Step-by-Step Tutorials	#9 - Wallpaper Changer
A series by RomanDA

Listing of other DX Tutorials: Click here
Today's Lesson: "Wallpaper Changer"

In this lesson we will walk thru a few built-in commands in DX that allow you to create a Wallpaper Changer.
We will start simple and add to the script.  It is amazing all the things that are built into DX.

We will use the file dialog box, the wallpaper changer, create a "right-click" menu and even a custom preference window.

For this and all the Step-By-Step DX Tutorials you will need to purchase DesktopX for $14.95 from Stardock.

Lets get started.

STEP 1 - Using the System.FileOpenDialog & System.SetWallpaper

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Create a new object (look at the old tutorials for info on how to do this).

Once it is created (you can use any image you want, but for me I'm just going to use the standard round DX image.

Add the following script:

Vbscript  Code
	Function Object_OnLButtonUp(x, y, Dragged)   If Dragged = False Then     '--- Change the line below to pick the folder     '--- where you keep your wallpapers -----     FolderName = "C:\wallpapers"     wallpaper = System.FileOpenDialog("Select Wallpaper...", "", FolderName , "Wallpapers|*.jpg", 0)     System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, 3   End If End Function

Looking at the above script we have some new things in here.

Vbscript  Code
	System.FileOpenDialog("Select Wallpaper...", "", FolderName , "Wallpapers|*.jpg", 0)

The FileOpenDialog is a built-in DesktopX function.  It allows you to select a file from a standard windows looking open dialog box.
The format is very simple. 

• "Select Wallpaper..." - Title for the window
• "" - default file (say you want it to come up with a file selected, this would be that file name)
• FolderName - The default folder to open
• "Wallpapers |*.jpg" - this is the file Extension to use, in this case JPG
• 0 - flags (to learn more about all these flags look over: https://www.stardock.com/products/desktopx/documentation/scripting/system_namespace.html )

The way this works, is you click on the object, it pops open the FileOpenDialog , then you select your wallpaper this file name gets saved into the Wallpaper var.

Vbscript  Code
	System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, 3

This is another built-in DesktopX command.  It does exactly what it says "SetWallpaper".  It gets passed 2 items:

• wallpaper - the file we picked from above, has to have the entire path (IE: c:\wallpaper\mywallpaper.jpg )
• 3 - There are 3 options for this: (we will add a right-click menu later to select this)
  • 0 = use default wallpaper
  • 1 = Center wallpaper
  • 2 = Tile wallpaper
  • 3 = Stretch wallpaper

So with just the above script you have created a object/widget that allows you to click, pick a file, and have it set the wallpaper to that file.

This is good, but every time it loads it points to that same folder, what if you had multiple folders?  What if you want it to STORE what folder you picked the last time?

STEP 2 - Pulling the Folder name from the Open Window Dialog box

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Lets add a few lines of code to our script.

Our entire script looks like this now:

Vbscript  Code

'Called when the script is executed Sub Object_OnScriptEnter End Sub 'Called when the script is terminated Sub Object_OnScriptExit End Sub Function Object_OnLButtonUp(x, y, Dragged)   If Dragged = False Then     FolderName = "C:\wallpaper\"     wallpaper = System.FileOpenDialog("Select Wallpaper...", "", FolderName , "Wallpapers|*.jpg", 0)     System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, 3   End If End Function

By Adding dim FolderName at the very top of the script it will make that variable Global, meaning it will be able to read/write to that var from any/all functions/subs.
If you don't add this it will not be able to pull the value of FolderName from the other functions.

Vbscript  Code
	Dim foldername 'Called when the script is executed Sub Object_OnScriptEnter End Sub 'Called when the script is terminated Sub Object_OnScriptExit End Sub

We are going to add a way to pull the Folder name from the one we selected in our Dialog box.
To do this we need to "pull" the file name, and then strip that out from the var.

We are going to assume that the user clicked on another drive/folder/filename from the open dialog.
Let's say I picked:  D:\My data\Wallpapers\ZubazisUgly.jpg

Breaking this apart:

• Set filesys = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
  Sets the var FILESYS to a FileSystemObject
• f = filesys.GetBaseName(wallpaper)
Pulls the File name from the entire path
  In this case it pulls: ZubazisUgly.jpg
• t = instr(1,wallpaper,f)
This finds the position of the file name in the path, so that we can strip it out.
• FolderName = left(wallpaper,t-1)
  This pulls the LEFT T-1 characters from the string so we end up with just the path:
  D:\My data\Wallpapers\

Vbscript  Code

Function Object_OnLButtonUp(x, y, Dragged)   Dim filesys   If Dragged = False Then     FolderName = "C:\wallpaper\"     wallpaper = System.FileOpenDialog("Select Wallpaper...", "", FolderName , "Wallpapers|*.jpg", 0)     System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, 3     Set filesys = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")     f = filesys.GetBaseName(wallpaper)     t = instr(1,wallpaper,f)     FolderName = left(wallpaper,t-1)   End If End Function

This is all well and good, but the next time we click the button it will still use the C:\wallpaper folder, so we want to add a little more code to save and restore this var.

