Recently I wrote an article about one of the newest features of the forums on WinCustomize.....the Private Message feature.  The feedback was great and I was quite surprised of how many people were not aware we even had this system.  There are many other features on the forums and WinCustomize that I will continue to write about that will hopefully make your experience here with us even more enjoyable than I'm sure it already is. 

Since we recently discussed forum features like the PM system, lets go over another important forum feature that might be overlooked as well.......the Report Post button.  The dev team behind WinCustomize goes to great lengths to make sure spammers are kept out, but unfortunately you can't stop them all, so what do you do if you see a spam post or another post with questionable content such as warez?  Well you simply report the post so one of our moderators will take the appropriate action if needed.

As we see here, Hankers, one of our great volunteer moderators has made a spam post to use as our example.

Now this is obviously a spam post so the appropriate action would be to report this post to the moderators so it can be dealt with.  In the lower right hand corner of the post you should see a "Report" link in which you click and a box appears where you can enter the reason you are reporting the post. 

Once you have entered your comments, hit the "report post" button and a report will be sent to the admins and moderators and the post will be reviewed and action will be taken if necessary. 

 

Since summer is "officially" here I thought it might be a good idea to write a summer theme guide to show some skins that have been made for the summer season, or at least skins that will fit in with this time of year.  Do you change your desktop themes based on the time of year? 

I tend to have more "tropical" and warm themes going throughout a good part of the year being as it's almost always hot here, but I also put some winter themes up when it does drop below 90 degrees about 2 months out of the year.

So here are some picks that I thought would fit well with any type of summer theme for your desktop.
 

It is that time again, and by now you should know what to expect on Fridays.  Yes, it's another edition of "This Week in Skinning".  Not as many submissions as I'd like to see, but some areas like icons and wallpapers have had some great activity.

I always appreciate input from the community on skins you would like to see featured.  If you would like to suggest a skin for these weekly features, then please feel free to PM me or e-mail me with your suggestions. 

Now for the picks!

 

Drop Info for DesktopX By RomanDA Master RomanDA has brought us another DX creation, which is a widget that when clicked will give you 4 areas of detailed information about your PC.  Great work.

 

CS3 Icons set in Icons By Kavel Another set of Creative Suite 3 icons.  Great job, and hope to see more of this type of design.

 

Minimalistic Two (m2) for ObjectDock By messiah1 Messiah1 has created another set of minimal backgrounds for ObjectDock including tabbed docks, zoomers, and tiles.  Very nice.

 

Broken Toes in Wallpapers By AngelicJean A fantastic, dark wallpaper of what looks to me as an alien planet.  Great job and check his gallery for more works.

 

Painted blue in Wallpapers By Brickhead A beautiful wallpaper render.  I would like to see more resolutions, but otherwise well done.

 

FreshAttitude for WindowBlinds By othersnow A clean and bright skin for WindowBlinds, that seems perfect for the summer.  I look forward to seeing more skins from othersnow.

 

If you are working on a new skin, icons, cursors, etc. be sure to give a preview at the work in progress thread here on WinCustomize.  Don't forget to subscribe to our new YouTube channel (it's new, so if you subscribed before please subscribe to this new channel) where you can join our group and upload your desktop videos there.  See you next week!

 

 

The DesktopX 3.5 beta was released to subscribers of Object Desktop, and with this update comes the ability to export gadgets to the Sidebar in Windows Vista.  Along with the announcement there was a quick tour on how easy it is to create a shortcut gadget for use in the Windows Sidebar. 

Creating Sidebar Gadgets is something I have been wanting to do, but have not had much success at it previously.  Being able to create and export Sidebar gadgets is something I have been waiting for and couldn't wait to try out.  For my first project I wanted to make a simple gadget that when clicked, it would take me to the WinCustomize home page. 

Using only the DesktopX 3.5 beta, and an image file, I was able to create this gadget from start to finish in less than 3 minutes, and with just a few clicks.  Now this is just a simple gadget, but the ease of creating this was great, and the power behind DesktopX will allow some fantastic gadgets to be created.

I made a video demo to show you how quick and easy it was to create this gadget.

 

Last week was a pretty good week, but still lacking in some areas, so I hope this week is an improvement.  Some people will take a "break" during the summer, and some seem to have even more skinning projects planned, so what is your plan for this summer?  Are you going to take a little break, or are you going to keep going and submit great skins throughout the summer?

If you have any projects you are currently working, be sure to drop a teaser in the "what are you working on" thread to give us a peek at what's coming up.

Now for the picks!

Space shrink in DesktopX Widgets
By bilbo1930

 

 

This "combo" widget has things such as a weather display, calendar, and meters all with some great animations.  Very nice.

 

 

 

RED in Dreams
By KnowTheFuture

 

This Dream is using vector graphics and has come up with a very interesting effect.  Be sure to download this one.

 

 

 

Brass and Glass Tiles in ObjectDock
By Cavan1

 

I always enjoy seeing new dock backgrounds, and Cavan1 brings us a great set with a brass look. 

 

 

 

Dragonology 4 in Wallpapers
By vlad

 

 

He said he couldn't describe it, and neither can I.  I can tell you it's a great wallpaper and that you should download it and see for yourself.

