We created this for a page on the site, but I think it’s very useful so I wanted to share it with others here as well.

Today we are excited to announce the 7.01 update to WindowBlinds from Stardock.  WindowBlinds lets Windows users change the complete look and feel of Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 by applying one of thousands of skins that are available.  There are all types of skins available to fit nearly every taste, whether it’s a minimal look or a wild and colorful personalization for your desktop.  WindowBlinds 7 also allows you to “skin” Aero so it is easy to make simple changes to the default look of Windows Vista/Windows 7 by applying colors or textures.

What’s new in WindowBlinds 7.01:

• Microsoft themepacks now appear as sub-styles of Aero, and can be applied
• New guided tour on first run
• More textures added
• Explorer backgrounds page now shows the textures from the textures page too
• Many other minor tweaks
• Modified Aero entry added to skin list. 

WindowBlinds 7 users can now update via Impulse.  WindowBlinds 7 is part of the Object Desktop suite of desktop enhancements, and can be purchased stand-alone for $19.95.  More information and a free trial can be downloaded from www.windowblinds.net.

Another week is wrapped up, this one being the first week in February.  It started off great with the release of Star Trek Online, which we also formed an Impulse fleet where community members are invited to join us play.  Check the article links below for more on that!  We also had lots of Sins of a Solar Empire related news this past week including a gameplay video of Diplomacy, and more info on the coming releases of Diplomacy and Sins: Trinity.

Enough chit-chat, lets get to this weeks roundup!

News and Articles to check out:

• A Look at Upcoming Games on Impulse
• Elemental Beta 1-G plans
• Gameplay Example: Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity
• Elemental February Status Report
• Join the Impulse Fleet!
• Pictures of our visit with ObjectDock 2
• Life at Stardock – the happiest place in the world
• Atari Adds New Titles to Stardock's Impulse Platform

New and Updated Releases on Impulse:

• Star Trek Online
• Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsene Lupin
• Sherlock Holmes - Nemesis
• Frontline: Fields of Thunder
• Fire Flower
• Sherlock Holmes - The Awakened
• Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper
• Purrfect Pet Shop
• Tales of Bingwood
• Evochron Legends
• Satisfashion

Weekend Impulse Buys

Oh where has this week gone to?  This was a long week, but a pretty good one.  In case you didn’t see the WC news this week, WindowBlinds is approaching 16 million downloads on Download.com, and the My Dirty Valentine community project was completed.  I really can’t enough how much I enjoy seeing the community coming together with projects like this.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Robotic Defense by theAVMAN One of my new favorite CursorFX themes.  The animation is fantastic!
	Scenic Waterfall by amitsaran Waterfalls have always been popular .dreams, and this is another one to add.
	Magik! by OutdoorPictures The images he takes are amazing, and make really beautiful logons.
	When You Are In Love by vlad Perfect wallpaper for Valentines Day.
	Retro Plus by madcat21 This is a bold and creative WindowBlinds skin.  Great job!
	Corsair by essorant Another winner from essorant.  It’s a clean and sleek WindowBlinds skin, and can be personalized with the textures option in WB.

This month the ObjectDock 2 beta is scheduled to begin. I got to visit with it today and took some pictures of the trip.

End of the first month of the year is just days away!  January was a great month for Impulse, and for gaming in general.  Mass Effect 2 was released this past week, and response to it has been spectacular to say the least.  This week wasn’t all about ME2 though, as the pre-orders for the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2 opened along with the beta.

Of course any Star Trek fan should be ready as the head-start weekend opens today for Star Trek Online, available to anyone who pre-ordered.  Keep an eye out for me patrolling the Regulus Sector.

Lets take a look at what else was going on this week!

Articles to check out:

• The Spells beta is coming
• Applying Skins/Themes with WindowBlinds 7
• Elemental, one of the most Promising Games of 2010
• Stardock at GDC 2010
• The iPad: Not living up the the hype
• Spells & Magic
• Impulse Weekly Top 10
  

New Releases on Impulse:

• Mass Effect 2
• SHMUP
• KrissX
• Battlefield 2 Bad Company Limited Edition (pre-order)
• KeepSafe 2.01
• Grand Ages Rome
• M.U.D. TV - Mad, Ugly, Dirty Television
• Death to Spies Gold
  

Weekend Impulse Buys:

Another week is just about over, and looking through WinCustomize I see the Valentine’s Day Community Suite is coming along rather nicely.  More on that soon though.  Now that we are closing out the month, the first one of 2010, skinning started off slow because of the long holidays, but has gradually picked up over the past couple of weeks.  I’m confident this year is going to rock!