STEP 3 - Adding the Save / Load registry functions

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We are going to add (2) new functions to the script:

• The SaveSettings and LoadSettings are functions we talked about in Tutorial #6.
• We are storing the FolderName into the reg key "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\folder"
• We use a DEFAULT of the Current DesktopX Executable Directory so that it loads up using the folder the EXE was run from.
  You don't want to hard-code a folder here because not everyone's pc will have that folder location.

Vbscript  Code

Function SaveSettings()   Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")   Sh.RegWrite "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\folder", foldername   Set Sh = Nothing End Function Function LoadSettings()   foldername = Desktopx.ExecutableDirectory   On Error Resume Next   Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")   FolderName = Sh.RegRead("HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\folder")   Set Sh = Nothing   Err.Clear End Function

STEP 4 - Putting it all together

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Lets see what the entire script looks like now, with all the above included.

Vbscript  Code

Dim foldername 'Called when the script is executed Sub Object_OnScriptEnter End Sub 'Called when the script is terminated Sub Object_OnScriptExit End Sub Function Object_OnLButtonUp(x, y, Dragged)   Dim filesys   If Dragged = False Then     Call LoadSettings()     wallpaper = System.FileOpenDialog("Select Wallpaper...", "", FolderName , "Wallpapers|*.jpg", 0)     System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, 3     Set filesys = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")     f = filesys.GetBaseName(wallpaper)     t = instr(1,wallpaper,f)     foldername = left(wallpaper,t-1)     Call SaveSettings()   End If End Function Function SaveSettings()   Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")   Sh.RegWrite "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\folder", foldername   Set Sh = Nothing End Function Function LoadSettings()   foldername = Desktopx.ExecutableDirectory   On Error Resume Next   Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")   FolderName = Sh.RegRead("HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\folder")   Set Sh = Nothing   Err.Clear End Function

This should allow you to click and open a dialog box, allowing you to pick a folder/file to set the wallpaper, then it sets the wallpaper, and stores the selected folder.

STEP 5 - Adding a Right-Click menu for options.

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The next step is to add a menu so we can pick from default/centered/tiled/stretched for the wallpaper.
I made a tutorial a while back on how to add a Right-click menu - CLICK HERE to view that, I'm not going to go thru this step by step, I'm just going to give you the working code.  If you want a break down of how the menu works, please use the above link to the other Tutorial.

The code below will popup a menu when you right-click.  It gives you 4 options, from changing to the default wallpaper, to making it tiled/stretched.
It will do this immediately so you can see what it does, it also stores the info in a Var (WPFormat) so that the next time you pick a wallpaper it will use this same setting.  With 1 exception the 0.  This is designed to set the wallpaper to the default, so we don't want to STORE that, we will default it back to 3 (stretched). 

Vbscript  Code

Function Object_OnRButtonUpEx(obj,x,y,dragged)   If Not dragged Then     Object_OnRButtonUpEx = True     Set mainmenu = nothing     Set mainmenu = DesktopX.CreatePopupMenu     mainmenu.AppendMenu 0, 0, "Default Wallpaper"     mainmenu.AppendMenu 0, 1, "Center Wallpaper"     mainmenu.AppendMenu 0, 2, "Tile Wallpaper"     mainmenu.AppendMenu 0, 3, "Stretch Wallpaper"     result = mainmenu.TrackPopupMenu(0, System.CursorX, System.CursorY)     Select Case result       Case 0         WPFormat = 3         System.SetWallpaper "", 0       Case 1         WPFormat = 1         System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, WPFormat       Case 2         WPFormat = 2         System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, WPFormat       Case 3         WPFormat = 3         System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, WPFormat     End Select     Set mainmenu = nothing   End If End Function

STEP 6 - Putting it all together

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We are going to add a few more DIMs at the top:

• Dim Wallpaper - stores the selected Wallpaper name
• Dim WPFormat - Stores the Current Wallpaper "format" - stretched/centered/etc.

Here is the FULL script, if you just want to copy/paste this into your object, its your call.

Vbscript  Code

Dim foldername Dim Wallpaper Dim WPFormat 'Called when the script is executed Sub Object_OnScriptEnter   Call LoadSettings() End Sub 'Called when the script is terminated Sub Object_OnScriptExit   Call SaveSettings() End Sub Function Object_OnLButtonUp(x, y, Dragged)   Dim filesys   If Dragged = False Then     Call LoadSettings()     wallpaper = System.FileOpenDialog("Select Wallpaper...", "", FolderName , "Wallpapers|*.jpg", 0)     If len(wallpaper) > 2 Then       System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, WPFormat       Set filesys = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")       f = filesys.GetBaseName(wallpaper)       t = instr(1,wallpaper,f)       foldername = left(wallpaper,t-1)       Call SaveSettings()     End If   End If End Function Function SaveSettings()   Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")   Sh.RegWrite "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\folder", foldername   Sh.RegWrite "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\WPFormat", WPFormat   Set Sh = Nothing End Function Function LoadSettings()   foldername = Desktopx.ExecutableDirectory   WPFormat= 3 'use stretch for default (change to whatever you want)   On Error Resume Next   Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")   FolderName = Sh.RegRead("HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\folder")   WPFormat = Sh.RegRead("HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\wallpaperpicker\WPFormat")   Wallpaper = Sh.RegRead("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper")   Set Sh = Nothing   Err.Clear End Function Function Object_OnRButtonUpEx(obj,x,y,dragged)   If Not dragged Then     Object_OnRButtonUpEx = True     Set mainmenu = nothing     Set mainmenu = DesktopX.CreatePopupMenu     mainmenu.AppendMenu 0, 0, "Default Wallpaper"     mainmenu.AppendMenu 0, 1, "Center Wallpaper"     mainmenu.AppendMenu 0, 2, "Tile Wallpaper"     mainmenu.AppendMenu 0, 3, "Stretch Wallpaper"     result = mainmenu.TrackPopupMenu(0, System.CursorX, System.CursorY)     Select Case result     Case 0       WPFormat = 0       System.SetWallpaper "", WPFormat     Case 1       WPFormat = 1       System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, WPFormat        Case 2       WPFormat = 2       System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, WPFormat        Case 3       WPFormat = 3       System.SetWallpaper wallpaper, WPFormat        End Select     Set mainmenu = nothing   End If End Function

