I created a new demo video for WindowBlinds 7.1 for another project, but I wanted to post it here so you could share with friends.

Happy Friday everyone!  The end of the week is finally here and it is time to wrap up the happenings in skinning this week.  No major news to report this week, but skin submissions are picking up now that summer is coming to a close, so there is a bunch of good stuff to check out.

	XBOX ELITE by Chasbo Great to see some skins from Chasbo, and this is a cool weather widget you should check out.
	Lava Planet by amitsaran This is just an awesome design, and perfect for an animated wallpaper.  It’s also available in other skin formats too.
	Windows 7 (2010) Dark Edition by DEVJIT This wallpaper has a cool and unique take on the Window 7 logo.  Nice work!
	PlasticXP by Stardock Design PlasticXP originated in 2001, and now has been updated to run on Win7.  Give it a try!
	Aura Xtreme by WebGizmos WebGizmos has been busy putting out some fantastic Winstep themes, and this one based on a Stardock Design is another great one.

I have been helping some people on the Microsoft forums lately with issues resulting from using registry hacks to change basic things in Windows 7 like the logon screen.  The good thing about customizing Windows is just that – you can customize as much or as little as you like.  However, be careful when using registry hacks to change things, you might just end up hosing your system.

If you are ready to step in the customization world for Windows 7, then follow these tips to do it safely and effectively!

Change the Windows 7 logon

When you want to change the background of the logon screen for Win7, don’t worry about registry hacks.  Just head over and download the free LogonStudio app.  With LogonStudio you can change the background to one of the included images, use your own just by dragging and dropping, or download thousands from WinCustomize.com.

Replace the Default Cursor

The default Windows cursors are pretty boring, nothing special to see here.  CursorFX is another application that can change the default cursor into something really special.  There are all types of custom cursors available with some wild animations, cool effects, and more.  You can even find some that emulate other operating systems.  CursorFX is free as well, but a Plus version is available with even more features!

Get a New Skin and Theme

Windows 7 has the ability to download themes for use, but they are very limited and really don’t change much but the color.  If you want to give Windows a real custom look, come check out WindowBlinds.  WindowBlinds gives you the ability to change the look of the entire user interface in Windows with literally thousands of skins and themes available for download to use.  WindowBlinds 7 also allows you to “skin” Aero which you can apply textures and other effects to enhance Aero on your own.  A free trial is available, and the full version is just $20.

When talking about WindowBlinds, we most often talk about changing the actual skins and modifying them to make your desktop look super sweet.  That is perfect, but WindowBlinds 7 also has an integrated wallpaper manager that I use quite often.  WB can add folders of your choosing that contain wallpapers and you can easily browse through them and apply them as needed.  There are more advanced features though, like being able to automatically change wallpapers at certain intervals.

In the WindowBlinds configuration window, just select the Wallpapers tab at the bottom.

Clicking the Settings button will open a window where you can choose and add folders that contain wallpapers.  Here you can also adjust the wallpaper modes to ones such as tile, stretch, etc.  Clicking the Random Wallpaper Settings button will take you to more advanced options.

Here you can select individual wallpapers (or add them all) to use in a random setting.  You can select the wallpapers to be changed on set intervals such as every morning, every hour, etc.  It’s a great way to keep a fresh wallpaper on your desktop often!

Get WindowBlinds here – www.windowblinds.net

Summer is coming to a close and we can start merging into the Fall season soon enough.  This week on WinCustomize we had a couple new Master WindowBlinds skins, both of which are definitely worth checking out.  Since Halloween is coming up next month, I hope to see some more Halloween themed skins coming in, and I have updated one of mine and have some more planned as well.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Robotic Defiance Digital by theAVMAN A slick set of clocks that are gadgets, so they can be used on your desktop without any additional software.
	Strokes by amitsaran These are my favorite types of animated wallpapers.  Subtle animation with beautiful colors.  Nice work!
	Robotic Defiance (TM Suites) by Philly0381 The Robotic Defiance suite contains skins from several WC skinners.  Another great package delivered!
	StarFighter by Vampothika Not new, but a big update brings Win7 updates and new colors.
	Dimentia by butch123 A clean and minimal style is always a favorite.  Great job on this!

InfoWorld has published an article of the “Truly Awesome tools for Windows 7 power users”, and has included Fences by Stardock as one of them!

If you're anything like me, Stardock Fences is essential. My dual-screen desktop was littered with icons for docs, videos, PDFs, folders, and so on until I found Stardock Fences. This tool helps clean up and organize all those icons. There is a free version and a Pro version (with more customization features) for $9.99. In less than five minutes, I had my desktop organized into fences that made sense for my needs.

