StarDock WindowBlinds
Give Your Windows Interface An Extreme Makeover
More Than One Way to Skin a Computer
Let's face it, unless you're playing the latest first-person shooter, spending long periods of time in front of your computer can get pretty monotonous. One way people try to spruce things up a bit is by customizing their PC's background wallpaper, screensaver, or desktop color scheme, but a better way to keep things fresh is by using StarDock's WindowBlinds, a handy utility with the ability to completely alter the Windows user interface.
By letting you apply different "skins" to the Windows UI, WindowBlinds lets you alter not just a handful of visual characteristics but also virtually every facet of the operating system and application appearance. This can include everything from the Start button to dialog boxes and backgrounds, logon and logoff screens, animations (i.e. file copy), and even graphic elements within applications like the scrollbars and title bar (including its minimize, maximize, and restore buttons). Some skins (though relatively few) even offer sound effects and wallpaper images.
Utilities like this that tweak and twist Windows' display fundamentals have a well-earned reputation for being excellent tools to destabilize your system, but WindowBlinds has the advantage of having gone through Microsoft's application compatibility testing process, and the utility has earned Microsoft's "Designed for Windows" logo. According to StarDock, WindowBlinds doesn't modify or replace any system files or DLLs, and the company says the utility consumes fewer system resources than Windows' built-in style engine, which is used for the desktop Themes feature of Microsoft Plus.
More Than One Way to Skin a Computer
A variety of Windows skins are included when you install WindowBlinds, and you can quickly find and easily download your choice of over 2,000 additional skins at Stardock's http://www.wincustomize.com site. New skins are automatically placed in the appropriate folder, and you can always load the skin you just downloaded by clicking a message balloon that pops up from the Windows tray.
Apart from the obvious visual differences, many skins also change the default operation of the application title bar controls. For example, some skins add a button to "roll up" an application window to its title bar, mimicking MacOS behavior. Many skins let you accomplish the same thing by right-clicking anywhere on the menu bar.
All these skins come from numerous sources they're either created by StarDock, third-party companies (mostly design firms), or even individuals, and like any artistic product, their aesthetic and functional value can vary widely. Some of the skins bear recognizable themes from television or cinema (such as Star Trek or Terminator 3) or even other operating systems (you can choose skins that make Windows look like a Mac running OS X, for example) but most are seemingly inspired simply by the author's imagination. (Many can only be described as psychedelic.)
There are so many skins to choose from that there's bound to be something for almost everyone, but in the unlikely event that the available choices fail to inspire, you can use a free authoring tool called SkinStudio that's packaged with WindowBlinds to design your own skin or retool an existing one.
Interface and Customization Options
You can browse and preview the available skins through WindowBlinds "My Skins" interface. (The skins are also accessible from the standard Appearance tab found in the Windows Display Properties dialog.) You also have the option to organize your skins by category and apply a filter to limit the skins that will be displayed. Users with large numbers of skins will likely still find locating particular ones cumbersome, though, as you can't easily search for skins in a single category (other than to filter out all categories but one) and the list only displays four skins at a time.
Considering that WindowBlinds lets you replace the entirety of the Windows UI, discussing the utility's customization options would seem to be a redundant concept. Nevertheless, your choices don't end once you decide on a skin. For example, if you don't like a certain aspect of a skin you've chosen, you can usually suppress that particular characteristic. WindowBlinds also lets you override the default toolbar icons or animations of the skin you're using and substitute those items from another one. You can even choose to use different skins with different applications.
Speaking of applications, there is occasionally the possibility that certain applications (particularly those that draw the interface in a non-standard manner) may not function correctly when skinned. If and when this happens you have two choices; you can exclude that application (and any others that are causing problems) from being skinned, or you can apply a "basic" skin that should reduce the likelihood of compatibility problems.
A Few Quirks
In our tests with WindowBlinds, we found the utility didn't cause any significant operating system or application issues, but it did sometimes exhibit a few mildly annoying idiosyncrasies. For example, when switching from a skin that featured wallpaper to one that didn't include it, the prior skin's wallpaper would be retained. While this can possibly be considered normal behavior, it often results in an incongruous-looking desktop and can require you to take the extra step of changing the background.
There were also a few instances where attempts to substitute a particular toolbar or animation didn't take effect until the next time the skin was changed, even though they should have done so immediately. Finally, on a couple of occasions certain application windows would appear to freeze and take an inordinately long time (more than 10 seconds) to redraw.
Pricing and Availability
WindowBlinds costs $19.99 and works with Windows 98, Me, 2000, and XP. You can download a free unlimited-use trial of the utility, but the free version only works with 2000/XP and it offers a limited subset of the capabilities of registered version. (For example, it doesn't permit you to tweak the color of skins or modify command prompt dialogs, scrollbars, or progress animations.) WindowBlinds is also included with StarDock's $49.95 ObjectDesktop suite, which includes a host of other utilities that let you modify your Windows operating environment.
If you've grown weary of the look and feel of Windows, WindowBlinds gives you the means to easily and reliably change it, and with so many skins available you can do so as often as you change clothes. It's a good cure for the desktop doldrums.
Pros: Offers thousands of unique skins to personalize your Windows UI, SkinStudio tool for creating your own skins from scratch
Cons: Weak search capabilities makes finding particular skins difficult, especially after you've amassed a large collection