CONCLUSION

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I hope you took the time to enter the code (not just copy/pasted the entire thing) so you could work thru the tutorial step-by-step and see how things work.  You will notice I added a small IF under the Open Dialog box so that it only does anything if you select a file, it will crash out without that code if you don't select a file.

I hope you have enjoyed this step into DX, and look forward to the next installment..

Enjoy, RomanDA AKA: David A. Roman http://romanda.wincustomize.com

This is a follow-up tutorial from my Creating 'Shell Animations' for SkinStudio Part 1 tutorial. In Part 1 I showed how to create a simple animation in Flash using motion tween effect. If you have missed out the Part 1 then I suggest you to read it first WWW Link before proceeding with Part 2.

At the end of Part 1 we ended up with an animation that looked like this:


In Part 2 we will continue from where we finished in Part 1. So if you don’t have the source file from Part 1 you can get it WWW Link here. Now we are ready to start. Flash offers some additional effects from just motion tween that we used in Part 1. You can animate brightness, tint, alpha and transform.

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TRANSFORM
First we will go through the transform animation. Remember the ‘Free Transform Tool’ that we used in Part 1. The same tool will be used for animating. Let’s say that we would like the ‘AB’ object to become bigger in the middle of the animation, rotate a bit and transform. In order to apply an effect in a place that you want you will need to create a keyframe.

So first click on the frame 17 in layer ‘animation’ and press ‘F6’ key to insert a keyframe (1) and then select the ‘Free Transform Tool’. Now you can rotate, resize and transform the object.

If you position the mouse cursor on the any of the small squares (2) the cursor will change to two-way arrow and that means you can resize the object by left-clicking and dragging.

When you position it over the edges (3) it will change into two opposing arrows and that means it will skew the object.

Finally if you position it a bit outside of the corners (4) it will turn into a round arrow and in this case you can rotate the object.



Try them all out a bit until you get the desired transformation. Once finished press CTRL+Enter to see the result.



Free transform tool is a quick way to transform your objects. But if you need to precise when transforming your objects you can use the ‘Transform Window’. If it’s not open you can bring it up by pressing the CTR+T and enter the modifications you want to make.



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BRIGHTNESS, TINT, ALPHA
Now that we have transformed the object we can also apply some animation to its color and transparency. Click on the keyframe that you created earlier (1) in this tutorial in ‘animation’ layer and then with the ‘Selection Tool’ that we used in Part 1 as well click on the object (2) that you transformed and in ‘Properties’ window (3) some options will appear.





In this tutorial we will focus on options in ‘Color’ section. When you click on the drop-down menu you should get the following options. None, Brightness, Tint, Alpha and Advanced. They are pretty self-explanatory.

To change the brightness choose (1) Brightness and set the percentage you wish to use.

In Tint (2) you set both colour and the percentage you wish to apply.

In Alpha (3) again only the percentage of the transparency you wish to achieve.

Finally the advanced option click on the ‘Settings’ (4) button that appears and you will get a new Advanced Effect window (5) where you can set combinations of all Tint and Alpha effects.



Press CTRL+ENTER to preview the animation and if happy with it export it to AVI as described in Part 1. WWW Link



This covers the basics of animating in Flash. You can get the final Flash source file WWW Link here.

Note that you can apply the effects that we used in this tutorial on any keyframe that you create. So for example you could make the object in the first keyframe red in middle green and transformed in the final keyframe transparent to 0% so that it will gradually disappear imitating the delete action.

There is one more part Timeline effects like explode and blur which I will cover in Part 3 of my tutorial.

WinCustomize 2007 was mostly about building a more robust and stable foundation to handle our ever-increasing traffic and site complexity, with that accomplished we're setting our sights on 2008.  The WinCustomize 2008 project is heavily focused on improving the user experience of submitting, browsing and downloading skins.  We have spent the past several weeks internally picking over what we do and don't like about how the site works, and what we'd like to see improved.  As we work on finalizing features, page layouts and other design elements, I will be making posts like this one seeking community feedback and suggestions.

One area we've decided is in need of some tender, loving care... and a rather serious overhaul... is the upload system.