Link:  Truly awesome tools for Windows 7 power users

This has been a very long week, and I am sure glad the weekend is nearly here.  It’s also crazy that September is just days away, and hopefully some cooler weather will accompany it. 

Now for this weeks picks!

	Transcend by theAVMAN It’s cursor themes like these that make CursorFX such an awesome app.  Fantastic job on this one!
	Display ArrayDX by RedneckDude This is a new “original” DesktopX theme from RND.  This is one of my top favorites so far.
	Light Streaks by amitsaran A very cool looking animated wallpaper that isn’t too busy to look at all day.
	Lovely As A Tree by Frankief This is just a really beautiful scene.  Thanks for sharing it!
	Dulce by 2of3 This one almost slipped past me, but I’m glad I saw it as this is an impressive WindowBlinds skin.  Soft color makes this another winner!

Welcome to Friday!  Let me take a moment again to thank everyone who participated in the WinCustomize Wallpaper Survey over the past week or so.  I’m going over the responses now and I will share some of the results soon.  We will be posting more surveys in the coming weeks to get an idea on how to improve WinCustomize. 

Now for this weeks picks!

	Elementals Fire DX by RedneckDude RND is busy as usual, and this DX Theme caught my eye with the bold look and design.  Fantastic!
	Aquarium by amitsaran I don’t remember seeing an aquarium animated wallpaper before, but I think it is a real good idea.
	Velvet Waves by jazzilady This is a slick theme for LogonStudio.  There’s also a matching wallpaper so be sure to grab both.
	Alloy Dock Backgrounds by Mirsguy Made to match the Alloy WB skin, but these ObjectDock backgrounds will work with a ton of skin.  Great job!
	Alien Invasion wb by madcat21 This is a dark, alien-inspired WindowBlinds skin with a superb design.  Nice work!

Just about everyone knows how useful Fences is for organizing your desktop from the clutter of icons, but you might not know how useful the sorting features of Fences Pro is so I wanted to show you some of my favorite tips on how to use it.  I see all types of cool links on Twitter and Facebook that I’d like to check out in more detail, but just not at that moment.  I setup a dedicated Fence to place internet shortcut links that I drag onto the desktop into, so they are kept organized and I can check them out when time allows.

Here’s how to set it up:

Right-click the desktop while holding down the mouse button to “draw” your Fence.  Then name it whatever you want, I used Quick Shortcuts for mine.

Right-click the Fence and select Configure Fence.

Go to the Organize category and you will see the list of rules you can apply to a Fence.  You can set custom rules, but Fences already includes one for web links.  Check that and select which Fence those icons will be sent to.

That’s it!  Now when you place a web link on the desktop it will automatically be placed in the selected Fence.  Try it out and let me know what you think.

Fences is free, but advanced features like sorting is available in the Pro version. 

More information can be found here - https://www.stardock.com/products/fences/information_pro.asp

The is the next article in user requested tutorials.  With the new site brings some changes to the upload process, so here is a step-by-step guide on how to upload your skin submissions to WinCustomize.

Tips before uploading:

• Make sure if you have multiple skins or files, to place them in a .zip file.  The .rar type files are not accepted.  If you need a free .zip utility I recommend IZArc.
• Similar skins such as a slight variation in wallpapers must be bundled into one upload. 
• Submissions must be completely your own work.  If you are using another authors work you must include permissions in the .zip file. 
• WinCustomize has a moderated gallery.  Not all works will make it into the public gallery.
• Please read the Upload Guidelines for more specific rules regarding uploading.

Once your upload is ready for submissions, head over to this link - https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/all/new

The drop-down menu has every available gallery on WinCustomize.  Just select which gallery you want to upload, hit submit and you will be taken to the next page.

The next screen is where you will enter the information and upload the actual files.  For this example I am uploading to the WindowBlinds gallery.  Start by entering the name of the skin, category, description, and tags.  Depending on which gallery you upload to, there might be additional options.  As an example, in the WB upload window you have the option to check “includes Vista skin elements”, which will indicate the skin is ready for Vista.  These options will be updated soon to reflect Windows 7.

Next you will want to upload the preview image and the actual skins files.  Preview sizes will vary depending on what type of skin you are uploading.  More information can be found in the Upload Guidelines, but regardless the image cannot exceed 2mb and should be a .jpg file. 

Just hit Browse and a dialog box will come up giving you the ability to select the files for upload.  After uploading the image file, you can choose a region to represent the thumbnail view of the skin.

After the preview image is selected, you can upload your skin file.  Depending on the gallery you are uploading to, .zip files will always be accepted and each gallery should accept the file extension of the skin being uploaded.  After your files are selected, just read and select the confirmation and hit Submit.

Your skin will now be uploaded, and you should see a confirmation!  Remember that users who are ranked below Journeyman level will have their submissions sent to moderation, which can take several days to be approved.