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Grab Existing Icons with IconDeveloper

Monday, November 23, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

IconDeveloper doesn’t get as much attention as it should, but it is an awesome app that can do nearly anything you need to in regards to icons.  Just today I needed to grab the stock icon from an application, and using IconDeveloper I was able to do in just about a minute.

Open IconDeveloper and select “Open Icon”.

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Now just browse to the application directory and from there I found the .exe which has the icon I need. 

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Selecting it opens it up in IconDeveloper where you edit it, change the color, etc. 

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After your modifications, if any, just hit Save and save it to whichever format you need.  In my case I just export it to an .ico file.

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In just a few quick steps I have the icon I needed.  Pretty simple and very useful!

https://www.stardock.com/products/icondeveloper/

Impulse Weekly Roundup - November 20th

Friday, November 20, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

Good day Impulsers!  I hope everyone’s week is going fine, and welcome to this weeks re-cap of the happenings on Impulse.

Articles to check out:

New Releases on Impulse:

Updates on Impulse:


This weeks Impulse Weekend Buys!


$22.49

$14.95

$2.99

$12.50

$9.95

$22.49

This Week in Skinning - November 20th

Skin Roundup for 11-20-09

Friday, November 20, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: OS Customization

Good day fine WinCustomize folks!  Just to give a quick re-cap of this weeks activities, if you are a WC subscriber then be sure to check out the new subscriber skin called Tiki.  This was also a huge week for skinning as WindowBlinds 7 was released!  This enormous update brings skinning to Windows 7, and adds a ton of new features.

Now for this weeks picks!


WOM by jalentorn

This is a very creative and cool cursor set for CursorFX.  Definitely download this one.

LongNights by Ausvet

More and more winter .dreams are coming in, and the snow falling in this one is perfect.

SteamPunk by Vampothika

I really don’t need to comment on this.  It’s just that cool.

Winter Wonderland Wall Pk by AzDude

A simple, more minimal wallpaper.  Perfect for a holiday desktop.

iDive Aerospace by TomRichter

I always look forward to skins from TomRichter.  He has an elegant style and always makes good use of darker colors.  Great job!
Satellite by don5318

This is a really sleek skin for the Xion media player.  Nice work!

Adjusting Transparency with WindowBlinds 7

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: OS Customization

One of my all-time favorite features in WindowBlinds is the ability to chance the opacity of the skins in Windows.  Depending on the wallpaper I use, I might prefer a lot of transparency, or just a little.  Either way, it’s as easy as adjusting a couple of sliders.

Check out this video demo.

 

www.windowblinds.net

IconPackager 5 Guided Tour

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Frogboy | Discussion: OS Customization

IconPackager is a program that allows users to change all their Windows icons by applying themes of icons contained in an “icon package”. There are thousands of icon packages available on the Internet to choose from.

What’s new in IconPackager 5 over IconPackager 4

  • Supports Windows 7 and Windows 7 specific icons
  • Optionally will restart Explorer to update live folder icons
  • Can now be set to apply only specific icons in a package
  • Performance improvements in applying

IconPackager explained with screenshots

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Choose amongst hundreds of icon packages to apply to Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7

 

image 
When selecting an icon package, you can easily see which icons are in the package.

 

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Mix and match different folder styles from different icon packages.

 

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Making your own icon package is a snap, just select the icon you want to change and choose a different icon for it.

 

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IconPackager supports changing colors and even stylizing the icons you have.

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Got a program whose icon you’d like to change? IconPackager adds an “icon” tab to virtually any type of file on your computer making it easy to change any individual icon too.

 


Video Demo

Stardock 2009 Report

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Frogboy | Discussion: Personal Computing

image

Each year, like most companies, Stardock puts together an internal business plan that sets up goals, objectives, and challenges that the company must address.

Part of our internal business plan includes analysis of the state of the products/services we make as well as the results of our customer survey.

Last year, we made this report available to the public and based on the positive response we got for doing so, we’re doing the same again this year.

View: Stardock 2009 Customer Report

WindowBlinds 7: Brad's quick demo

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Frogboy | Discussion: Personal Computing

WindowBlinds 7 is out! Here’s a demo that shows off some of the cool new stuff.