Our upload page has been largely unchanged for quite a while now.  And while it serves its purpose, it's neither as friendly, nor as robust as many what other sites on the net user to allow users to upload content.  The time has come to spend some time and energy to bring the upload system up to speed with the rest of the site, and with the rest of the web.  We've spent time going over sites like DeviantArt, Customize.org, Flickr, MySpace, Photobucket etc to see how they do things, and what we might like to use over on WinCustomize.  But, at the end of the day we're not the ones who will really "live" with whatever is finally implemented. 

So, before we start the deep dive into designing and developing a new upload process, we want your views and opinions on what you would like to see included in a new upload system.  It can be additional options, it can be technical features on the page such as batch-uploading etc.  We want to know what the artists and regular contributors most want to see in the submission system.

Step-by-Step Tutorials	#8 - Tool-Tip Replacement
A series by RomanDA

Listing of other DX Tutorials: Click here
Today's Lesson: "Tool-Tip Replacement"

In this lesson we will make a replacement for the built in Tool-tip, one that can be made any color, shadow, transparency, and have it re-size automatically.

This is not going to be a simple STEP-BY-STEP, I'm assuming if you are this advanced into DX, I don't need to explain how to get the script windows up, or edit properties!  This is more like a SCRIPT example, not a step-by-step.

For this and all the Step-By-Step DX Tutorials you will need to purchase DesktopX for $14.95 from Stardock.

Lets get started.

STEP 1 - Create a simple graphic bg to use.

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I made a very simple rounded corner background item to use for the tool-tip background.

• The reason for the RED is because that's the best color to use for changing hue's
• Rounded corners (just cause)
• black frame cause I liked it.
• You can make yours anyway you want.

STEP 2 - Create the ToolTipBack

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Create a new object (see previous tutorials).

• Select the tool-tip-back.png from above.
• You will need to set the "ADVANCED" properties on the object so it can be re-sized easily.
• Click on the "summary" tab and name this object "ToolTip_Back"
• Make this part of the GROUP "ToolTip"

 

STEP 3 - Add the ToolTip_Text to the ToolTip_Back

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Create a TEXT object, place it inside the ToolTip_Back object, position might change, on mine its 6/8.

• Make the text about 10px Arial black, or whatever color you want.
• Call it ToolTip_Text
• Make the Parent/Owner  ToolTip_Back
• make the Group ToolTip
• for this example change the left/top to 5 & 5

STEP 4 - Making a test object for the tip.

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The idea of this tutorial is to have a new-look tool-tip that would replace the built-in one.  So, we need something to mouse over to see this tool-tip.

We need to make something, anything to mouse over.  You can use the "default" object since we dont really care what it looks like.

• Make a NEW OBJECT, call it TEST_OBJECT.
• use any image you want, or just the built-in default image.
  (this is what I will show here)
• We need to add a script to this object.

Vbscript  Code
	Sub Object_OnMouseEnter   Call ShowToolTip("This is my Tool-Tip") End Sub Sub Object_OnMouseLeave Call HideToolTip() End Sub

STEP 5 - Adding the code for the Tool-tip

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Add the following code to the above TEST object.  Put it at the bottom of the code, under the OnMouseLeave sub section.

I will try and explain some of the code below. (look for the yellow info)

Vbscript  Code

Function ShowToolTip(TextToShow)   desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Text").text = TextToShow 'The Text you passed to the function '--- Set the height/width of the ToolTip_Back object (the +10 +20 are used to give the text box some padding around the text.   desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").height = desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Text").height + 10   desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").width = desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Text").width + 20 '--- We need to position the tool-tip above the object you are mouseing over. '--- Its a little complicated, but basically we get the width of the object, and the width of the '--  tooltip_back and center the tooltip_back over the object.   ttw = desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").width/ 2   ow = object.Width / 2   temp = ttw - ow   desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").left = object.Left - temp   desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").Top = object.Top - desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").height - 10 '--  We have to add a few "IFs here" to see if the object you are mouseing over is at the top of the screen, or of its to close to the left or right side of the screen. '--  We move the tooltip_back over, down based on the position of the object.   If desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").Top < 20 Then     desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").Top = object.Height + 20   End If   If desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").left < 20 Then desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").left = 10   If desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").left + desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").width > system.ScreenWidth Then desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").left = system.ScreenWidth - desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").width - 30 '--  I have some issues here with these.  I have struggled trying to get the tool tip to show '-- ON TOP of things on the screen.  It should work with these 3 below.   desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").OnTop   desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").SetFocus   desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").visible = True End Function '--  VERY simple function here, HIDE the tooltip_back! Function HideToolTip() desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").visible = False End Function

STEP 6 - Test it out.

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Once you put the above code into the test object you should be able to mouse over and away and see the tool tip text pop-up.  You might have to make some changes to the above code.

You can move the tooltip_back up or down more based on your preferences.
The changes would be on the places where it shows "Desktopx.Object("ToolTip_Back").Top = ...
You can make that + or - smaller or larger to suit your desires.

STEP 7 - Changes and more changes.

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Things you can easily change.

