Desktop Thread, 30" monitors hoooo!

contraband

Desktop Thread, dudes

Before, the OP's had lacked information in these threads. Here's some stuff that you might find helpful, interesting, whatever. Check here first for whatever you're going to ask regarding desktop information before you ask it.

we should make it a rule that all desktop posts have to include the names of your skins and icons as well a link to a clean version of your wallpaper.
AND SO IT WAS

how do i taek pic/


(thank you for putting it so eloquently, PYD)

Where are you guys getting all your wallpapers?

the great penny arcade wallpaper depository
ultimately, I'd like to remove this wallpaper section entirely and just have the wallpaper dropoff linked, so if anyone just happens to have these wallpapers saved and wouldn't mind uploading them, that would be completely and totally awesome

Dìrhael wrote:

Ok guys, I just opened up a new PA wallpaper dump. I've tried to categorise it somewhat, but as I'm sure I've missed a lot of them (hey, it's late over here) let me know if we need more. Registration is now required, due to the result of the other site, so at least it should be a lot easier to clean out the trash so to speak. I'm hosting this from my own PC, but with 26MB upspeed I think there should be more then enough bandwidth to go around. To get started, I've upped around 240 wallpapers myself so far, so it's not completely empty

Anyway, here's the link:

PA WALLPAPER DUMP

(has a NSFW catagory)


Clean versions of previously requested walls:
red thing(1600x1200)
(from here)
some star wars thing (1024x768)
girl standing there(1280x1024)
neotokyo (1280x1024)
aleins...someting something(1180x745)
arrested development
dwight sin city(1024x768)
venture bros skull woo (1600x1200)
sin city'd fallout(1280x1024)
alba hotness(1280x960)
LASERS(1024x819)
swords/butt(1280x1024
"the beach" desk(lots of sizes, very nice)
mario!(1280x1024)
no drugs or nukes(1024x768)
flying hearts circles(1024x768)
sin city comic page(557x864)
I don't know, there's some blood and stuff(1024x768)
samurai champloo swords(1280x960)
happy faces(1600x1200)
ninja turtles(1024x768)
"energy" (1600x1200) from deviantart
minimalistic, hot babe nsfw (1027x768)
starwars last supper(1280x1024)
zelda(1024x768)
okami walls, 1, 2, and 3
random tech lookin' thing(1024x768)
elements(1680x1050)
uh, wierd trees?(1280x1024)
speakers(1600x1200)
girl(1280x1024)
lay of the land(1280x1024
headphones (and teh scarlet johansson)(1280x1024)
metal slug(1280x1024)
flcl desk(1280x1024)
black and white girl(1280x1024)
transformers(1024x780)
fisherman(1280x1024)
snk(1024x768)
system shock(2550x1669)
conan o'brian intro(1280x1024)
"cloudburst"(1280x1024)
"daylight" wallpaper pack(one of those prettier, fancier versions of classic 'bliss' in xp
mark it zero (2000x1500) - also in 1600x1200, 1280x1024, 1280x960, 1152x864, 1024x768 - resized thanks to FancyPants

FancyPants wrote:

In case you're wondering how I got the file sizes down so far, it's basically because PNG does a bang-up job with 8-bit compression. For these images, it was cutting between 10%-15% off GIF file sizes.

maximumzero wrote:

I guess I'll share a random few of the wallpapers I've made/put together recently.









There may be a few older ones hiding on my HD I'lll have to dig up later...I dunno, maybe someone here will like these...

toxk_02 wrote:

This was posted a couple of "Desktop Thread"s ago but is still one of my favorites. Unfortunately I don't recall the source other than being from deviantART. If anyone recalls the artist we should throw up some props.


EDIT: Or, it could say "Quantsini" right on the image...

contraband wrote:

'willow' is actually not a part of the organic set... although it does look very similar. I can't find the deviantart link, but I think it was inspired by them. here is the full version:



I cropped it for 1280x1024, though. Here:

Azrael wrote:

Hellsing wallpaper I made with an art card out of the DVDs.

