Vista Tutorial - Good addons?

**DesoShade** · 07-14-2008

How about some cool Vista addons. You know. Sidebars. Toolbars. Nifty gadgets. Icons. Anybody know some good ones?

**smarteyeball** · 07-15-2008

Sidebar Styler

http://www.stoyanoff.info/blog/code/styler/

Stardocks Iconpackager which is good for easily changing icon sets.

http://www.stardock.com/products/iconpackager/

CursorFX can be used to change mouse cursors

http://www.stardock.com/products/cursorfx/

Rocketdock (free) or Objectdock (not free?) is a good Mac-like toolbar

http://rocketdock.com/

And if your feeling adventurous search for Vista Themes which will lead you to sites that have user created themes which replace Aero and do not use additional resources. Installing themes requires patching a few files, but it can be worth it.

Deviantart.com has some good stuff.

**johngalt** · 07-15-2008

ObjectDock has a free and a paid version....

**DesoShade** · 07-17-2008

Stardock is iffy with me. For one, they want you to pay and I'm a man who likes open source and free stuff! I've installed a few of the trial based stardock aps on XP and did no good to my system. Caused problems. Boot problems, lockups, eh.

Speaking of boot, what's up with that hell-awful vista boot screen anyway? I know you can change it to a no-gui boot and looks a bit better, but ew. That's terrible looking. I keep waiting for microsoft to release a patch to update the cruddy thing, but notta so far.

**johngalt** · 07-17-2008

I use No-GUI boot *and* OS information - so my boot always looks like I am booting into Safe Mode....

**DesoShade** · 07-29-2008

No gui boot. Yeah I use that but it still looks kinda plain. What happened to the days of Windows 95 when you could ad your change the logo files and make your own boot, log on and shutdown screens.

I remember there was so much you could do with that OS to tweak it. Could put web content on your desktop or an entire website if you wanted. That was cool. I would design my own html page with the links pointing to folders and parts of my computer and set it as my desktop and then hide all my icons. man that was cool.

**johngalt** · 07-29-2008

You can change your logo with Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software

If you have Vista Ultimate, both Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software and WinCustomize are free for making Desktop Dreams (I am working out a way to use older images from WWL, for example, to stitch them together to make an animated dream for Vista backgrounds to simulate animated images that I used to use as my desktop background in XP.

Stardock ObjectDock is free with

Quote:

The price is right: FREE! ObjectDock is absolutely free to use and will never nag you to upgrade with popups or interruptions. No arbitrary limitations or hassles that free programs with 'enhanced versions available' often have. We keep great pride in maintaining our high-quality free version as well as our exciting Plus version.

**AvatarOfTheShip** · 07-30-2008

You used to be able to change the boot screen by overwriting um, "C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui" I think, (you have to take ownership of the file first etc) but this no longer seems to work post-SP1

**DesoShade** · 08-01-2008

Sometimes I miss my Windows95.

Dream Scene looks nice, but I couldn't afford vista Ultimate. I had to go with Premium.

**chessian** · 08-01-2008

Quote: Originally Posted by smarteyeball

Sidebar Styler

Windows Sidebar Styler at Stanimir Stoyanov’s Blog

Stardocks Iconpackager which is good for easily changing icon sets.

Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software

CursorFX can be used to change mouse cursors

Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software

Rocketdock (free) or Objectdock (not free?) is a good Mac-like toolbar

RocketDock - About RocketDock

And if your feeling adventurous search for Vista Themes which will lead you to sites that have user created themes which replace Aero and do not use additional resources. Installing themes requires patching a few files, but it can be worth it.

Deviantart.com has some good stuff.

Nice links, thanks mate.

07-14-2008	#1 (permalink)
DesoShade Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Vista Prem 64 and XP Pro dual boot 29 posts	Good addons? How about some cool Vista addons. You know. Sidebars. Toolbars. Nifty gadgets. Icons. Anybody know some good ones?
My System Specs

