It’s a company called Stardock.  These people have come up with possibly the most wonderful programs I have ever used.  Using their products, you can change virtually anything on your XP/Vista machine.  Allow me to show you a few that I thoroughly enjoy.

Firstly, CursorFX.  This Product comes in two versions, a demo and a full version.  The demo alone, however, lasts forever and comes with alot of features.  What this software does is allow you to create or download animated, 3D/2D, just-plain-awesome mouse cursors.  You can choose virtually an unlimited ammount of cursors, and with the full version, you can add effects and sounds to them for any action they perform such as clicking sounds and trail effects.  My personal favorite cursor is the Finger.  No not the middle one, the pointer one.  It is a 3D hand with it’s finger pointing outwardly; when you click, the finger moves down as if it were pushing a button; in place of an hourglass, the hand roll taps its fingers from pinky to pointer; when hovering over a link, the finger points upward and “taps” the link repeatedly.  That’s right, it’s 3D and animated!  There are many others like this, and if you are a graphic artist or have pictures you’d like to make as cursors, you can do it with CursorFX!

Second is ObjectDock – This unique little gadget has taken the place of the common taskbar.  It is a nice dock that has animated effects and beautiful icons for various items.  It’s something that is difficult to explain, so you should just go and visit Stardock and see for yourself what it can do.  It makes accessing programs alot easier AND has a great look and feel to it.

Next is ObjectDesktop – this comes with ALOT if you buy the full $70 version.  This is a great deal because ObjectDesktop comes with alot of separate programs and allows you to use each one to their full capacity.  Now, I don’t have all of these programs, so I’ll show you a few that really catch my eye and are fun to use.

1.  WindowBlinds – This program allows you to completely redo the look of nearly every aspect of Windows.  You can do this by downloading skins for free from WinCustomize.com OR by creating your own if you have the “Bundle” version which comes with SkinStudio.  You can change your taskbar, start menu, scrollbars, and much much more with this handy little program. 

2.  IconPackager – I really like this one.  The full version is only about $10 but there is a free shareware version available.  It allows you to replace hundreds of common icons with new, sleek, amazing icons.  Trust me, the icon packages you can download are amazing.  If you get the IconDeveloper program, you can even make your very own!

3.  ObjectBar – If you have Vista, you know about the sidebar it comes with, well why settle for just that one look?  Why can’t XP users have the same bar or an even cooler one?  Well they can now!  And why just have one when you can have 2, 3, 4, or a billion?!  That’s right, you can have your own custom bars where ever you want on your desktop, each with a beautiful, sleek design.

4.  LogonStudio – This is a FREE program, but it also comes with ObjectDesktop.  This allows you to customize your Windows Logon experience.  You can download skins for your logon screen at WinCustomize.Com, OR use the included editor and make your own!

ObjectDesktop has ALOT more to offer than just the above 4; each program comes with several skins/presets to choose from, but you can always visit www.wincustomize.com and download as many as you’d like.  And, if you buy the full versions, you can always create your own!

So why wait any longer?  Make your computer’s look and feel reflect YOU, get your custom cursors, icons, sounds, docks, logon screens, and more at www.stardock.com

What Do You Think?
What do you do to customize your OS?  Is there another set of programs like the ones Stardock has to offer for Mac Users as well?  Have you designed your own skins/cursors/icon packages and would like to share them with me?  I would love to hear from each and every one of you!  My e-mail is david@funkytower.com and I look forward to hearing from you!

Take it easy,
David Crandall