 

Now you can see what all the talk is about.  Download it now and see for yourself.  If you’ve tried WindowBlinds in the past and don’t use it now, definitely try this, this isn’t just an upgrade, it’s a whole new system.

http://www.windowblinds.net

WindowBlinds 7: A guided Tour

Monday, November 16, 2009 by Frogboy | Discussion: Personal Computing

Windowblinds[1]

VERSION 7

Info & Requirements

 

Introduction

WindowBlinds is a program that empowers users to customize the look and feel of Microsoft Windows. By applying skins, users can change nearly every element of the Windows interface including:

  • title bars
  • borders
  • taskbar
  • Start menu
  • push buttons
  • and virtually every other part of the Windows UI

 

The WindowBlinds Experience

Windows XP user example:

index.7[1] to index.17[1]

Windows Vista/7 example:

image   to clip_image002

There are literally thousands of different skins to choose from

What’s new in WindowBlinds 7 over WindowBlinds 6

There are hundreds of changes and new features in WindowBlinds 7 over previous versions. Below is a summary of some of the more significant changes.

  1. Native support for Windows 7
  2. Native Aero skinning for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
  3. Native 64-bit support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
  4. Auto-conversion of Windows XP era skins to Windows Vista or Windows 7
  5. Ability to apply textures to skins
  6. A new, easy to use configuration program
  7. Native Clear-Type support for better font handling
  8. New Skin format called UIS0 for skinning Aero (takes hours instead of days to create a new skin).
  9. New WindowBlinds 7 skins included such as Submline, Aero Metals, Corporate, Aero Woods, Aero Clay, Sabertooth along with new WindowBlinds 7 skins being released soon after to the public such as Altitude.
  10. Option to have a random skin applied each logon
  11. Much better customization of fonts
  12. Massive performance improvements in applying of skins.
  13. Optimization of Windows Vista and Windows 7 DWM drawing to improve battery life on laptops.
  14. Aero skinning (UIS0) is 100% compatible (it’s Aero) with all Windows programs.

Screenshots of new features:

clip_image002[4] clip_image002[10]

clip_image002[6] clip_image002[12]

clip_image002[8] image

 

Features of WindowBlinds

There are so many individual features of WindowBlinds that it would take many pages to explain them all. Instead, we will focus on the primary features of the program.

  1. Changes the look and feel of the entire Windows graphical user interface by applying a WindowBlinds skins.
  2. There are thousands of free WindowBlinds skins to choose from.
  3. Improves performance of the Windows GUI due to optimizations it makes to Windows drawing routines
  4. Uses very little memory
  5. Easy and safe to use. Does not modify any system files. Can be turned off with a single click at any time.
  6. Gives Windows XP users the ability to have per-pixel alpha blending, gives Windows Vista/7 users the ability to skin the native  glass (Aero) look and feel.
  7. Users can assign mouse actions to roll-up windows, minimize to tray and many other options.
  8. Supports animated title bars, start menus, and much more.
  9. Can skin even “non-theme aware” programs meaning even older programs that look like old Windows will get skinned natively.
  10. Microsoft certified. Used by millions of users worldwide and by major PC manufactures such as Dell and HP.

Screenshots in action

 

clip_image002[18]
WindowBlinds can skin virtually every part of the Windows GUI.

 

clip_image002[16]
Windows 7 gets a retro-look with this Windows XP skin

 

image_4[1] 
Like the native Windows Vista/Windows 7 look and would just like to spice it up? WindowBlinds 7 can skin Aero itself.

image_18[1]
Skinners can customize as much or as little as they want and share their creations with the world

Impulse Weekly Roundup - November 13th

Friday, November 13, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

Happy Friday to everyone out there, and welcome to another edition of the Impulse Weekly Roundup.  It goes without saying that this was another busy week, with a bunch of updates coming out this week!

Articles to check out:

New Releases on Impulse:

Updates on Impulse:


This weeks Impulse Weekend Buys!


$14.99

$11.25

$12.99

$12.50

$14.95

$7.49



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