My first experience with any kind of video editing was in college. I had a camcorder (man when's the last time you called anything THAT?) and I wanted to do a creative project for a class. So, I gathered a bunch of friends, slapped them in costumes (it really didn't take much convincing, we were all a bunch of fun-loving nerds), picked a peppy song, and took a bunch of footage. Then I lugged my gear to the Mac lab to teach myself how to edit together a video.

An ancient shot from an ancient video that's, well...ancient. If circa 2003 is ancient, anyway.

Once I got over the initial hurdles of "WTF am I looking at?" and "Where the heck do I even start?" it wasn't so bad. Final Cut Pro (I don't even know what version it would have been at the time, this was over 10 years ago) was fairly intuitive for me, even if using a Mac wasn't (I've always been a PC user). The tools were straightforward and easy to access, making it easy for an amateur like me to put out a decent product. That video currently lives on YouTube, but there's no way I'm subjecting anyone to that. 

Final Cut Pro remains one of the best options for Mac users (at $300 it's hardly cheap - but at least it isn't a subscription model!), although the much less expensive Adobe Premiere Elements for PC & Mac can offer a lot of the same features for a third of the cost. These days, I use Adobe Premiere Pro for editing video clips, short ads, VODs, and other such things, but I get it through a work subscription. Although $20 a month (that's JUST for Premiere, not the rest of the Creative Cloud) isn't necessarily bank-breaking, I really don't use it enough personally to make it worth it. 

Adobe Premiere Pro

Fortunately for me and other casual video editors, there are plenty of good free or low-cost options out there. 

For starters, let's take a look at Vegas. This program has several versions ranging from affordable to "yikes." The Vegas Post software will put you out about $1000, while the Vegas Pro software comes in around $599. Unless you're working on high-end projects with lots of demand for special effects, rendering, etc., you probably don't need that much. The VEGAS Movie Studio software is much affordable, coming in at $49.99 for the basic version (which will cover most of what a casual creator would need) and $139 for the Movie Studio suite. 

Another low cost (and free, actually, if you want to go that route) option is Lightworks. You can download and install Lightworks for free on Windows, Mac, and Linux devices. If at a later date, you decide you want to invest in an improved experience, you can upgrade to Lightworks Pro (monthly for $24.99 or own outright for $320). With this upgraded version, you’ll be able to export your projects in different formats and upload straight to YoutTube. 

One more totally free option is Adobe Spark, but you'll have to be OK with your video having a watermark on it. More advanced editing tasks are also hidden in the pro version, so you'll need to pay up before having access to all of that. 

Lightworks has a bit of a steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes one of the better free options out there. Other free options include Shotcut, Hitfilm Express, and VSDC. All of these free programs will do the basic trick, but have lots of additional features hidden behind a paywall. The nice thing about having the free versions is being able to test what it is you like and get an accurate gauge of just how much power you'll need for whatever projects you're wanting to do.

Next time, I'll talk a little bit about the couple of programs I find extremely helpful when I'm doing my editing - namely, Groupy and Multiplicity. Being able to sort things into multiple tabs is a godsend when I'm trying to find files, and working easily between two computers with one doing the heavy lifting while I work through my creative vision on the other is great for my productivity.

Do you do any video editing? What's your preferred program for it?

The first is Windows Repair Toolbox v3.0.2.5, which you can find here:

https://www.oldergeeks.com/downloads/file.php?id=1599

It works for Windows XP through W10. It contains tens of utilities for the repair of just about any problem, and is an essential for anyone having to repair family computers. Check out its contents at the link, and you'll see why I didn't list the utilities included.

The second is a rather new one, for the removal of remnants of antiviral programs which might be slowing your computer down. You might not even know they're on your machine, left from older subscriptions/installations.