• Color of the tool-tip background image (play with the hue/brightness/contrast to get it looking the color you would like.
  You could also CODE this so that important tool-tips show up in RED, info in Yellow, etc. Its up to you.
• Transparency: make the background image as clear as you like.  Again, this could be coded easily.
• Text: using the  Call desktopx.ScriptObject("ToolTip_Back").ShowToolTip("This is my Tool-Tip")  you can change the text in the tool-tip easily here you can even add multiple lines.
  EX: Call desktopx.ScriptObject("ToolTip_Back").ShowToolTip("Tool Tip Text Line 1" & vbnewline & "second line here" & third line here")

CONCLUSION

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This is just my idea on how to change out the built-in tool tip command.

I hope you have enjoyed this step into DX, and look forward to the next installment..

Enjoy, RomanDA AKA: David A. Roman http://romanda.wincustomize.com

Someone made a comment on another thread that Vista has gotten the nickname "ME2". And while that may be oversimplifying things, the truth is that in the big picture Vista is likely to be remembered more as a disaster than a success. Maybe "New Coke" would be a better analogy.

In my rather limited empirical experience I am seeing a lot of people purchase ill advised Vista upgrades, only to see them dump them in favor of their old XP installation. Not techies, mind you, but regular end users. End users who, to put it bluntly, do NOT like the new O/S.

I have said for months that Vista may be the O/S that pushes Linux into the mainstream. I honestly like Vista, but when I put myself into the seat of someone who is not very familiar with computers, it's a pain. Many people have spent time painstakingly learning the basics for their XP systems; by changing the file structure and even the names of the tabs so thorougly, Microsoft has put them back to square one, and made not only their computers, but their operating systems obsolete.

But the biggest users are usually the business users. And Vista is, in my opinion, destined for modest success at best in that arena. If I were managing a network of computers on XP, my advice would be simple: don't upgrade. XP's extended support will go through 2011, and MS' next OS release will be two years on the market by then (ok, given that MS has NEVER met the deadline on an OS release, let's say one year).

Windows Vista is, in my opinion, not worth the cost of upgrading. Not unless it comes installed on a purchased machine. And it may well be a significant marketing blunder on the part of the boys in Redmond.

This is the second part of "Home Office Software Essentials" that I recently wrote.  In these articles I give my recommendations on software that is useful for home office setups.  As said in last weeks article, home offices are growing, and having the right software can make your job that much easier. 

Now the type of software you need will obviously vary on what type of work you do, but the applications I have listed are perfect for general use, even for people who just use their offices for personal use.

Last time I covered office applications, security, and backup programs.  Today I will cover graphics and utility programs.

Graphics

This is an area that will really depend on your needs based on the type of work you do.  Many people could just by with a basic image editor to modify digital photos, but some may need a really power and complete graphics solution. 

I will start with the one I'm sure most people are familiar with....Adobe Photoshop.  CS3 was recently released with Vista compatibility and other new features.  Photoshop is available stand-alone or part of the Creative Suites which include other applications such as Dreamweaver or Flash.  Photoshop is no doubt the industry standard when it comes to graphics, but there are plenty of alternatives if Photoshop is more than what is needed.

Corel Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop Elements are two lower cost alternatives that offer much of the same functionality of Photoshop, and are especially good for people looking to edit digital pictures.  If you need more of a vector/drawing program than CorelDraw is something to take a look at.  Expression Design by Microsoft is still in beta, but it looks likes a very promising application for illustration and graphic design.

If all these suggestions are just too much for your needs, then the free Paint.NET is something I can definitely recommend.  It was has many features and is a big step up from Paint that is included with Windows.

 

Utilities

Another trend I see is more and more people having multiple computers, and multiple monitors.  With some offices having limited desk space, having 3 sets of keyboard/mice on the desk is not always practical.  Multiplicity by Stardock lets you control multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse, so when you move your mouse to a given monitor, you are then in control of that system.

I have dual widescreen monitors on my desktop, one hooked up to my main PC, and the second hooked to a Mac Mini running Windows XP.  Being able to control both computers and with the ability to copy files (pro version), Multiplicity has become an extremely invaluable asset to my office.

 

ObjectDock is a program that adds a skinnable dock to your Windows desktop.  It is one of the most popular desktop enhancement programs available. 

ObjectDock 1.9 is such a major update over 1.5 that it could have been called ObjectDock 2.0. In fact, there was a lot of internal debate on this with 1.9 being the compromise versioning!

So what's new in it?  Here is a list of changes from v1.5:

