Window skinning, best alternatives, tutorials? Thread last updated on 2004-05-17 23:17:09

Posted by member 45783 on 2004-05-17 03:04:17

I couldn't help noticing that most of the screenshots in profiles these days have skinned windows to alter the windows outlook - something I would have liked to do for a while now. As far as I know, XP has these features native (and thus reliable), but I'm still using W2K and have to do with alternatives.

I downloaded and tried ShellWM, but it had serious problems with many of the apps I use often, mainly Directory Opus and regedit. Control of DOpus was entirely lost and regedit no longer recognized changes to its screen size.
And I had heard that ShellWM is good. Tough. The question is, does a decent and reliable window skinner even exist for the Windows 2000? And if yes, what? And if it is ShellWM, what did I do wrong (an entirely realistic possiblity, since ShellWM came with absolutely no documentation whatsoever)?

Note: I already tried googling for tutorials and guides, but they seemed to point to WindowsBlinds, which is not freeware, and therefore a less attractive alternative.

Posted by member 12025 on 2004-05-17 05:54:04 link

Unfortunately Stardock makes the best :(. I've had problems with ShellWM as well. Best of the truly free ones, but still kinda lacking here and there.

Posted by member 182 on 2004-05-17 23:17:09 link

i just use a patched uxTheme.dll for windows xp, so i can use custom made visual styles.

http://redf.net > downloads > uxtheme patcher