It has the 29 most common antivirus-removal tools built into one utility. Here's the list:

Adaware Avast AVG Avira BigFix Bitdefender Comodo Dr.Web

Emsisoft eScan ESET F-Secure G DATA K7 Computing Kaspersky Malwarebytes

Max Secure McAfee Microsoft Security Essentials Norton Panda Symantec Endpoint Protection Trend Micro Total Defense

TrustPort VIPRE Webroot WinPatrol ZoneAlarm

Now here's the cool part! You don't need to know which antivirus apps were previously installed — Antivirus Removal Tool (ART) will find them for you." - Deanna McElveen

You can find it here: 

https://www.oldergeeks.com/downloads/file.php?id=3389&mc_cid=0fe6434423

I'm working on types of content people like and want more of on WinCustomize. Something I'm looking at now is triggered .dreams for DeskScapes. A triggered .dream is basically an animated wallpapers that changes at a designed point. Blissful Dream was always one of my favorites.

So my question to the community is do you use any triggered .dreams?

If so, what specifically do you like and what themes would you like to see. For example, .dreams that switch from day to night.

If you have any other thoughts on triggered .dreams, please leave them in the comments. 

Stardock's Curtains released this week and Danioc has been hard at work on themes for it. He just released a new one on WinCustomize and it is hot! It's a dark theme pack with multiple color variations, and has quickly become one of my favorites.

Check out Play for Curtains.

Are you a fan of podcasts?

On Monday, the satellite radio company SiriusXM announced that it reached a deal to acquire Stitcher from E.W. Scripps to the tune of $325 million. Stitcher is a pioneer in podcasting that provides a popular one-stop platform for creating, monetizing, and distributing podcasts to listen via its app and other platforms. 

Stitcher brings its own mobile listening app (which was acquired for $4.5 million in 2016) to the table. It also operates the Midroll Media network for podcast advertising (acquired for $55 million in 2015). Stitcher's original podcasts run on multiple content networks as well.

SiriusXM already purchased another podcast management platform called Simplecast last month, and with this latest acquisition it has become clear that they intend to devote quite a lot of their resources and efforts to podcasting.  This deal will move thousands of podcasts to SiriusXM, including popular titles like Freakonomics Radio, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, LeVar Burton Reads, and many more.

In a press statement released Monday, SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer said, "The addition of Stitcher is an important next step as we continue to develop and strengthen our offering in the fast-growing podcasting market. With Stitcher, we will expand our digital audio advertising presence and look to generate new ways for creators to find and connect with their audiences. Stitcher has a talented team with deep experience in the podcast space, and we look forward to working with them to better meet the needs of creators, advertisers, and listeners."

The company boasts that combining Stitcher with their already robust satellite radio audience and Pandora (which they acquired in 2018), they will have "the largest addressable audience" in the United States for digital audio. 

What are some of your favorite podcasts? Do you have a podcast of your own? Share with us in the comments!

Add Additional Style Modes to Windows 10 with Curtains
Full Version Now Available

Get it Now

Stardock released its new customization tool today. Curtains™ allows users to apply new styles along the lines of Dark Mode and Light to Windows® 10.

Taking advantage of the groundwork built to support light and dark mode, Curtains includes several new styles including Fluent, Cairo, and Crystal mode that enhance the look and feel of the Windows UI along with apps that already support light and dark mode.  

"The advantage of using a program like Curtains is that it's essentially just adding new 'modes' to Windows," said Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock. "It works with high DPI displays and your existing programs.  This gives users a little extra touch of customizing the Windows experience."

In addition, Curtains also includes styles that allow users to switch Windows to looking more like Windows XP or Windows 95 as well as alternative operating systems.

Users can easily create and share their own styles using the built in style editor.  A Curtains style can change everything that Light and Dark mode can change, including the Start button, title bar buttons, and title bar coloring. It also supports tweaking gradients, shadows opacity, and hundreds of other small elements of the Windows GUI.

"Curtains makes it very easy for people to make their own styles," said Wardell. "There are a lot of customization features that have been buried in recent years such as font faces and sizes, detailed color choices and much more. Curtains allows people to adjust all of that and save it with their style easily.”