07-15-2008	#2 (permalink)
smarteyeball Eye know, eye know Join Date: Oct 2007 Vista Ultimate SP2 x64 : Seven Ultimate x64 1,602 posts	Re: Good addons? Sidebar Styler http://www.stoyanoff.info/blog/code/styler/ Stardocks Iconpackager which is good for easily changing icon sets. http://www.stardock.com/products/iconpackager/ CursorFX can be used to change mouse cursors http://www.stardock.com/products/cursorfx/ Rocketdock (free) or Objectdock (not free?) is a good Mac-like toolbar http://rocketdock.com/ And if your feeling adventurous search for Vista Themes which will lead you to sites that have user created themes which replace Aero and do not use additional resources. Installing themes requires patching a few files, but it can be worth it. Deviantart.com has some good stuff. Last edited by smarteyeball; 07-15-2008 at 01:18 AM.. Reason: Links
My System Specs

07-15-2008	#3 (permalink)
johngalt Antidisestablishmentarian Join Date: May 2008 Vista Ultimate x64 MAK, OpenSolaris 5, Gentoo 2008.1.... 3,848 posts	Re: Good addons? ObjectDock has a free and a paid version....
My System Specs

07-17-2008	#4 (permalink)
DesoShade Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Vista Prem 64 and XP Pro dual boot 29 posts	Re: Good addons? Stardock is iffy with me. For one, they want you to pay and I'm a man who likes open source and free stuff! I've installed a few of the trial based stardock aps on XP and did no good to my system. Caused problems. Boot problems, lockups, eh. Speaking of boot, what's up with that hell-awful vista boot screen anyway? I know you can change it to a no-gui boot and looks a bit better, but ew. That's terrible looking. I keep waiting for microsoft to release a patch to update the cruddy thing, but notta so far.
My System Specs

07-17-2008	#5 (permalink)
johngalt Antidisestablishmentarian Join Date: May 2008 Vista Ultimate x64 MAK, OpenSolaris 5, Gentoo 2008.1.... 3,848 posts	Re: Good addons? I use No-GUI boot and OS information - so my boot always looks like I am booting into Safe Mode....
My System Specs

07-29-2008	#6 (permalink)
DesoShade Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Vista Prem 64 and XP Pro dual boot 29 posts	Re: Good addons? No gui boot. Yeah I use that but it still looks kinda plain. What happened to the days of Windows 95 when you could ad your change the logo files and make your own boot, log on and shutdown screens. I remember there was so much you could do with that OS to tweak it. Could put web content on your desktop or an entire website if you wanted. That was cool. I would design my own html page with the links pointing to folders and parts of my computer and set it as my desktop and then hide all my icons. man that was cool.
My System Specs

07-29-2008	#7 (permalink)
johngalt Antidisestablishmentarian Join Date: May 2008 Vista Ultimate x64 MAK, OpenSolaris 5, Gentoo 2008.1.... 3,848 posts	Re: Good addons? You can change your logo with Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software If you have Vista Ultimate, both Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software and WinCustomize are free for making Desktop Dreams (I am working out a way to use older images from WWL, for example, to stitch them together to make an animated dream for Vista backgrounds to simulate animated images that I used to use as my desktop background in XP. Stardock ObjectDock is free with Quote: The price is right: FREE! ObjectDock is absolutely free to use and will never nag you to upgrade with popups or interruptions. No arbitrary limitations or hassles that free programs with 'enhanced versions available' often have. We keep great pride in maintaining our high-quality free version as well as our exciting Plus version.
My System Specs

07-30-2008	#8 (permalink)
AvatarOfTheShip Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Vista Ultimate x64 110 posts	Re: Good addons? You used to be able to change the boot screen by overwriting um, "C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui" I think, (you have to take ownership of the file first etc) but this no longer seems to work post-SP1
My System Specs

08-01-2008	#9 (permalink)
DesoShade Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Vista Prem 64 and XP Pro dual boot 29 posts	Re: Good addons? Sometimes I miss my Windows95. Dream Scene looks nice, but I couldn't afford vista Ultimate. I had to go with Premium.
My System Specs

08-01-2008	#10 (permalink)
chessian Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 25 posts	Re: Good addons? Quote: Originally Posted by smarteyeball Sidebar Styler Windows Sidebar Styler at Stanimir Stoyanov’s Blog Stardocks Iconpackager which is good for easily changing icon sets. Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software CursorFX can be used to change mouse cursors Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software Rocketdock (free) or Objectdock (not free?) is a good Mac-like toolbar RocketDock - About RocketDock And if your feeling adventurous search for Vista Themes which will lead you to sites that have user created themes which replace Aero and do not use additional resources. Installing themes requires patching a few files, but it can be worth it. Deviantart.com has some good stuff. Nice links, thanks mate.
My System Specs

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