Topic: Too Damn Late
It's Midnight CDT & it's time once again for Too Damn Late!
WARNING: Too Damn Late is not written in front of a live studio audience. Since it's written after midnight, the contents in here are uncensored by anybody as an act of first ammendment rights. Therefore, if you are easily offended by swear words or outrageous thoughts, STOP READING THIS BLOG ENTRY NOW!!! I don't want to hear any complaints from anybody because you read this with ample warning. I don't writing these warnings, but I do so to protect myself here. By reading beyond this warning, you hereby consent to such adult content. VIEWER DESCRETION IS ADVISED!
Note: This episode of Too Damn Late contains some useful material & therefore will naturally contain generally less swearing & objectionable material tha normal.
I've been reading up on Windows 7 & some of it's features. I've also read PC World's article on how to get some Window 7's features without actually dealing with the hassles of upgrading (see Aug., 2009 issue). While the PC World article gives a lot of information, some of things listed there isn't really consider "perfectly safe". What I mean by "perfectly safe" is the programs or modifications done to your computer can be easily undone WITHOUT having to do a system restore (which only gives you a temporary method of undoing stuff) OR reinstalling Windows altogether. I'm not that quiet adventurous since I have a running history of crashing every system (& every OS) I manage to touch (except for Unix... may be user friendly as a rock, but it's as solid one as well). Therefore, everything that I note here has been tested by myself & I'll note any issues or frustrations I had as well.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Before you attempt any major modifications to your PC, make sure that your computer is fairly stable & you're happy with it's operation. If you have a cheap, under-equipped, misconfigured or otherwise a crappy computer... YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT MANY OF THESE MODIFICATIONS as your computer will likely be worse for wear as a result. Netbooks should avoid doing this as they can drive most users (especially power users, like myself) to go into a bitchfest just with their excessively long boot-up times. While my computer is only running at 800 Mhz & over 10 years old (yes, it a goddamn prehistoric system by today's standards), but it's fairly well equipped & was excellently configured that it can handle programs that require 1.2 Ghz processing power with little issue.
With that said, let's start with the modifications!
WindowBlinds
Mod Type: Windows Skinning
www.stardocks.com
Cost: $50
The first thing I have to note is the ONLY ITEM that you'll have to pay for, but it's well worth the cost. WindowBlinds allows you to change the look of Windows, but not the main functions... so everything will still work like Windows XP (or Vista), but you can make it look like a different system like Vista, Windows 7 or even look like a Mac if you really want.
I know it's nothing more but eye candy, but it's the first thing to get your computer to look like Windows 7... if you choose to select a Windows 7-like skin. You can pick up additional skins from various sites like WinCustomize ( http://www.wincustomize.com ) or Deviant Art ( http://www.deviantart.com ) for new skins. I will note that the WinCustomize site only allows you to download 50 MB's before they force you to register. Just go to BugMeNot.com to find an open account to bypass this, if you can find a working account. OTHERWISE, stick to Deviant Art as they're more flexible with guests, but you'll likely have to suffer through ads a bit more.
There are two complaints / issues that I have with WindowBlinds. First, the quality of the skins can greatly vary with skin creators. Skins that look great in the preview picture may not work as well once you try them out, mostly due to a lack of quality assurance work done by the creator. The second is that some parts of the skins tend to have a minor malfunction after a while. The malfunction is more deal with transparency aspects & I'm chalking the issue up with an old graphics card.
Logon Studio
Mod Type: Logon Screen Skinning
www.stardocks.com
Next up is Logon Studio, which is only XP users can get for free. HOWEVER, it's no longer supported by StarDocks as they're focusing more on the Vista version (which you have to pay for). Logon Studio allows you to modify the look of the login screen (which is also visible when shutting down). While you can't make the logon screen to perfectly mimick the look of Windows 7 or Vista, but you can get it fairly close within XP's restrictions.
You can pick up "Logon XP" (as dubbed by StarDocks) skins from various sites like WinCustomize ( http://www.wincustomize.com ) or Deviant Art ( http://www.deviantart.com ). While the quality of logon skins will vary, the preview picture gives you an exact idea on how it'll look. If you don't like what you find, you can use Logon Studio to make your own if you're willing to invest the time to create what you want.
I have no complaints with this program as it's a small & simple modification that helps spruce up the otherwise drab look of Window XP's blue login screen.
Bootskin XP
Mod Type: Boot Screen Skinning
www.stardocks.com
YES, it's ANOTHER ITEM from StarDocks... but it you want to change the look of something, there's no better place to look. Bootskin XP allows you to change the look of the bootscreen, so you can look at something different than "Microsoft Windows XP" & it's boring throbber each time you start up. Just install & select the screen you want to look at when you start up the next time... THAT'S IT. Bootskin XP is free XP users, but it's no longer supported by StarDocks as they moved onto Vista (where they try to squeeze more money out of your wallet).
As usual, you can get Bootskin XP skins from various sites like WinCustomize ( http://www.wincustomize.com ) or Deviant Art ( http://www.deviantart.com ). The quality of the bootscreens will vary, as usual, but the preview picture is pretty much exactly what you'll get. I must note that due to the graphical restrictions of XP, anything that could be consider "High Quality" will still look like crap if the creator doesn't work within those restrictions. Creators that work within the restrictions will look better, but they may still have some "crappiness" leak though.
