Entries tagged with customization - Channel 10

More DreamScenes For Vista Users

sarahintampa — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:29:00 GMT

If you’re running Windows Vista Ultimate, then you know about Windows DreamScene, the feature in Vista which lets you set an animated background as your desktop wallpaper. I ran DreamScenes at first because they were something new to try, but after a while I returned to plain old wallpaper. The problem wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the DreamScenese themselves… it’s just that I get bored with my desktop and like to change the background frequently. After going through all the included Dreamscenes a few times, I switched back to wallpaper to keep it interesting.

However, during a recent visit to the deviantART website it occurred to me to search for DreamScenes there. I don’t know why I didn’t think to do this before! As it turned out, there were several new DreamScenes available for me to try, including this nifty glowing white Windows logo on a black background, which I’m running right now:

I also found a colorful variation on that theme here:

Some glowing cosmic lights:

A blue and yellow lit-up design:

And even a Leopard-esque light show:

These should keep me busy for at least a few more months!

Add “I’m a PC” To Your Windows Live Messenger

sarahintampa — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:28:00 GMT

Are you a PC, too? If so, you can now show your PC pride by downloading the new Theme Pack for Windows Live Messenger which features an array of icons from the new commercials, including the guy who plays the PC and various slogans like “I’m a PC” and “I’m a PC and a human being.” (I stuck with the simple “I’m a PC” myself.)

The pack also comes with new Messenger backgrounds, too, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the default background, blue with “I’m a PC” written in fading white text across it. Then again, I’m not a fan of any Messenger background come to think of it. If you want to adjust your background, too, just open a conversation window then go to Tools –> Backgrounds from the menu there. Remember, you won’t see this menu unless you’re in the conversation window itself.

I was going to set my background back to “none,” but then I saw the white background with math equations in light blue which also came with the theme pack. Hmm, I might consider that one since it’s very light in color which I like as it makes conversations easier to read.

If you want the new Messenger pack, you have to be signed into Messenger first. Then open IE and click here. The pack will then automatically install.

PageRage Dresses Up Your Facebook Profile

sarahintampa — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:08:00 GMT

I’m not sure why you would want this, but a new app called PageRage will let dress up your Facebook profile so it looks more like a profile found on MySpace instead. (Yikes!) That’s too bad because one of the nicest things about Facebook is it’s clean and simple look and feel, without the busy backgrounds and image-heavy designs that are so prevalent throughout MySpace.

With the new Facebook app PageRage, you now can customize your Facebook profile with new themes that change both the background and the color schemes of your Facebook profile page. Some of these themes are basic, solid backgrounds, but others are quite busy.

Before you freak out and think this is the end for Facebook, take comfort in the fact that you can only see the new themed profiles if you have the PageRage application installed yourself. If you don’t want to see themes, just don’t install it.

The app works via a browser plugin which uses something called Yontoo Layers. Yontoo Layers create a virtual layer over your browser window. I’m not sure entirely how that all works, but it sounds a lot like what the Firefox extension Stylish offers.

I know. Facebook themes, ick. I definitely won’t be…oh wait…is that a pink one? Awesome.

Discovering Great XP and Vista Themes

sarahintampa — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:57:00 GMT

I was recently stumbled across a link to this XP Zune theme when searching for ways to jazz up my older laptop. I had forgotten, but I used to really love this theme! The theme was sort of a take off on the also awesome “lost” XP theme - Royale Noir, but with a few tweaks. It’s sort of funny to look at this today, nearly two years later, as I’m running Vista. I still have a very similar color scheme going on now – a dark taskbar and Start Menu and a simple background that shows off my widgets and icons (I guess I’m not much for desktop cleanliness after all). The only variation is that I have blue/greenish windows now. Of course, this led me down the path of looking for a way to customize Vista's themes even more. I know Stardock has professional software to do so, but what about a simple free theme? I ended up here where I discovered a whole slew of themes, skins, and wallpapers for Vista, including the sleek and simple Chocolate Theme (pictured). Nice!

No More Boring Wallpaper!

sarahintampa — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:18:00 GMT

If you're like me, you're constantly changing your background, perusing through a folder filled with potential wallpapers and then selecting a new one only to find, an hour later, that you want to change it again. (Or maybe I'm just a bit too into customization!)

For customizers like myself, there's some great free software called John's Background Switcher, which will automatically change your wallpaper on whatever schedule you desire (yes, even every hour!).

You can choose to have the pictures come from a folder on your computer like "My Pictures," a set of individual photos, or even from the web via photo-sharing sites like flickr, Phanfare, smugmug, picasa, or even Yahoo image search!

Of course, you can also fine-tune the settings as much as you want - specifying whether images should be full-screened, tiles, montages, always in sephia tones, etc. If there's a setting you don't see, the software's creator even invites you to tell me what you want via his contact form.

The software is available for free (donations accepted) and works on all versions of Windows - 93-Vista (but did not state if it works on 64-bit or not). The download link is here.

(image via John's site)