*******Links to wallpaper websites (like deviantART) in the 'Links' section down below






How do I use custom visual styles?
From the get-go, Windows does not let you use unsigned, "custom" visual styles. This means you'll be stuck with the default Blue, Silver, or Olive color schemes unless you change something - don't worry, it's quick and painless.

Go HERE , it should explain everything. Takes 2 seconds, and a reboot.
But wait, that link isn't working. Try HERE for the file, if the previous link doesn't work. Thanks to Morcalavin for the link.

Popular Visual Styles:
opus OS 1.5
milky tiger
royal inspirat SE
reluna
infini8 modern age
black mesa
inspirat
inspirat SE (here is the firefox theme to match)
proLCD
sustenance
advance
Longhorn 4074 for XP
prominence pro
darkbar XP - better version 2.0 over here









Various Links for various services:

sysmetrix(some little widget dealy)
objectdock(an objectdock, like on osx)
digital blasphemy(wallpapers)
game maps(for wallpapers)
more game maps etc.(wallpapers)
astonshell(shell something something, apparently pretty good for lower resolutions)
pixelgirl presents(wallpapers and etc.)
a nice tutorial(to make your desktop purdy)
various customizing stuff
kandi(some wallpapers here, I guess)
an incon pack(yup)
biodesks (wallpapers)
ultradesks(wallpapers)
Blatte's(wallpapers)
the desktop(wallpapers)
5 2 1 designs have some visual styles, wallpaper, etc
xpowertoys(tweakUI can be found here, good stuff)
resource hacker(it's a resource hacker)
shell icon list
free launch bar
icon packager
rainlender(calendar/todo list. Skins can be found at customize.org)
avedesk(popular for big 'ole icons and avedesk)
SysStats (megadocklet/'plugin' for AveDesk, does a bunch of cool stuff, docklets specifically for sysstats in the link below vvv
DockEx has a bunch of docklets for sysstats, as well as some other stuff (mainly sysstats though)
konfabulator, and it's widgets(pretty good widget program)
IconTweaker icon replacer program, changes individual icon classes as opposed to all of your icons at one, like IconPackager. Doesn't have every icon class imaginable, but I really like it.
www.pixelgirlpresents.com(a dedicated wallpaper gallery, all kinds of styles and reolutions)
www.deviantart.com(a general art gallery website. has a nice wallpaper section)
neowin forums are a great resource, and they're pretty helpful. They have plenty of various guides on there, just take a look around. Srsly.
Osx-e.com is a dedicated windows->mac conversion site. And here are OSX Panther's entire icon library, over 1,000 PNG's. And here they are in Windows-ready .ico format, if you're so inclined. the windows icons naturally don't look as good as the mac .png's, but they work.
litestep total shell replacement
goodbrush (a bunch of hi-res images. not formatted specificallly for wallpapers, but they work)
greg martin's site has a bunch of really cool space wallpapers (at the time of this writing, they're not hosted because his bandwith was hit too hard, they were too awesome. soon, he'll be rotating them daily, one at a time, to save bandwith. he say's they're available all over the net, though. try googling 'greg martin' or something, they were really cool if you're into dark space-type deals.
InterfaceLIFT has a ginormous amount of awesome wallpapers/icons/themes, many resolutions, great site
AquaSoft is a big forum based community that is customizing almost everything, check them out
desktopgaming bunch of cool gaming wallpapers.
http://www.mandolux.com/ has a bunch of hi-res artsy wallpapers (click 'archives')
http://tokyoyakei.cool.ne.jp/ has a bunch of 1024x768 shots of japanese cities at night; very cool++

Dunbar wrote:

I give you: TEH LIST
(In no order other than the order I remembered these)

www.customize.org -msstyles, litestep, icons, wallpapers, THE place to see the bleeding edge of windows customizing
www.4impressions.net -wallpapers, icons, msstyles, the kings of minimalism
www.wincustomize.com -windowblinds(contra edit: I personally don't like windowblinds, but some people say it's faster. whatever; i'd reccommend the uxtheme.dll route first.), other stardock crap
www.pixelgirlpresents.com -wallpapers, icons
www.aqua-soft.org -avedesk, a little bit of everything, but mostly mac themed
http://www.aero-soft.com/ -like aqua-soft, but with longhorn
www.deviantart.com -two of every animal, if you're willing to wade through shitty poetry
wint.virtualplastic.net -tutorials on hacking and customizing windows, not for the feint of heart
http://www.miranda-im.org/ -rough around the corners but oh so pretty, check out the new release of Miranda IM
http://beyondconvention.net/ohussain/lsinstaller/ -if you want litestep, start here
http://nonstep.litestep.com/ -the famous, the flexible, the useful, the Non|Step
http://bb4win.sourceforge.net/bblean/ -bblean, blackbox for the masses