What's changed in ObjectDock 1.9 over 1.5:    Brand new awesome weather docklet! New docklet uses brand new technology to fly out your 5 day forecast when you click on it or hover over it, and hides it when your mouse goes away. Zoomin/Zoomout smoothness *significantly* enhanced, and is now adjustable! Find the new options in the "Quality & Performance" settings ObjectDock now comes bundled with some really great artwork (icons and backgrounds) from the community. (Permission recieved to use all of the images involved). New artwork has been pre-associated with over 50 different programs! As result, chances are if you add a program, it will show up with a nice high-resolution icon! New minimize effect on Vista! When Live Thumbnails are in use on Vista and your dock is showing a taskbar, windows will now do a nice minimize animation into any zooming dock. I Live minimize effect should be smoother than any other program available! Effort was made to make it work with minimal to no interference to your workflow, and the animation should never jump around / flicker heavily at the end unlike other versions of this effect you may have seen. "Live previews" for files and folders are enabled! While folders will not have their icons update automatically if their contents change, when loaded folders will show as their correct preview. The same with other types of documents that offer a live preview (PDF's, etc) In Vista, all minimized windows will show up as a live mini-thumbnail in the ObjectDock taskbar! Optionally you can have all windows, minimized or not, show up as thumbnails. Note: this feature is only available for zooming docks, it does not support tabbed docks. New background ability! Tile-based backgrounds can now adjust the size/position of the original icon, end result, really cool tiled backgrounds. Check out the included HyperGrass theme for an example of how cool tiled backgrounds can now be! Completely redone the mouse-activation / layering system. See the new "interaction" area in zooming dock's positioning options. The new interaction abilities should make ObjectDock a much more pleasent program to use! Custom icons set for program file shortcuts now automatically sync with custom icons set for windows of a program in taskbars. Entry areas in shortcut dialogs now use AutoComplete Entering in generic terms or filetypes such as "internet", "email", ".doc", etc for a shortcut will now Background code *significantly* improved. New "Troubleshooting" dialog with quick access to disabling features of ObjectDock Increased drawing optimization code's ability to manage images. Should result in quicker than ever drawing and decreased memory usage for zooming docks. Docks can now not only be left/right/center aligned, but anywhere in-between. See the new slider in zooming dock's positioning options Brand new "Show Start Menu" functionality! Will show your existing startmenu/startpanel right next to the cursor when you click it. Add one by right clicking dock and choosing "Add -> New Start Menu Entry" "Add" menus now significantly more useful ; they now give you the option to add a wide variety of different built-in entries New "command entry" abilities! You can now create a dock item to toggle autohide on and off, or toggle hiding/showing the taskbar. Very useful! New option available to turn on "proportionate stretching" for backgrounds New mode available in plus: "keep on top, hiding off-screen for maximized applications", which makes the dock always on top except when a window is maximized, at which point it will automatically temporarily turn on autohide Improved dock's ability to judge what maximum size it should be. Dock will now exactly fill the screen when you set it to be as large as possible, and it will properly maintain this as you add/remove items. Brand new taskbar modes available in Plus! Your taskbar can now be set to show "all windows", "minimized windows only", or "non-minimized windows only" Dramatically improved behavior during right click menus on zooming docks. When you right click and the dock's zooming locks in position, if you click/right-click on another item ObjectDock will now correctly select the item that your cursor was over at the time, not what i would be after the zoom lock is released. Similarly, if you begin dragging an item while locked, the program will behave appropriately instead of its prior very unpredictable behavior. Improved handling / awareness of full-screen applications Completely redone system tray mechanism for Plus, which is more lighweight and does not require any additional resident EXE (that’s right, sdmcp.exe will be a thing of the past ) System tray will not currently work on 64-bit versions of Windows, but they do work with Windows Vista, including the new "Special" tray icons in Vista. Performance and memory usage has been improved. Lots of optimizing for CPU usage. Every single 'glitchy' behavior that we/users could find in previous versions of ObjectDock has been fixed When using extension-only in shortcuts, the item's title will now automatically update to the name of the application, not just its filename. Ability added for ObjectDock to apply included default images for programs that do not have high-resolution icons already included with them. For example, a default Notepad shortcut on XP would use the included custom high-quality icon, but on Vista where a high-quality icon is available for Notepad, ObjectDock will use the actual Notepad icon. Improved system tray, should now work more reliably than ever! Outlook 2007 and Windows Live Messenger should both now work reliably. Fixed up a couple minor resource leaks Improved taskbars / thumbnail behavior. Added option to turn off tabbed docks' ability to automatically dock to the edge as a drawer when dragging. Option available in "misc options". Fixed multimonitor issue with the Start Menu functionality, and added better problem-notification. Fixed issue with flyouts where if they contained 9+ items and zooming is disabled, they could show up partially behind the dock. UI improvments Ability to export backgrounds added to the DockZip packaging format. Try this feature today by right clicking the dock and choosing "Pack images for sharing" Dialog flow / layout improved for zooming docks Colorizing a background now also colorizes the indicators you've selected to use When packing up icons, you can now reliably drag dock items on to the "packager" dialog, and the icon associated with that item will automatically be added to the package you're creating Improved autohide ability in general. Also, added ability for autohide to give activation back to the window that had it if an autohidden dock gets activated temporarily and then hides. improved shortcuts so that the dock longer pauses for a moment when you run something improved delete-item animation so that there is no longer a delay when you delete something from the dock clicking empty space directly above/below a zooming dock that is still part of the background (e.g. a shadow) no longer causes the dock item below it to get selected. similarly, right clicking that area will bring up options for the dock itself, not the item below where you clicked. On Vista, Taskbar should now show / be able to interact with applications ran as administrator when UAC is enabled in vista, even if ObjectDock isn't elevated. (Minimize animations will not work for programs ran as administrator however) Fixed issue where icons for url-shortcuts would not get remembered Can now drag/drop "Internet" and "Email" shortcuts from start panel into dock ObjectDock is better than ever at picking up the best high-quality icon for your file, particularly in Windows Vista. You can now zoom icons up to 256x256. Click Here to check out some of the features of ObjectDock as a video.

 

In short, a lot has changed.