Curtains is now available, or through Stardock’s  Object Desktop™ suite of desktop enhancements. Object Desktop includes programs such as Fences®, Start10™, Groupy™, SoundPackager™, DeskScapes™ and Multiplicity®.

Get it Now

Visit the Curtains webpage for more information.

It's hot here. I mean really hot. With that being said I need make my desktop a bit more "cool" by giving it an ocean theme with nice virtual breeze that I can imagine relaxing and cooling off with.

Fortunately, we have plenty of those types of designs here on WinCustomize. Lets take a look at some of the best ones to try!

Barreling Ocean Waves for Wallpapers

Reflections for DeskScapes Animated Wallpapers

Swimming Sea Turtle for Wallpapers

Fantastic Ocean Sunset for DeskScapes Animated Wallpapers

Changing the default icons is one of the earliest and most popular ways to customize the look and feel of Windows. Whether users were trying to emulate another operating system (like MacOS) or just trying to create a particular theme, changing the Windows icons has been a key part of desktop customization for quite some time.

IconPackager was introduced to make the process much easier, allowing Windows users to change nearly an entire set of icons with just the click of a button.

How to Change Entire Sets of Icons

One of the nicest things about IconPackager is that it's super easy to use. Open the program, scroll through the list at the bottom of the window to see all of the installed icon packs, then select the one you want and click the preview button to see a larger preview of the icons.

When you are ready to apply, just click ‘Apply icons to my desktop’. That's it! You can enjoy the icons from there, or customize them further using the color option in the IconPackager configuration window.

Changing Individual Icons from Properties Window

Changing all of the icons at once is great, but if you don't want or need to change all of them, you can select and alter individual icons using the properties page. Simply select an icon you want to change and right-click to bring up the menu. Then, click 'change icon' and you'll have a window come up that will show available IconPackager theme icons. Just pick the icon you want and hit apply!

Alternatively, you can also change individual icons directly through the IconPackager configuration under the Customization tab.

Getting More Icon Packs

WinCustomize.com has a gallery just for IconPackager themes! There are over a thousand custom created icon themes in the gallery that come in nearly every color and design you can think of. 

Get more IconpPackager themes here!

IconPackager 10 is individually available for your Windows PC, but you can get that and more with a low-cost membership to Object Desktop.  While you're a member, you'll get free updates, access to all betas, and any new apps for one year. You’ll also get access to other great programs like Start10, DeskScapes, WindowBlinds, Multiplicity, and many more!

Visit the Object Desktop site for more information.

Have you been waiting for AMD’s Ryzen 4000 desktop APUs? Well, your wait could be over in as early as just a few days, according to one retailer.

Reports started over the holiday weekend stating that Dutch retailer Centralpoint listed the incoming Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G, Ryzen 5 Pro 4650G, and Ryzen 3 Pro 4350G on their website. The listings say that the higher-end octa-core and hex-core CPUs will ship within "3 to 5 days", with the entry-level quad-core APU expected to arrive in stock on July 10.

Although there have been plenty of other leaks, Centralpoint is the first place to give an idea of pricing. The AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G will fetch $357 USD, while the Ryzen 5 Pro 4650G is $243 USD and the Ryzen 3 Pro 4350G is $177 USD. AMD itself hasn't given any official word on pricing yet, so these prices could be little more than placeholders.

The specifications detailed on Centralpoint's product pages seem to support some previous leaks reported by Tom's Hardware back in May.

We talked a little bit about what AMD's plans for 2020 were back in January when they debuted several new products at CES.

Are you thinking about upgrading or building a PC soon? What's your hardware plan - does AMD fit into it?

I admit I should be using more keyboard shortcuts aside from just the most basic ones such as copy and paste. I was browsing Windows Central and they have an article which lists all the essential Windows 10 shortcuts. They even have them broken down to help you narrow down any you might be looking for.

I'm going to go through it and find some of the most useful that I might use.

Here's their list: https://www.windowscentral.com/best-windows-10-keyboard-shortcuts