I'm sure I'm missing something, but those are the really big names in the customizing community, and should keep you busy for quite a long time

system icons

gotcha force's icon pack, for all your gaming needs
gotcha force's icon pack, for all your application needs
gigglio put a .rar of the 'agua'-style icons up, they're nice general icons

winamp skins:

Spririt by StefaKa
figaro tower skin, made by Telemachus
clearONE beta
clearONE beta classic

contraband

I can't get this fancy stuff to work
(or cool things that you might not know about)

(some of these FAQs deal with applications that might have been updated/discontinued; and they therefor might not be accurate anymore. if this is the case, please PM me about it)


miranda customization: (editor's note: customizing miranda can be fucking confusing. It is very complicated to configure and I beleive it's AIM protocol is just buggy software. However, it's the only IM-client that looks so sexy, and some people choose form over function. like me. If you get past the headaches, it will grace your desktop with it's beauty. good for you, now never adjust it again. you might not be able to get it pretty again. just a warning)

weddellkw wrote:

A quick explanation of clist_nicer and tweakui for MirandaIM as I have come to understand it.

This should get you something similar to this:


Install both plugins. -Obviously
In your Options Window, Open Contact List -> List Background+
Under Contactlist Items -> Select "Offline" through "Out to lunch"
Set your desired background color -> Color 1 and Transparent
Set Textcolor and Alpha. Mine is currently at 50%.

Select "Expanded Group" through "Empty Group" *Group Title Settings*
Set to transparent and 0% alpha.

*This is where I got thrown off for a while*
Set "First Contact of a Group" to 'Round Corners', w/ top-left and right selected.
Set to Transparent and 0% alpha.
"Single Item" should be rounded on all corners, 0" alpha.
"Last Contact" should be bottom-right/left and 0% alpha.

**Setting these options w/ an alpha higher than 0% causes the first and last contacts in each group to be a different color than the remaining contacts. Foolishness, but I'm in no position to rewrite the plugin, so I won't complain too much**

Be sure and select the "Automatically fill background w/ wallpaper" option at the bottom.

Once you have an idea of what's happening w/ each option, it's pretty easy to get the results you want.

Use the tweakUI plugin to turn off the border, and disable translucency.

-dub
"Long-haired freaky people need not apply."

miranda customization two:

theclothes wrote:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=292458&st=0&p=585563488&#entry585563488

handy little guide

links in there

edit: oh, clist_nicer isn't, nor tweakui :?, whatever

http://files.miranda-im.org/testing/archive/clist_nicer.zip

http://www.volumna.com.br/pessoal/angelo/TweakUI.zip

cleartype - make your fonts look better, smoother, etc, in Windows. might have crappifying effects on small fonts

oxford wrote:

Come on, people. I haven't seen anyone who has ClearType on so far.

Step-by-step cleartype font smoothing:







And now your desktop will look 100% better.

avetunes

oxford wrote:

OK

First, download this: http://mpj.tomaatnet.nl/AveDesk12.zip
Install it, and download this file: http://mpj.tomaatnet.nl/AveTunes.aveinst
Open AveDesk control panel, and drag the AveTunes.aveinst into the window, and it should install itself.

And the skin is here: http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=23929
you can find plugins and more skins here: http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/forumdisplay.php?f=75

Pro-Tip: for people who haven't already, TURN ON CLEARTYPE

itunes/avetunes again

oxford wrote:

ATTN Mac Themed Windows Users

Want your iTunes to look like this?



Then, download this: [link]

[mirror]

(may not work on iTunes 4.8 in some cases, but works fine for me)



Also, to answer a few questions, "7AM" is an avetunes skin I posted a while back, I posted some instructions a couple pages back, but it'd be too difficult to dig through pages to get to it.

