Stardock released an update for Groupy 2 that delivers new functionality and we also released the application on Steam today. 

With this release, Groupy is adds a couple of enhancements that will further refine the experience. You can find the full changelog here but one update worth highlighting is that you can now easily re-open accidentally closed File Explorer tabs within Groupy.

If you accidentally close a tab, you can click the down arrow at the end of the Groupy tab bar, highlight “reopen closed tab” and then select the tab that was previously closed to open it back up into its previous state.

Along with this new feature, there is a new option for Explorer windows - if it should open in the current frame or a new one. And under advanced tab options, you can turn off the down arrow in the Groupy bar as well.

With this release, we also squashed a bunch of bugs. If you run into any issues with this build, make sure to check out our support documentation or you can join the conversation in our forums.

Get Groupy on Steam  |  Get Groupy on Stardock

If you would like to try Groupy out, you can download a free trial on the app page and if you are looking for the greatest value and access to our best apps, check out Object Desktop.

I've been a member of WinCustomize since about 2003. I mostly lurked the forums and downloaded skins for a while, and then started to participate in a community which I viewed as awesome (and still is). I really enjoyed downloading all the various skins and watching how the community worked. It was all just fun and that got me inspired to start creating some things, which just furthered my enjoyment of the site and community. 

After a few years I was asked to be a mod and eventually that led to a job offer from Brad which I have happily been at for over 15 years. I've been a part of so many great projects on both the software and games side, I probably couldn't remember them all. I do know they all involved a bunch of great people of whom I've made long-time friends with. The same can be said for the WinCustomize community. I've made a ton of friendships with so many in the community and have even met some in-person. I can go on and on, but the short version is WinCustomize has a fantastic community made up of great people, and I'm happy that I have been a part of that for so long.

So why am I leaving? Well, a dream that I've had since high school was to be in law enforcement. I won't age myself too much, but I'm at the point where I'm still young enough to pursue something and it was time for a change. So, I took a chance and applied, and after nearly a year of recruiting I have accepted a position with a Sheriff's Office here in Florida. I'm sad to be leaving Stardock, but excited for what the next adventure will bring. I will still be part of the community, and you'll definitely see me around the forums.

Thanks for being an awesome community!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to our amazing community! We hope you have a great holiday season and a wonderful new year! 

Thank you for being part of our great community!

It's been quite a while since we've mentioned promotions here in the forums, though a few people have been quietly promoted over the years. As some of you may know (more on this in another post soon), this will be my last month at WinCustomize so I wanted to get a few members promoted to Journeyman. These members deserve recognition for their time to create and upload skins and themes here, and for their contributions to the forums and community.

Let's say a big congrats to the following members:

Cyberslober

Dcrew57

Halo296

JoeyW8

JanOscar

We appreciate your contributions to the site!

Christmas is approaching fast, and I hope you are looking forward to a fun and festive holiday season! Animated wallpapers for DeskScapes is a fantastic way to add some holiday decoration to your desktop. Whether it's Christmas trees, Holiday lights, or a beautiful winter scene, we have a variety of wallpapers for you to check out.

Here are some of our favorite holiday animated wallpapers!

Here Comes Santa

Christmas Winter Window

Christmas Tree

Desktop Xmas Lights

Stardock Releases Fences 4 with Peek,
Support for Windows 10 and 11  
Get it Now

Stardock released Fences 4, an app that allows users to automatically organize shortcuts and icons on their PC desktops into custom-sized spaces called fences. Building upon previous versions of Fences that are used by millions of users of Microsoft Windows®, Fences 4 introduces new features that will streamline workflows while keeping desktops organized. 

New in Fences 4 is Peek, a feature that lets users instantly view their fences by pressing Windows key + space, making accessing content significantly faster. For example, while working in a program like Adobe’s Premiere or Photoshop, users can bring a folder portal filled with their source footage and images to the surface of their desktop by pressing the configurable hotkey. This eliminates the need to minimize the application and go searching for the required asset in File Explorer. 

Also new in Fences 4 is the Desktop Display feature. The Windows key + D hotkey can be configured to be either toggle or press-and-hold to streamline your workflow for accessing content on your desktop.  

"Fences 4 is designed to deliver a modern desktop experience," said Brad Sams, Vice President and General Manager of Stardock Software. "Fences is the best way to organize your desktop, and the new “Peek” feature makes it possible to access all of your Fences content at any time and within any application. Your workflow will never be the same.” 

Along with its new features, Fences 4 has been optimized so that it loads before the desktop when a PC is booted up, making it not only more functional, but also more performant.

Fences 4 is available for $9.99 or through Stardock's Object Desktop.
For more information, visit the Fences 4 website here. 

It's crazy to think that we're already at the end of 2021! At least we have the Christmas and Winter holidays to celebrate while we wait for the new year to approach. As always, a new month means we have a new desktop screenshot thread in the forums so our awesome community members can show off their desktops.

Let us know what skins and themes you are using, especially if you have a holiday themed desktop!

Post your desktops to the monthly thread here: https://forums.wincustomize.com/508626/

(This is a news thread and will be locked. Screenshot taken by don5318)

We hope everyone had a fun and festive Thanksgiving, and now that November is winding down it's time to focus on our Christmas desktops! Christmas is always a fun time for skinning as we have such a wide variety of themes to choose from here on WinCustomize. Some of my favorites for the season is animated wallpapers for DeskScapes. It's always relaxing to have a nice scene of animated Christmas trees on the desktop, and we have plenty of holiday scenes to choose from.

Here are a few of our favorites to get your holiday desktop started. Be sure to post in the comments what your favorite Christmas themes are so we can feature them throughout December.

Xmas Holiday by don5318 (WindowBlinds)

Christmas Tree (DeskScapes animated wallpaper)

Christmas Holidays V.2 (WindowBlinds)

Christmas Lights (Desktop Gadget)

Santa Claus (CursorFX)

Gingerbreads Playing in Snow (Wallpaper)

The Thanksgiving holiday is this week for many of us in the community. We wanted to take a moment and send out a big thank you to our community and to send a big Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who is celebrating this week with family and friends. We appreciate everyone in our various Stardock communities, and we hope you have a great holiday!

Do you have any plans for this week or the weekend? Are you cooking anything good? Let us know in the comments!

We're halfway through November and the galleries are getting a nice stream of uploads over the past couple of weeks. There's lots to look at but today I just wanted to take a moment and feature some of the fantastic desktop wallpapers in the gallery.

You can check out all the latest desktop wallpapers here, and in the DeskScapes app.

The Surfing Whale

Teleported to Metaverse

Space Station

Climbing Up the Walls Blu