This is the one customization that caused my computer to become so dysfunctional, where it was triple-crashing before I could reach the login screen, that I had to uninstall it for the sanity of my self & my family. StarDocks does state that this program may be incompatible with some computers at a BIOS level & offer various (older) versions that may work better with your computer if this happens. Since you'll most likely only be able to look at the boot screen for about a minute, this modification isn't really critical. Just weigh the benefits with the potential problems that you may run into with this program. HOWEVER, I will note that the program can be easily uninstalled & any customizations undone. Once I uninstalled it, the programs at start-up vanished with it.
Visual Task Tips
Mod Type: Thumbnail Preview Utility
www.visualtasktips.com
Now for some less eye candy & something more functional! Visual Task Tips allows you to add a thumbnail preview of the item on the taskbar. While the program more closely acts like Vista instead of Windows 7, it's one thing that I have found VERY USEFUL when I'm digging through a large stack of stuff in my taskbar.
All that Visual Task Tips does is take a snapshop of the open window & inserts a thumbnail into the task tip. It's just one little utility program I have tucked away in my systems tray (only taking roughly 5 MB's of RAM to run). I've been using the program for so long that I will admit to taking that little program forgranted until I start using somebody else's computer. It's a program that's designed to be light on the resources as it allows you to choose how big the thumbnails are & how often the thumbnail is refreshed (I leave it as "slow").
The only problems I have with Visual Task Tips are very minor & known by the developer. These problems are mostly revolved around graphical processes. When using a WindowBlinds skin with transparent aspects & video players. The transparency issue is more pixel-shading based & the developer is working on a possible solution for this. The problems with video players is more of the issue of "Video Black" (as I call it) as most video players play videos on such a color, so when you try to take a snapshot of video playing, all you see is a black screen instead of what you want. The developer really can't fix this as it's more of conflicting programming ideals & it's more of the video player programmers to respond to the issue.
Despite these issues, I still highly suggest this.
Aero Snap
Mod Type: Window Resizing Utility
find.pcworld.com/62546
Now I'm taking a page from PC World, I'm giving a Windows 7 "emulation" utility program a spin. In Windows 7, Aero Snap allows you to move a window to the side of the screen (to the left of right) to do side-by-side comparison or move a window to the top of the screen to nearly maximize things without actually maximizing it.
The Aero Snap that works with XP does the same thing, but instead of running with the mouse, you have to use keyboard shortcuts to do the same thing. After selecting the window you want to deal with, you just hold down the Windows key (the one between ctrl & alt) & left (snap to the left), right (snap to the right), up (pseudo-maximize) or down (minimize). Please be aware that this doesn't work on applications with strict dimensions OR maximized windows
While I don't have any problems with this program (as it works just fine), it's just not something that would really use at the moment. This issue of apathy towards this program is monitor shape, which is the currently the old 4:3 standard ratio. If I had a 16:9 or 16:10 screen ratio, I'd probably use it more to do side-by-side comparisons or look-ups. My writing needs requires enough horizontal space to support an 80-character margin (which I use to write guides), which horizontal tiling would mess up & force me to go with vertical tiling. Using a desktop-expanding utility like 360 Desktop could solve such an issue, but it's a weak option as I'm still restricted to my monitor's viewing area & I NEVER enjoy the hassles of side-scrolling. Besides, 360 Desktop wasn't playing being completely nice with other applications I had running.
I'll give it a spin, but it'll likely wind up in the recycling bin in a few months due to non-use.
Aero Peek
Mod Type: Window Temporarily Hiding Utility
find.pcworld.com/62547
Aero Peek is another Windows 7 "emulation" utility program that allows you to temporarily make all open application windows transparent to get a straight look at the desktop. This is to allow you to avoid minimizing everything just to take a quick peak at a desktop widget. This utility hides in the system tray (next to the clock) & does exactly this in a click. A second click reverts things.
Despite the .NET 3.5 requirement (which adds a whopping 231 MB's to download this from Microsoft's website. I know, it's fucking rediculous for a simple utility, but I like having the offline versions of installers to save some headaches), it wasn't that bad to install. UNFORTUNATELY, shortly after I tried this little utility out, I found a major issue that forced me to uninstall this.
This is one of those programs that I label "Does NOT Play Nice with Others!" I have a launcher utility called RocketDock that I keep docked at the top of the screen & configured to give me access to my frequently accessed programs in 2 clicks without plowing through the start menu. As soon as give Aero Peek a shot, if fucked up RocketDock so badly, I have to kill my beloved program & restart it to get it working again.
As a result, Aero Peek found itself peeking through my recycling bin. HOWEVER, if you don't has such utility programs running & you use desktop widgets (Vista, Google or Yahoo!), you may enjoy this.
Aero Shake
Mod Type: Window Minimizing Utility
find.pcworld.com/62542
Aero Shake is a Windows 7 "emulation" utility program created by the users of Lifehacker (part of the Gawker network of newsfeeds). This program allows you to minimize all other windows by shaking the window you want to view.
While I don't have any problems with this program (as it's extremely small at roughly 200 KB), I have difficulty imagining how often I would use such a feature. It could be something that may take time to become second nature. Otherwise, it'll likely find it way into my recycling bin or collect dust in my document's folder.
While there are some other things you can do & some features can't be emulated in XP, you can at least get the look (if not exactly the feel) of Windows 7 with minimal cost.