First of all you'll need AveDesk.

[link]

You'll also need AveTunes, which is what controls iTunes for you.

[link]

Once you've got AveDesk up and running, drag the .aveinst file (or double-click it) onto the AveDesk control panel. That installs it. Now, add the desklet (it comes with a tiger-like dashboard contoller)

Now, download / install the 7AM avetunes skin (drag onto control panel or double-click, whatever works)

[link]



-oxford

a how-to-make-my-desktop-pretty that touches on pretty much every aspect of desktop pretty-ing

Dìrhael wrote:

- Wallpaper (from http://www.pixelgirlpresents.com ): Crisp Spring Holes
- Icons/Shellpack: Pastels Shell Pack
--Batchmod (+reshacker & replacer. Used to extract the icons etc. from the above shellpack & insert them into the latest versions of the Windows system files): http://cbw-clan.de/files/BATCHMOD.rar
- Several system file hacks from: http://wint.virtualplastic.net/
- Visual style: HmmXP Visual style
- WinAMP skin: GreenDream
- System monitors are created in Samurize + PSP9 . They're not available for download, seeing as I made them myself but they're quite easy to create yourself
+++ Some other tweaks here and there..

Happy tweaking

blending icons into your wallpaper

Andorien wrote:

I bring you:

Andorien's blended Icons Tutorial

Alright, first thing you gotta do is open up the control panel. There should be an icon in your taskbar to do this, like so:




Next, add a new Desklet.




We'll be using the Shortcut Desklet for this one, but you could feasibly do this with any of them. Just hit Add Item to stick a new on on the desktop.




This should create a new, unnamed desklet on the desktop. Right click it, and go to Desklet Properties.




Next, choose the program you want the shortcut to link you to, like so:




Now, we need to change the image so that it blends in with your desktop. First, you need to actually make the image. The way I've done it here, is I took a slice of the background image and prepared it as a .png, though I suppose you could just make an icon that's all just a transparent background, though I haven't tried it yet. Once you have the image, click Set Image, and that should let you choose which picture to use.




You'll notice that it looks like shit. It's not been set to the proper size, so you gotta do that yourself at this menu.




Once you size it, it should look fine, like so,




After that, it's just a matter of moving it to the correct position on your desktop.




If you don't want the label sticking out there, you can change it like this:




And that should be it! Feel free to ask any questions. I would like to thank ImageShack's Quickload program (which allows me to upload to them by right clicking on the image), without which this would have been extremely painful.

skinning a mac:

Shazkar Shadowstorm wrote:

043 wrote:

Shapeshifter has a trial, but has pretty nice OS X "skins".

I posted this in another thread 043, but ThemeChanger is a good alternative to ShapeShifter because it's FREE! We love free don't we.

Some information: ShapeShifter uses GuiKit files which are found all over the internet, and a lot of people make new skins in this file type.

Themchanger uses .dlta files, of which there are less on the internet...

BUT (there's always a but): Click here for a tutorial on to convert GuiKit into .dlta files (it's reaaaally easy). Then you can use a whole lot of themes for your mac.

Example!

<--Click!
My desktop using Kamino 1.1 which I converted from a Guikit file into a .dlta file. (I used 1.1 instead of 2.0 because 2.0 is for Tiger, but there are many themes out there.)

XP performance tweaking

Monaro wrote:

There's a place called www.tweakhound.com that has a guide to tweaking XP. I followed a variant of that guide, which helps reduce the performance hit some of this stuff has on your PC. He has all the visual crap turned off, but if you ignore that and stick to the service/hardware tweaks, it reduces some of the slowdown some of the fancy stuff can cause on some PCs.

XP performance tweaking again

Atro wrote:

Another really good tweak guide is http://www.tweakguides.com/XPTC.html its ~150 page PDF (recently made) I haven't actually used it yet as I am saving it for the new computer I am going to be putting together soon but I've read through it and it looks like mostly good stuff.

