KNIGHT Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 For those of you how don't know. StyleXP has just been updated to 6.1 from 6.0 (reported earlier). Here's the link: https://narcissus.ntsecure.net/tgtsoft/secu...stall_0_6_1.zip P.S. Don't give me any BS about nothing new and all you need is the uxtheme.dll patch. My answer is "DA". Do you really think I'm as big an idiot as you? Not likely. This is for those people who like the themes that come with StyleXP. Besides that is all StyleXP really is; a theme pack with the patch (the patch being free), and a better theme changer than XP has built in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mortensen Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 What on earth is with the MASS of releases recently??? And like flaming usual they release a new version and quickly release another to fix it because they f*cked up. THAT is why StyleXP sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNIGHT Posted February 2, 2002 Author Share Posted February 2, 2002 1) That is why they rock. As soon as there is a problem, or a little tweak, they release an upgrade. That shows they care and are on the ball. Besides, it is still in beta. What do you expect. Perfection. Not yet. 2) As much as you think they 'suck', they still kick a** all over Sh*tdock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorbing Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 Children, children please.... My Recent Desktop: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNIGHT Posted February 2, 2002 Author Share Posted February 2, 2002 No... Hateful posts. Can't we all just get along? Not when we have undercover Sh*tdock employees browsing the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNIGHT Posted February 2, 2002 Author Share Posted February 2, 2002 I just realized what I like so much about StyleXP. It's the Linux of xp customization. Does a better job and without the pork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenreaper Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 Originally posted by KNIGHT No... Hateful posts. Can't we all just get along? Not when we have undercover Sh*tdock employees browsing the forum. I doubt that Stardock would stoop to those tactics, if only on practical grounds (since they rightly flamed a TGTSoft employee for doing it on the newsgroups). I think we can all agree that hateful posts are a bad idea. Remember, WB gets a lot of these too. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BananaMan Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 Originally posted by KNIGHT I just realized what I like so much about StyleXP. It's the Linux of xp customization. Does a better job and without the pork. The theming engine that's displaying all the themes you're using was created my Microsoft, not TGTSoft (StyleXP creators). StyleXP merely changes a hex value so that unsigned (or uncertified, same diff.) themes don't get rejected. StyleXP is a bollocks, trying to make money out of something Microsoft created. And yes, even the new versions that don't replace the uxtheme.dll, all it does it place the hacked uxtheme.dll in RAM, it's still Microsoft's coding behind the themes. And give WindowBlinds a try. I personally don't use it - but everyone keeps chiming on about how it's bloated when it really is quite decent, and actually beats the hacked uxtheme.dll in the amount of system resources that it uses. Don't be so damn quick to flame just because everyone else does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris123NT Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 I will name the MAIN REASON that i absolutely HATE stylesxp. TGTSoft literally swore to God that stylesxp will always remain free. Well they lied and i hate liars. So TGTSoft can **** off i will use hacked uxtheme.dll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNIGHT Posted February 2, 2002 Author Share Posted February 2, 2002 1) You wrongly assume that I haven't used WindowBlinds. I'm not one of the idiots who gets on the band wagon because everyone else is. 2) I've followed StyleXP from the beginning and they haven't lied as far as I've seen. The patch is still freeware (it always will be), and the beta is free untill testing is over. 3) I currently have StyleXP 6.1 installed. I have Lord of the Rings Beta 3 theme selected. Ya know what, StyleXP currently isn't even running. The only time it takes up any resources is if you set it up to automatically startup with windows and run in you system tray. Why the hell would you want to do that. If you really want to open it quickly, put a shortcut on your desktop or in your Quick Launch toolbar. 4) What's this crap about WindowBlinds using less resources than uxtheme.dll. If I understand correctly, WindowBlinds interprits their thems for uxtheme.dll. The stuff that uxtheme.dll can't handle is handled by WindowBlinds running in the background. I could be wrong but it sure seems like WindowBlinds uses a lot more resourses than a patched uxtheme.dll. As for StyleXP, set it to use no resources. I really can't understand why you would want it to run in the background. But then some people think their coolness is based on how many icons are in the sys tray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNIGHT Posted February 2, 2002 Author Share Posted February 2, 2002 Why would StyleXP ever be free. It's a theme pack with a theme changer created by a for profit company. Is there something about this I'm missing. P.S. uxtheme.dll patch is always going to be free. If I remember correctly, that is all they promised would be free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystical112 Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 Scorbin - i like ur destop can i get the wallpaper?... email - Mystical112@hotmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris123NT Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 I remember reading on their webpage just after stylesxp beta1 was released that it would always be free. I believe that means that when they started charging thats called a LIE :o So as for stylesxp they can screw off as i'm happy with uxtheme.dll...and if i wanna use the packaged themes that come with stylesxp i rip them out and put em in my themes dir :o W00t. Hmmmm That gives me an idea :D i'll post a package of my own that will truly always be free :). It will include the hacked uxtheme.dll and all the stylesxp themes and some others like Binary's watercolor theme for instance. Thats just my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockcreek Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 Originally posted by KNIGHT Why would StyleXP ever be free. It's a theme pack with a theme changer created by a for profit company. Is there something about this I'm missing. P.S. uxtheme.dll patch is always going to be free. If I remember correctly, that is all they promised would be free. Wrong! They promised it would always be free before they ever released the patch, way before... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BananaMan Posted February 3, 2002 Share Posted February 3, 2002 Originally posted by KNIGHT 1) You wrongly assume that I haven't used WindowBlinds. I'm not one of the idiots who gets on the band wagon because everyone else is. 2) I've followed StyleXP from the beginning and they haven't lied as far as I've seen. The patch is still freeware (it always will be), and the beta is free untill testing is over. 3) I currently have StyleXP 6.1 installed. I have Lord of the Rings Beta 3 theme selected. Ya know what, StyleXP currently isn't even running. The only time it takes up any resources is if you set it up to automatically startup with windows and run in you system tray. Why the hell would you want to do that. If you really want to open it quickly, put a shortcut on your desktop or in your Quick Launch toolbar. 4) What's this crap about WindowBlinds using less resources than uxtheme.dll. If I understand correctly, WindowBlinds interprits their thems for uxtheme.dll. The stuff that uxtheme.dll can't handle is handled by WindowBlinds running in the background. I could be wrong but it sure seems like WindowBlinds uses a lot more resourses than a patched uxtheme.dll. As for StyleXP, set it to use no resources. I really can't understand why you would want it to run in the background. But then some people think their coolness is based on how many icons are in the sys tray. Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, then hit the processes tab, then have a peek at the svchost.exe - that's your uxtheme.dll and the StyleXP service, which IS running. The tacked on app StyleXP may have an option to go zero-footprint, but it still chews up RAM (not enough to be a problem of course but still, it's not zero footprint). Try WindowBlinds out, and cycle through some of themes, you'll actually find it takes less, some WB themes actually comply to this standard, I forget what it's called, then is 2/3 the speed that the Classic (read: themeless) theme runs. I'd use WindowBlinds, but I find it just feels a bit clunkly, but it's a quality product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNIGHT Posted February 5, 2002 Author Share Posted February 5, 2002 1) svchost.exe is used for a lot of things. I currently have 3 instances of svchost running (1.3MB, 8.4MB, and 2.8MB). Only one of them is Themes. 2) COM+, cryptographic service, DHCP, distributed link tracking client, logical disk manager, messenger service, network connections, Network Location Awareness, Remote Procedure Call, Shell Hardware Detection, System Event Notification, Terminal Services, Themes (uxtheme.dll), Upload Manager, WebClient, Windows Audio, Windows Management Instrumentation, and Workstation all use svchost.exe. 3) Properties of the StyleXPService, the path is Program FilestgtsoftStyleXPStyleXPService.exe. StyleXP doesn't use svchost to run its service. 4) When I started writting this reply I was using Classic, now I'm using Toothpaste. None of the svchost processes changed in size and no additional svchost processes were added. Finally, the StyleXP Service is not running. 5) You sound smarter when you do your homework. svchost is not just the themes. A good portion of the services run by XP use svchost. One of those services is not StyleXP. It has its own service. For kicks and giggles, I started the StyleXP service then killed it. It appeared as StyleXPService.exe, in the Processes list, and used only 2.7MB. I started the Style XP theme changer, it appeared as StyleXP.exe in the processes list using 5+ MB (the sized varied with the theme selected as well as various other factors. I was able to get it up to 17MB before I closed it.) Conclution, you are the weakest link in more ways than one. When they said 0 foot print, they ment it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogboy Administrators Posted February 5, 2002 Administrators Share Posted February 5, 2002 WindowBlinds uses around 20% fewer resources than Microsoft's visual style engine. Not because WB is "better", neither one uses much in resources, the reason is that WindowBlinds's skin format (UIS) was designed to work with Windows 98/ME where every single resource was critical and so its skins are designed to use far fewer of them. Ever wondered why a typical WB skin is like 100K and an .msstyle is around 600K to 800K? When Microsoft designed their system, they knew users would be running XP and therefore have no GDI resource limits and have at least 128M of RAM. Ultimately, people will probably use both and use the skins they like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whack Posted February 5, 2002 Share Posted February 5, 2002 Wrong! They promised it would always be free before they ever released the patch, way before... Before you go shooting off at the mouth althoug they do have the betas set to ask you to order they do not require you to. TGT posted on ThemeXP a letter to everyone just as they where getting complaints about the software not being free clealy stating that 1.) All betas ARE FREE you do not have to register them they will release another beta before your last one expires. Therefore you will not have to register therefore it is free. Simple enough I assume they did this to make sure people continued to get the latest beta after all betas are there to help them troubleshoot the product it only make sense they would want you to have the latest one. 2.) Before they released RC1 (whci is when StyleXP would no longer be free) they would post a patch for free on there site and that patch would remain FREE and they did this. I've been posting this since I first read it and been told by many I was wrong and StyleXP isn't free but I have done exactly as they said and not paid a penny and now have the free patch installed on my system. That sounds pretty D*MN free to me no lies there. They promised the patch before RC1 and delivered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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