Highlighted Changes

There's so many new things in ObjectDock 1.9 that it's hard to narrow things down to a handful. And even the above list isn't complete!  Here are some of our favorite changes:

It's Faster!

 

Probably one of the first things some users will notice is how much faster ObjectDock 1.9 is.  That's because the underlying engine was largely rewritten to take advantage of advances in OS and video card technology. It's faster while using less memory.

It's Prettier!

 

Another thing users will notice, especially long-time users, is how many cool new backgrounds and icons come with it. The default look has been changed, the default icons changed, and a ton of artwork from the WinCustomize.com community (with permission) has bee included.

One other note about that screenshot, ObjectDock supports backgrounds on a per item basis!

It's more useful!

ObjectDock is popular not just because it's so visually cool and pretty but because it is very useful. Docklets that support searching and the ability to display running tasks as part of your dock are examples of why ObjectDock isn't just a cool program, it's a very useful one.

ObjectDock 1.9 includes a new weather docklet that on a single click will display the 5-day forecast.

 

ObjectDock 1.9 also includes a new Start menu docklet that will bring up the real Start menu (and if it's skinned, then it'll still be skinned!).

It's more usable!

ObjectDock has always been strong about having features that make is convenient to use. But ObjectDock 1.9 goes even further!

ObjectDock 1.9 now includes options for dock placement that is completely free-form! Put the dock anywhere you want on the screen!

 

It's easier to use! 

 

The user interface has been updated to be easier to use with functionality much more accessible!

It has more Windows Vista support!

While users of Windows XP have much to rejoice, users of Windows Vista get live thumbnail previews and minimize and restore effects thanks to the new Windows Vista desktop graphics engine (the DWM) which provides hardware acceleration features!

It's more fun!

 

With thousands of skins and icons for ObjectDock and tons of cool effects and options to choose from, ObjectDock doesn't just look great and work great, it's just fun to use.

And it's still free!

The world's most fully featured dock on any platform is still freeware. 

Stardock also makes ObjectDock PLUS! which adds tabbed docks, system tray support, additional mouse-over effects, multiple dock support, taskbar grouping, and more!

But ObjectDock itself remains free as it always has even with all these new features.  Try it yourself and find out what millions of others have learned -- it's fun, pretty, and useful!  

Get it at http://www.objectdock.com

Alright, first things first...download an IRC client. For the purpose of this guide, going to use mIRC. Why mIRC? Because it's simple and doesn't have a bunch of crap bloat that anyone would need anyway.

Download it here.

First you install it obviously, then after it's installed open the mirc.exe.

Next we'll have to add the Stardock server to the server list. Just follow the screenshots and you should be fine.

Click on the little hammer icon thingie at the top left, this is the mIRC Options. The Connect section should come up, enter in your details there. Full name and email address don't really matter, you can put any kind of nonsense you want there. For your Nickname I suggest using your Stardock login name. No spaces, if you want spaces you'll have to use an underscore. For the alternative, something similar (this is used when you get disconnected and your nick is still in use).



The click on the Servers area and the Add button. Then fill out the information accordingly. After that press Add.



Now we're going to setup the Perform on Connect settings, with this you will automatically join the channels and identify to nickserv once you connect. Click on the Options section under Servers, then click on Perform. Make sure the Enable perform on connect is checked. Now click on the Add button, find the Stardock server we just added and then select Ok. Now select Stardock from the Network dropbox. In the textarea, add the following information as shown in the screenshot, the click Ok at the bottom.

Notes:

• The first line identifies you to your registered nickname (if you choose to register it [explained below], if you don't register it then you don't need to add the command).
• The next two commands automatically join you to the #wincustomize and #stardock channels. You can add or remove whatever channels from autojoin if you want. If you want a list of other channels, type /list in the status window.
• The last line disables the server's language filter. The language filter prevents anyone from sending you a private message that contains swearing. Personally I tend to swear like a sailor so I find this little feature annoying and silly, so I have it disabled.

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Before we connect, I'm going to show some optional settings I find useful. Click on IRC in the menu list. I would suggest checking Prefix own messages, Show mode prefix, Whois on Query, Rejoin channels when kicked, Rejoin channels on connect, and Keep channels open. This way is for some reason you get kicked (hey it happens) mIRC will automatically have you rejoin the channel without you having to manually do it. Keep channels open just keeps the channel there when you get kicked/banned, normally the channel would close and disappear and you'd have to rejoin it.

Also, click on the Options section still under IRC, and under Show: check User addresses (you'll be able to see the isp the person is connecting from) and under Flash on: check Query message (this way when someone sends you a pm, the window will flash in the taskbar to notify you). If you go to IRC > Messages, you can enable the Timestamp. Check Enabled and then you can edit the display. I'm using [ddd h:nn:ss TT] which displays as [Tue 5:18:34 PM]. You can change how it's displayed by changing the identifiers. You can find a list of those identifers Here or in mIRC go to Help > Contents and in the Index search type "time" and the first thing listed should be the Time and Date Identifiers.

Next I'd go down to Display, click on it, then make sure always highlight and blink icons are checked, this way the windows inside mIRC will flash to notify you that there has been a new message in the chat/pm window.