 

 

 

 

Tang! for Xion
By Tominated

 

 

This is a great, clean skin for Xion.  The best part is it comes in six different colors which will match a variety of themes.

 

 

 

 

Great work everyone!  Be sure to check out the others skins made by these artists, and leave a comment on their works.  See you next week!

 

If you are a regular forum user on WinCustomize.com then you are probably aware of the e-mail and PM (private message) system we have, or you might not have paid it much attention before. These features, especially the PM system, have been long awaited and requested for a while, so I wanted to give a quick tour on how to use these features for new users, or our "regulars" who maybe didn't notice the changes.

We have many, and I mean many members who use the forums on WinCustomize, and maybe you want to send a message to someone without broadcasting it to the rest of the forums. Using the PM and e-mail feature is also great for reporting possible rips to admins and moderators, along with any other issues that you might need to contact a moderator about.

Towards the bottom of each forum category there is a list of moderators for that section of forums with options to send e-mail and PM's. WinCustomize moderators will typically have a WC moderator logo attached to their posts, and a representative of Stardock will have a Stardock logo on theirs.

To send a message to anyone on the forums, simply click their username and a drop-down menu should appear giving you a list of options where you can view their profile, e-mail, or PM the user.

Note: Members can disable receiving messages and e-mails through the settings in "my account" in the forums.

Clicking the e-mail / PM option will bring you to an editor where you can compose and send your message to the selected user. When you receive a new PM, you will see an "alert" at the top of the forums notifying you of a new message. If someone sends you an e-mail from the forums you will just receive the e-mail to your registered e-mail account, and the person sending the message will not see the actual e-mail address it was sent to. Your message inbox on the forums can be accessed by clicking "private messages" in the forum summary area near the top of the forums.

YouTube is definitely the top video site right now, and can be a useful resource besides looking at funny videos.  I use it quite regularly to host video for features such as "This Month in Dreams", and any other related content. 

Another cool feature of YouTube is the ability to setup a group where users can share and discuss videos they have uploaded.  I have setup a desktop customization group where people have started to share their desktop videos, especially ones with animated wallpapers.

Stop by our YouTube channel and subscribe, and also join our group (click "groups" on our channel page).  By subscribing you will get updates with the latest videos we post.  I would really like to see some people upload their desktop videos and post them.  It takes posting "screenshots" to a whole new level.

Happy Friday everyone!  Well it has been an exciting week here at WinCustomize.  A new gallery was added for the Xion media player, and we had the release of LogonStudio Vista, and both seem to be getting a great amount of submissions. 

Now for this weeks picks!

 

Oxidized Tabs & Side Docks for ObjectDock
By WebGizmos

 

WebGizmos is at it again, and this time with a set of docks for the Oxidized suite.  Great job.

 

 

 

Creative Suite 3 icon set for ObjectDock
By patrick24

A fantastic set of icons to replace the default Adobe Creative Suite icons.

 

 

Side to Side in Wallpapers
By Richard Mohler

 

 

A beautiful abstract wallpaper once again from Richard Mohler.  Very nice work.

 

 

 

 

Knot Vista for Xion for Xion
By I.R. Brainiac

 

 

Well the first Xion skin at WC is certainly a great one.  This was made to match an upcoming premium WB in which I can't wait to see.

 

 

 

 

Green Lantern v1.0 in WindowBlinds
By unclerob

 

 

Another fan art skin by unclerob, this time we have the Green Lantern.  Great skin whether you are a Green Lantern fan or not.

 

 

 

Don't forget to give us a sneak peek of anything you are working on in our "what are you working on" thread in the forums.  I'm hoping to see some really great submission this summer, and so far we are off to a great start.  See you next week!

 

For years LogonStudio has been the easiest and best way to change your default Windows XP logon screens.  Windows Vista has been out for a while now and if you are like me, I have grown quite tired of the default logon.  Well LogonStudio Vista is now available, and it makes the Vista logon screen just as easy to change.

You can use any of the logon screens that are included with LogonStudio Vista, or you can download one of many already available at the LogonStudio library on WinCustomize.  You also have the option to create your own logon screen and share it with the community if you choose. 

Lets take a tour through LogonStudio Vista to show you how simple it is to apply, create, and upload Vista logon screens.

The first thing you will need to do is get LogonStudio Vista. It's a free download from it's website (and the XP version), or if you are a subscriber to Object Desktop then you can download it through Stardock Central.  Once it's installed, start the application and you should be at the configuration screen.

LogonStudio Vista

To change your logon screen just select the one you want to use and hit apply.  That's it, you new logon screen will apply.  If you want to revert back to the default one, just select "Windows Vista default" and hit apply again.  If you want to download more logons just hit the "Download" button and it will take you directly to the LogonStudio Vista gallery on WinCustomize.

Creating new logon

Creating a new logon for your own use, or to share with the community is just as easy.  Just click "Create", and choose the browse button to navigate to the image you want to use as a logon, enter the name of the logon and author and press "save".  Your new logon is complete!  Another way is to just drag the image you want into the LogonStudio window, either way it's very easy to do.

If you wish to share your logon with others, then clicking the "Upload" button will take you directly to the upload page for the Logon gallery at WinCustomize.com.  Remember if you share with the community, your work must be your own or have the permission from the original author if you are using someone else's images.

For more information and download links, visit the LogonStudio website.

• LogonStudio Vista