(I do disagree with some of his choices for software though. I prefer AntiVir over the anti virus he suggest for instance)

Guides that are new to the thread. hooray!

custom icons

Dìrhael wrote:

There are no such tool supplied with Windows, but here are a few alternatives:

• Iconphile - Small and free tool for replacing your icons. Works very well, but there aren't really many themes available for it so you'll have to do everything manually. Still, if you ask someone which already have a scheme you like, they could just download Iconphile, and just export their current icons as a single file package & upload to the web. Other than that, it's a powerful & easy-to-use tool.
• Iconpackager - Probably the most popular icon replacer available. It's not free, but I'd say it's well worth the money. There are tons for pre-compiled icons available on the web (two large ones: here and here). Very easy to use, and recommended for users of all experience-levels. You'll find a fully functional 30-day trial version on Stardocks website.
• TuneUp Utilities 2006 - Ok, this is a bit different. It's basically a complete system tuner packager, but it also comes with its own tool for replacing icons (along with a few other things as well), called TuneUp Styler. It's very easy to use, and if not for the fact that there are far less themes available for it compared to Stardock's Iconpackager, it's be the only one I'd use. It's not free, but when considering all the things you get in the complete system tuneup utilities, I think it's well worth it. There's a fully functional trial version available at their website.
• Icontweaker - Another freeware alternative. Similar to all the other ones listed here, but it's easy to use & as mentioned--free. The drawback is the same as for Iconphile &TuneUp Styler in that there just aren't that many theme packages available. One fact that I really liked about this application is that it not only displays the current icon you've set for an item, but also the Windows default. While this might not sound like much, I found that it made things a bit more intuitive. Worth mentioning as well is the fact that this program and Iconphile seems to be a bit faster in applying icons compared to the others even if it's just a matter of a few seconds.

Hope that helps you out a bit!

new miranda release!

DigDug2000 wrote:

Hey, thought I'd give a hollar that Miranda IM 0.5 has been released. Bascially with support for Unicode and Aim-Oscar now built in. I know its a huge fiasco everytime people try to switch to Miranda, so don't do it unless you've got a little time, but you can get some pretty results from a really small program.

I still don't understand something. help!

Dunbar is a super cool dude, and he has voulunteered to help people one-on-one with desktop customization via PM; especially regarding litestep and reshacking.





major kudos to theclothes for gathering 99% of the armada of links and info you see here, and to the various authors for whatever it was they wrote

I'll be perusing this thread often, so post/PM me if you think I should add something.

contraband

cleared by accault, etc etc.

have at thee, knaves!

Lehman

Ill be the first to ask a question. After installing SP2 none of my themes will work (even the default XP theme) so I am stuck with the ugly ass gray bar. Anyone run into this problem and know a fix? I would just uninstall Service Pack 2 but it is needed for me to use my Zune software.

Six

Lehman wrote:

Ill be the first to ask a question. After installing SP2 none of my themes will work (even the default XP theme) so I am stuck with the ugly ass gray bar. Anyone run into this problem and know a fix?

Make sure the themes service is running.

Lehman

SixkillerNYC wrote:

Lehman wrote:

Ill be the first to ask a question. After installing SP2 none of my themes will work (even the default XP theme) so I am stuck with the ugly ass gray bar. Anyone run into this problem and know a fix?

Make sure the themes service is running.

Just checked in services.msc and Themes are running and startup is set to Automatic so that is not the problem but thanks though.

Error Message when trying to select a theme:

An exception occured while trying to run c:\windows\system32\shell32.dll,Control _Rundll "C:\windows\system32\desk.cpl", Display"

Hopefully that will help someone figure out the problem.

JellyMeetsJam

clean


dirty but organized


Theme is unavailable, sorry. wallpaper is a modified version of this:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/42917015/

Icons are element suite

Vanilla Coke

Harbl

Kabe

BABOO

Kabe wrote:

[img][/img]

Just how does one get their icons like that (for specific drives and whatnot)?

Carl with a K

tidytrev

so is this the new desktop thread?

Carl with a K

no

JellyMeetsJam

definitely not

Adrenaline

I think the Foobar sexiness tutorial from the end of the last thread should be in the OP.

Dirtchamber

Okay, so, you know what? Before this thread gets properly underway, we should make it a rule that all desktop posts have to include the names of your skins and icons as well a link to a clean version of your wallpaper.

