Neowin.net

why WindowBlinds if you have win XP?

Does anyone had a good reason why WindowBlinds 3/4 is any better than StyleXP/UXTheme Patch? WB3/4 seems to be cluttered and cartoonish, as well as it looks like it has a larger memory footprint. I have used the UXTHeme patch for ages and have no complaints about it really. I used WB2 a while ago (B4 XP) and found it to be slightly unstable, used quite a lot of memory and slowed my system down some...but then that was on WinME so thats prob why.

i second that.

Yawn....I'm pretty happy with visual styles

Give it a break! You want it, you use it. If not, don't!

i prefer to hack uxtheme.dll so i can use themes without wasting any ressources on some stupid program

Where can we find the hacked uxtheme.dll (for SP1)?

i din't think it is nearly as fast as the classic theme

3.4 MB memory use is not what i would call 'ressource eating'...

WB4 can customize a lot more than .msstyle. Anyway, if you're not registered or not planning to buy it (like me), shareware version comes out next week.

Why talk about how slow wb2.x was?? WB4 is very different... I'm currently using visual styles myself, but tired of hearing the same old arguments against wb over and over again.

It all boils down to what you want. Some like to customise a lot while others just want "no frills" skins - hence stylexp or hacked uxtheme.dll. I used WB2 and WB3 before, loved it for a while but then it's rather slow compared to using a hacked uxtheme.dll.

hmm im kinda happy with windows default skin.. classic ayeeeee

ok this release is so cool! im using it now w00t w00t

Does Chaninja make WB skins? hehe, I'll stick to StyleXP/uxtheme.dll

Chaninja makes WB skins too. WB4 uses less resources than msstyles do. It's faster. It skins more. I am sure there are people who would rather us MS Paint than Photoshop. But then again, they'd probably not make posts bragging to that fact.

When does the like free download version come out?? The uxtheme.dll hack seems to have stopped working on my computer so i think ill try this out when the downloadable version comes out

[SIZE=7][B]MSSTLES USES MORE MEMORY THAN WB[/B][/size] The only reason you don't see the MSStyles memory usage is beause it's hidden in svchost.exe and within the memory footprint of [b]every windows application you run[/b]. WB uses just the 3-4 megs of memory for it's own process and THAT'S IT. So there is no justification in saying MSStyles use less resources. They just hide it from you.... Also, WB4 is smart enough to actually use the advanced rendering features of your video card. MSStyles uses a more backwards-compatible-friendly methods of drawing themes on screen. WB4 can work with your GF4 or 9700 or whatever to actually hardware accelerate your interface. Beyond that, it can even skin more of the GUI (programs don't have to have a .manifest file to use the XP features), adds other features to skins (such as plugins and interactive elements), allows you to skin the GUI in ways MSStyles can't even touch (lets see you make an aqua skin with the titlebar buttons on the left in MSStyles...). I'm only ranting and raving here cause of all the incorrect statements I see people make about this program. Just because it costs some money certainly doesn't mean it's less of a product... You get what you pay for.

WB4 is great I just saw that Binary has uploaded a watercolor theme for it and that's reason enough to use it...

Who cares??? WindowBlinds/uxtheme.dll technically both are by Stardock, and you are charged for both. Guess what, well when you pay for Windows, you pay for Theming. Part of this money goes to Stardock because, Microsoft licensed the software(ideas/code) from StarDock. Grow up people, software companies do not care about you!!! They only want and care about your money. So let's review, You paid for it, Companies don't care, and loyalty to them or their products is stupid. Buy/Use what you like if it works for you.

I wouldn't pay for it.

I pay for it and renew it every year because I love it. WB4 rocks!

I must say, WB4 is WAY better than 3.5 was. Very fast and the interface is much improved. Way to go, Stardock

hmm...i like the dull crappy classic style so ...i hate the way skins take over my apps turning them in to zig zags and ovals and all that poo. i have the program for the program, not cause one looks like a monkey and the other looks like a giraffe.

maybe this version is faster then visual styles buy a little bit. i am still happy with my styles. no need to change yet, though i'll try it later to see.