Now for this weeks picks!

	Gridlok DX by RedNeckDude This is a DX theme to compliment the Master skin from MikeB314.  As always, a great design that stays true to the original.
	Chrome and Black Glass by Decon4 A really cool icon set with the darker glass look.  Great job!
	Frosted – Creek Side  in Winter by Philly0381 Philly0381 has together a fantastic suite with skins from Mirsguy and CarGuy1.  Definitely check it out.
	ecological illus pastel by I.R. Brainiac It’s simply a beautiful wallpaper.  Download it.
	Atmospheric Red by teddybearcholla Great design, and perfect use of color.  Fantastic.
	Mica by PurrBall This is an update to an old favorite, and it’s now been updated to work with Win7.

WindowBlinds 7 is here, and some of the older tutorials and guides show the older user interface, and since WB7 was such a big change I wanted to create some new guides instead of updating old ones.  This time we are going over the basics of using WindowBlinds to change the visual style of Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7.

If you don’t already have WindowBlinds, you can grab a free trial at www.windowblinds.net.  You can also purchase the full version there, or get it as part of the Object Desktop suite of desktop enhancements. 

This is the main configuration window.

The bottom is where you will find your skin list of all installed skins, and you can easily move through the list by “swiping” with your mouse.  Clicking a skin from the list will show a preview of the skin in the window above so you can get a quick look at what the skin will look like.  At the very bottom is the tabs where you will find options such as coloring, sub-styles, textures, etc. We will talk more about that in another tutorial.

You can download additional skins from www.wincustomize.com.  Just double-click the .wba file and it will automatically be installed into your skin list.  Just choose the skin you wish to use, and click ‘Apply Changes’ in the upper left-hand area.  That’s it!  Your skin will be applied and you will have taken the first step in customizing your PC.

The month is starting to wind down, and this has been a really exciting week especially with the pre-loading of Mass Effect 2 starting today!  Last week I mentioned we needed a nickname for the Impulse publishing team, and our fan on Facebook posted some good suggestions.  Some of the suggestions were “the Impulsinators”, “The Impulse Drive”, “The Impulsives”, and “The Impulsers”.

I personally favor the “Impulsinators”.

Well anyways, lets take a look at the weekly roundup on Impulse !

Articles to check out:

• The importance of optimization
• Windows 7 Superbar Stomps the Old Taskbar – Part 1
• DeskScapes 3.1 Supports Multi-Monitor Wallpapers
• Elemental: The MUST HAVE 2010 TBS requirements
• Impulse gets jump lists
• This Week in Skinning - January 22nd
  

New Releases on Impulse:

• Bob Came in Pieces
• LogonStudio 1.7
• DeskScapes 3.1
• 4x4 Hummer
• Classic Car Racing
• 1C Racing Mega Pack

Coming Soon:

• Elemental: War of Magic
• Command and Conquer 4
• Star Trek Online
• Mass Effect 2

Weekend Impulse Buys:

		Most Kalypso Games 50% off!

LogonStudio 1.7 was released recently, and for most people they use it to change their Windows logon screens to their favorite wallpaper or image.  That is great, but speaking with a good friend yesterday he told me about how they use LogonStudio and I thought it was a fantastic idea that I wanted to pass along.

I will just quote him here:

“@IslandDog It's a fantastic branding tool. We use it on all client systems with our own small logo inserted as well, so they remember us ”

That was from my friend John Obeto from www.absolutelywindows.com and Logikworx. 

Whether you have a business that works on client systems, or if you do some side work on friends or families PC’s, what a great way to help spread the word about yourself or company!  Open up your favorite graphics editor and place your logo, website or social media text link so it’s there when people turn on their PC’s.  Take that image and drag it into LogonStudio and you now have your own personalized logon!

Of course, this is a simple and quick solution, but if you are looking for corporate solutions, be sure to click here for more info.