Andorien

BABOO wrote:

Kabe wrote:

[img][/img]

Just how does one get their icons like that (for specific drives and whatnot)?

They're Avedesk icons.

Andorien

Fodder

I'm interested in messing around with my desktop, but I had a few questions. I was going to install litestep (that is just a theme that would be easy to change back, right?) and the download page has all the download links going right back to the same page. Am I stupid or is there another place to get it?

J

I got my doodads reshacked. Messenger seemed to be the most problematic since there was like 4 diffirent files with the icons in them ._.

Also mucho thanks for the icons you linked me to last thread Andorien

Andorien

Exuberance wrote:

I'm interested in messing around with my desktop, but I had a few questions. I was going to install litestep (that is just a theme that would be easy to change back, right?) and the download page has all the download links going right back to the same page. Am I stupid or is there another place to get it?

Looks like you're a little mixed up there. Litestep is a shell replacement, for which you can get themes for (rather than a theme for windows). When your computer boots, it runs instead of Explorer.

That page you're at is for a certain (popular) theme for Litestep. I'm not sure why that download page just has a bunch of links going to the same place, as I've used Non-Step before and been able to download it fine.

Regardless, the first thing you gotta do is get litestep itself (you can get it here). Then you can grab a theme (or just stick with the default) either at litestep.net or somewhere else.

uberneko

J wrote:

I got my doodads reshacked. Messenger seemed to be the most problematic since there was like 4 diffirent files with the icons in them ._.

Also mucho thanks for the icons you linked me to last thread Andorien

Hey can you give a link to your background?

BABOO

Andorien wrote:

More WTF?ness

K, you have been posting in these threads for a while now and I can't remember you ever posting details on how you get yours so nice. So...let a brova know.

Source Please?

Darmak

I don't know why Photobucket resizes it but whatever.

Flesh Into Gear

I have another Okami wall to throw in

Andorien

BABOO wrote:

Andorien wrote:

More WTF?ness

K, you have been posting in these threads for a while now and I can't remember you ever posting details on how you get yours so nice. So...let a brova know.

Source Please?

Background can be found here.

I posted a tutorial to similar drive meters over at the wallpaper dump, you can find it here.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Akinos

delphinus

The Far Side wrote:

oh dude.
you have to post a clean version of that please

Andorien

Quick dirty image:

harvest

I disrespect H-Scroll:

Dyrwen66

Darmak wrote:

I don't know why Photobucket resizes it but whatever.

Flickr.com works rather well for non resizes.

I'd love to have the source on the cat-over-town picture on the right.

blizzard224

CLEAN:



DIRTY:

Lucky Cynic

Here we go guys, My current setup! You can get the black/orange XP theme from Zune.net.

clean...


dirty...


Close-up... (centered on black obviously)



Btw, anyone have any cool icons for games and such? Id really like to see a nice Firefox icon as well as a few others for games like Nwn2 and DoW.

Sushisource

delphinus wrote:

The Far Side wrote:

[im g]http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/5176/desktopmn6.jpg[/img]

oh dude.
you have to post a clean version of that please

SECON'D

ohnoitsmatt

harvest wrote:

I disrespect H-Scroll:

coolvs

What visual style is that?

Jollus

blizzard224 wrote:

CLEAN:IT'S NOT LUPUS[/img]

Could I get the original of that?

Andorien

Darkest_3|i+3 wrote:

Btw, anyone have any cool icons for games and such? Id really like to see a nice Firefox icon as well as a few others for games like Nwn2 and DoW.

PNG or ICO?

Lucky Cynic

Andorien wrote:

Darkest_3|i+3 wrote:

Btw, anyone have any cool icons for games and such? Id really like to see a nice Firefox icon as well as a few others for games like Nwn2 and DoW.

PNG or ICO?

Either or both.

Andorien

Darkest_3|i+3 wrote:

Andorien wrote:

Darkest_3|i+3 wrote:

Btw, anyone have any cool icons for games and such? Id really like to see a nice Firefox icon as well as a few others for games like Nwn2 and DoW.

PNG or ICO?

Either or both.

http://strife-online.net/Icons.zip

exit