lets you change your Windows cursor, animations, theme editor, and much more.  The Plus version adds special effects, colorization, sizing, transparency, and more. 

Changing the cursor is as simple as double-clicking the one you want, and getting back to the default cursor is just as easy. 

Animate your Wallpaper

Regardless of what version of Vista you are running, you can now have animated wallpapers (.dreams) on  your desktop as well.  Having a nice wallpaper is one thing, but having a wallpaper that has subtle movement and can even change depending on the time of day is completely different and just plain cool.  DeskScapes 2.0 goes way beyond just playing videos on the desktop.  It has the ability to display dynamically generated wallpapers, triggered animated wallpapers, and more.

There is a free preview version available which includes 3 .dreams (animated wallpaper), including dynamic ones.  You can read an article about the DeskScapes preview here.  The full version gives you access to hundreds of .dreams of all types, from subtle nature scenes, to wild animations. 

Change the Icons

Vista has many new icon types, and it also introduced the Live Folder feature which allows you to see the contents of the folder, not just a static icon.  To change all the Vista icons by hand would take a huge amount of time and resources.  The best way to change the Vista icons is to use icon packs which will change nearly the entire Vista icon set with the specified one.  Icon packs are used by IconPackager (free trial, $20) which offers other features like icon coloring, upscale pre-Vista icons, set Live Folder icons, and more.

Remember, you don't have to use all these tools to get the desktop you desire.  You can pick and choose, try different setups, it's all about personalization and what suits you best.

This screencast gives a brief introduction to ObjectDock Plus, including tabbed docks, fly-out menus, and more.

Since nearly the beginning of the Windows Vista launch back in 2007, animated wallpapers were only available for people who opted for the Ultimate Version of Windows Vista.  This was a very exciting announcement, but as time went on it was obvious other editions of Vista such as Home Premium were becoming the choice of most consumers.  Stardock announced the availability of DeskScapes for Vista Ultimate users which was showcased as an enhancement to Windows DreamScene.  DeskScapes offered many more features like dynamically generated wallpapers, triggered wallpapers, and introduced the .dream file format.

Users of non-Ultimate versions of Vista were asking for a way to use animated wallpapers (.dreams) on their desktops, and with that Stardock released DeskScapes 2.0, which allows any version of Windows Vista the ability to have animated wallpapers on the desktop.  Maybe some of you are asking what exactly are the features and advantages of DeskScapes, so let me give a brief overview of the features of DeskScapes 2.0.

• .Dream format.  The .dream format was created to extend the capability of just playing video on the desktop.  It also allows gives artists a way to get credit for their work, and makes it simple to know that a .dream file is specifically designed for DeskScapes, not just guessing if a .wmv or .mpg file will work.
  
  
• Triggers.  An animated wallpaper showing a beautiful nature scene is great, but how about the wallpaper changing to a day and night scene based on the time of day.  That is just a quick example of how triggers enhance a normal animated wallpaper.
  
  
• Dynamic content.  Playing videos is one thing, but how about having dynamically generated content displayed for your animated wallpaper?  Another huge advantage of dynamic content is it uses very little resources, so it's even more efficient than the normal content you can use with DeskScapes.

DeskScapes 2.0 has a free preview available which allows unlimited use of the 3 bundled .dream files.  These are just a small example of the hundreds of .dreams which are available for use with the enhanced version.  Lets take a look at the included .dreams with the free version.

1. Water Dream.  The water dream is an example of a dynamic .dream.  This .dream has you looking down into a pool of water with some beach sand in the background, and water drops falling randomly making a slight disturbance in the water. The cool part about this .dream is since it's dynamic, you can alter the water drip size and frequency, and you can replace the background sand to an image of your own.

2. Grassy Field.  This is a beautiful scene of a field with the grass "blowing" in the wind.  This is a video based .dream, and is a great example of how animated wallpapers can be subtle and now overpower your desktop. 

3. 3D Bouncing Box.  This is another example of a dynamically generated .dream which displays a 3D box rotating on the desktop.  In the dynamic wallpaper settings menu you can alter the size of the box, and the speed at which it rotates.  Once again, this shows how dynamic .dreams are very light on resource usage.

More information and downloads for DeskScapes 2.0 can be found at the links below. 

Download: DeskScapes 2.0 free

Link: DeskScapes 2.0