Speaking of display, by default mIRC uses the lame Fixedsys font but this can easily be changed by going to View > Font. I use Verdana size 8. You can change the fonts on a per channel/window basis pretty much, but I have mine set globally.

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Now we can connect. You can do this a few ways. The first would be to find the Stardock server we added in the servers list and then click on the Connect to Server button near the bottom of that window. Otherwise you could just type this into the text area at the bottom of the screen.

/server irc.stardock.com

You should now be connected to the server and have joined #wincustomize and #stardock. You can now register your nick if you choose to do so. To do this type the following (without the brackets of course).

/nickserv register [yourpasshere] [youremail]

You should then get a message from Nickserv saying the nick has been registered to you. Now go back to the options and go to the perform window, enter your password in the settings as we showed above. This way when you connect you will be automatically identified to Nickserv.

If you get disconnected for any reason and your nick is still showing up in the channel, you can kill it so you can use it again. To do this use the following command:

/nickserv ghost [yournick] [yourpass]

You can now use your nick again. To change your nick, just use /nick [newnick]

Another thing you should do is add your hostmask to the Nickserv access list so you won't get Guested if you fail to identify to Nickserv for whatever reason. First you will need to find your hostmask, to do this perform the following command:

/whois [yournick]

After you've gotten the whois result, copy the ident@host (highlight it, mIRC will automatically copy anything that is highlighted) and then do the following command.

/nickserv access add *!*ident@host

Example: Say my whois result showed this for my host (IP address edited of course): ~supervixen@cpe-255-255-255-255.socal.res.rr.com. Now if your IP tends to be dynamic and change a lot, you might want to edit it when you add to the access list. This is how I added mine:
/nickserv access add *!*supervixen@*.socal.res.rr.com

---

That's pretty much it for the basic setup. mIRC has a ton of other options and settings you can play with, just look around. One I use frequently is the Colors option (click on the Address Book icon next to the clock and select the Colors tab). Here you can colorize your own name, friend's names, and user modes (ops @nick [usually Stardock employees and/or WC mods/admins], voices +nick [special people], channel owner .nick etc). This makes it easier to spot who is chatting in the window. It should be pretty self-explanatory to get it working, but I'll give some examples anyway.

Go into the Colors option like I explained above, make sure Enabled is checked, and then click on Add. On the left is how it looks to color my own nick. This way whenever I say something in the chat and in the userlist, my name shows up as pink. On the right is how it looks to color all ops as bright green (I use a black background).



You can also change the color theme for how your mIRC is displayed. As I mentioned, I use a black background because it's easier on my eyes. Just click on the Crayons icon to mess around with the colors. Just click on whatever you want to change and select a new color. To change the background color just click on any of the white space. Here is how mine looks:



One of the other features I use a lot is Highlight. If you go to Options > IRC > Highlight, you can set it up there. What highlight does is what it says, if it finds a match for something in the highlight list, it will change the color of that entire line to whatever color you set, and can also beep to notify you. To use this, make sure Enabled is checked, then click on Add to add your highlight trigger. I have highlight set for whenever someone says my name. Here is how mine looks:

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Additional Commands

Often you will see people talking in third person, this is done using the \me command (I had to use backwards slash because the forums parse it the other way). Example:

\me waves hello (don't forget to use forward slash!)

Will be displayed as: * BebiBulma waves hello

If you need to go away for a while, you can use the /away command. This way when someone does a /whois on you or sends you a pm, they will get a notice in their status window that you are away.
/away Gone out, be back soon

To disable the away, simply type /away and it turns it off.

Perhaps you want to ask someone something but not in the public channel, then you can use the /query command. However, it's always a good idea to ask someone first before you pm them, it can be irritating to have someone pm you just because they can without any real reason. Tip: If you type the first few letters of someone's nick and then press Tab, it will go down the list of names of all that match.

/query Nick Hi there, nice day?

---

If you need further help with this, you can post a comment here. Also, you might want to check out this IRC tutorial for a more lengthy guide on the commands and other features IRC has. If there are other features I didn't cover but someone would like more info on, let me know and I'll see what I can add. Come chat with us on IRC!

*For these screenshots, I'm using the Argos premium suite.

As I have said in previous articles that Photoshop CS2 has been great with XP, but not as much with Windows Vista. I also don't want to spend the $200 to upgrade to CS3 just to make Photoshop work right on Vista. So I started looking to see what other options I have when it comes to graphics software when I finally decide (which may be soon) to go back to Vista full-time.

The first application I am evaluating is Corel Paint Shop Pro XI.


The second trial I downloaded was Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.


So for you who are running Windows Vista, what graphics software are you using?

I don't know if anyone will be interested but after a month in the making, i finally finished by Windowblinds/Skinstudio Video Tutorial If you have ever wanted to mod, create or just wanted help with skinstudio and a windowblind, this is what u need. It will help give you a basic understanding of how Skinstudio works and how to go about creating your own skin. Deviantart has helped with this and Aquasoft are linking it. Since this is the home of Windowblinds and Skinstudio, i thought u guys might like to know Check it out at http://mrrste.deviantart.com

If your wondering, due to the file size and bandwidth needed for this, DA has given me special persmission to host it on my site. They have even promoted it from there accounts and in there newsletters