Shaidar Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 Um, Shaidar, you're thinking of StyleXP, not Windowblinds.... there is no "girl version" or "boy version" of Windowblinds... 586554707[/snapback] Ahha! True, i was wrong :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZappBrannigan Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 Wow, windowblinds takes up less memory than just using the uxtheme patch?! That suprises me, that having windowblinds loaded all the time uses less than something already in windows?! I have had a look at windowblinds and i must admit, the themes are not my kind of style, there seems to be allsorts of fancy bars n rubbish on sides of all windows taking up ?$%* loads of unnessisary space. Maybe im looking in wrong places for the themes, but all themes ive seen for it make massive borders and big ugly taskbar and buttons :(( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phot0nic Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 the best place to go for windowblinds skins is wincustomize. And, yeah, there are a lot of sucky skins there.... but, it's not like the windowblinds skins in general are worse than msstyles in general. It's just, you're used to Neowin, where you find the best of the best visual styles, and you're comparing them to the low quality windowblinds skins on wincustomize. And yeah, that is a problem with windowblinds. you have to wade through so much crap to find something cool. Try refining your search on wincustomize... sort by best rating or something. Also, yes, windowblinds DOES use less memory than the uxtheme.dll patch. Although uxtheme.dll is a part of windows doesn't mean that it needs to be running all the time, and while it is running, it does take up memory. For example, switch from Luna to Windows classic, and you'll notice a performance boost. right? Well, install Windowblinds, disable the windows default skinning engine (run > services.msc > themes service). And, if you're running a low-end system, you'll notice a performance boost (if you're at a high-end system, you won't really notice much of difference because neither windowblinds nor windows' default skinning engine uses much RAM in the first place). Also, to note, Windows' default skinning engine is basically a stripped down version of Windowblinds 3... literally, I mean Stardock helped Microsoft develop it. And, the real windowblinds is already at version 4.6.... so, I find it funny when people say msstyles are superior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#Michael Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 Wow, windowblinds takes up less memory than just using the uxtheme patch?!That suprises me, that having windowblinds loaded all the time uses less than something already in windows?! I have had a look at windowblinds and i must admit, the themes are not my kind of style, there seems to be allsorts of fancy bars n rubbish on sides of all windows taking up ?$%* loads of unnessisary space. Maybe im looking in wrong places for the themes, but all themes ive seen for it make massive borders and big ugly taskbar and buttons :(( 586563693[/snapback] Yes, WB uses less depending on your system config. Uxtheme does use memory, it is masked within a svchost.exe and can take anywhere from 5-15 MB depening on what VS you use. It is true that WB has it share of crap skins, but so does msstyles, just go and look over at themexp.org. 99% of all skins, WB or VS are crap. Of that 1% only about 10% of those are actually usable on a day to day basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windows X Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 It might be true that WB 4.6 use less resources than uxtheme...BUT! Will Wb5 be the same if you use Vista glass transparency theme style? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutex Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 It might be true that WB 4.6 use less resources than uxtheme...BUT! Will Wb5 be the same if you use Vista glass transparency theme style? 586564107[/snapback] I'm trying to find a link, but Frogboy noted in a very recent ObjectDesktop newsletter that aside from adding the new glass ability, the real trick was to do it without system resources taken' a big hit. They succeeded...and speed up WB even more than it currently is capable (with a fairly modern gfx card). As for how this will play out for others...we'll just have to wait and see. :) Maybe someone who also receives the newsletter can post the contents of what was written? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phot0nic Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 yeah, Frogboy said in an article that not only did the glass work, but the glass worked and was fast.... now, I haven't tried it, but that's all we've got to go on now. But, I would assume that WB 5 w/ glass will be slower than WB 5 w/o glass... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spellspoil Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 hmm, ill defintely be interested in WB5, I had no idea that windowblinds even used less resources than uxtheme. I figured since it was just a hacked file, it would be better on resources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#Michael Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 From the Fall 2005 OD newsletter: ## WindowBlinds 5 Preview ##Very soon now WindowBlinds 5 will be in beta. The primary new feature of WindowBlinds 5 is that Stardock has figured out how to bring glass effects to Windows XP. To have glass effects the program must be able to bring alpha blended borders to windows (including the title bar). The challenge for Stardock was to be able to deliver this technology without slowing down the system, and Stardock has succeeded in doing just that (on a reasonably modern video card). Skinners who have had access to the internal alpha have already been able to create skins that look similar to the new "Aero" style seen in the upcoming Windows Vista. Here is a screenshot of Windows Vista Beta 1: http://www.stardock.com/brad/pdc1.jpg Screenshot of WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1 on Windows XP: http://www.stardock.com/brad/wb5.ht2.jpg WindowBlinds 5 also comes with a new configuration viewer and runs on a newer, faster architecture that requires no stub program to reside in memory! (No wbload.exe anymore). As a result, WindowBlinds 5 uses less memory and runs even faster than WindowBlinds 4.6. WindowBlinds 5 betas will be made available on Object Desktop. Stardock is targeting the final version to be released before the end of the year. Users who purchased WindowBlinds 4.x after September 1st will receive WindowBlinds 5 free of charge. Other WindowBlinds 4.x users will receive a significant discount to upgrade to either Object Desktop or WindowBlinds 5 stand-alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutex Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 From the Fall 2005 OD newsletter: 586566515[/snapback] Yeah, that's the newsletter I was talking about...thanks for posting it AthleticTrainer1981! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javagreen Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 :dribble: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeL_dAmAgE Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 Wow, windowblinds takes up less memory than just using the uxtheme patch?!That suprises me, that having windowblinds loaded all the time uses less than something already in windows?! I have had a look at windowblinds and i must admit, the themes are not my kind of style, there seems to be allsorts of fancy bars n rubbish on sides of all windows taking up ?$%* loads of unnessisary space. Maybe im looking in wrong places for the themes, but all themes ive seen for it make massive borders and big ugly taskbar and buttons :(( 586563693[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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