I believe the contributor to this news is Frogboy, and is the one who makes WindowsBlinds? I owned their complete WindowsBlinds 3.0 package(The Object Desktop Package). Purchased it due to all the great reviews it had gotten on betanews. Turned out it was the most buggy program I have ever used... in fact I wasn't even able to change a theme without it crashing on WindowsXP. Plus its not just one program, it was *many* seperate programs you had to install, and each program required seperate running, nothing was tied together. It was awful. I asked for my money back, and they only gave a certain percentage back. So I lost a lot of money on the whole deal. Then some people wonder why warez exists. StyleXP (uxtheme.dll) works perfectly on my system.

Last edited by 22064 on 09 Apr 2003 - 19:37

If they had better looking themes for windowblinds, I might consider using it. There are only a couple of WB skins on wincustomize that I would consider using, the rest are too futuristic or too toonish for my taste. The WB skinning community needs to work on putting out more classic, elegant and refined skins.

I'd also like to add that the styles/themes for WindowBlinds aren't any better than the StyleXP ones.

wb4 is by far better the msstyles, it is faster and the skins are different, some are cartoonish buit thats how the were designed, also they skin a lot more then msstyles can. make msstyles and im switching to wb4, its worth it, u should at least give it a try

I reckon every Stardock program Ive tried is buggy and slow, especially DesktopX and IconPackager (on MY computer and in MY opinion) and basically popular by hype spread by their employees. WindowBlinds is by far their best effort though, I like it. And now that I see someone saying Chaninja makes themes then I'll have an even close look and see if I might register for this new WB

and id like to add wb3 was terrible compared to this

Great Program. www.ttdown.com

I think WB 4 is amazing so far. I definetly see a speed increase over WB 3 and the patched dll I was using. Plus Watercolor WB rulz the world!

WOW, this is just as slow and crappy as the rest of the versions WB 2x on my 166mhz computer (yes, I used to use WB when it was the only skinning program around) worked better then WB4 on my new computer

I've used windowblinds for several years now. I have subscribed to Object Desktop from Stardock for the past two years. I don't have the "greatest" computers at my disposal - the current one is a Dell Optiplex 1.3Ghz Celeron Processor and the one before this one was a Dell also - with a slower processor. Both had on-board graphics - I've never had the luxury of the latest and greatest video cards. Windowblinds from 3.* and up have worked flawlessly, and without a noticeable hit in the speed area - no benchmarks, just observation and use. I have found windowblind themes to match many tastes - some pure eyecandy, others simple and functional. I'm using FatalE at the moment - ported from an MSStyle I believe. I have also used the patched uxtheme.dll file for some of the .msstyle's I've found here and other sites. I will not go back to the patched uxtheme - far to many folks are skinning windowblinds these days. Windowblinds now has the ability to skin the shellstyles component. I can download a skin that has it's own shellstyle components and hit the 'apply' button and it's good to go. I don't have to remember which shellstyle goes with which theme, etc. I believe WB4 is a very nice product - well worth the money I paid for it.

yes stardock programs are buggy but they have hella feedback from people actually using the product...wb4 is different (it get's all the attention so it's quite stable and does not use much mem....) and...styles are nice....but use whatever you want..

I'd use WB4 if someone converted the Dotnet theme over to it

My qualms with WindowsBlinds are that it is too many programs all bundled together. ObjectDesktop includes WindowsBlinds, SkinStudio, Icon Packager, WebBlinds, ObjectBar, ObjectSweeper, SpringFolders ...and on and on ..I want ONE program that does it, not a bazillion little programs. This is why I dislike Linux, they have so few 'suites' that are packaged conglomerates of good software. I REALLY like WindowsBlinds 4.0, I will say it is leaps and bounds better than 3.5 from personal use, However until Stardock can get their act together and realize people want it simpler to use and don't want to buy every product they have just to make sure they can run a skin, I don't think it's fully practical yet. But that is, of course, just my opinion.