November 18, 2004
Desktop Toys II: Windows Themes
After my flirtation with Konfabulator, I felt unsatisfied, tired...lonely. While the widgets were fun, they sat there on the same boring, old desktop. I knew how to load my own wallpaper.....but I wanted more excitement than that could give me.
Looking to increase my thrills, I experimented with Windows Themes. Windows themes are sets of complimentary wallpapers, color schemes, icons, and cursors. The ability to recognize and change themes is built into Windows XP, for earlier versions of Windows you need a theme manager.
Anyone can fiddle around with a cursor or an icon building program, then use a theme creator to package the theme. This is a great way to creatively waste time. I downloaded dozens of themes and tried them all out.
Some warnings:
Watch out for badly designed themes. Many of the ones I tested used unreadable fonts for desktop and menu elements.
Nothing protected me from my own bad taste....(Note to self: Remember to redecorate before the next client demo.)
Watch out for spyware. One of the theme download sites I visited coyly explained that they repackaged themes submitted to them so that they could cover the cost of the site. When I started to install the theme I downloaded, Counterspy warned me that several spyware programs were trying to install themselves. I quickly bailed out of that installation but I still had to run Counterspy and then reboot to remove the spyware threats. TriggerTech was not amused. And don't click on the "theme download sites" link except to find out where not to look for themes.
Related Links: DeviantArt | ThemeWorld
Reluctantly Mentioned: Themes Unlimited (too many ads on this site)
Positively Unrecommended: ThemeXP (say "no" to spyware)
Absolutely and Positively Must Have: CounterSpy (speaking as an IT pro, this new app currently is the best tool available for removing and controlling spyware-it's only $20, and it's well worth it. Please be careful which 'spyware' software and anti-virus programs you use...some of the heavily marketed ones are spyware programs themselves....but that's another subject)
Next Time: Desktop Toys III: True Desktop Modification.
Posted by Trigger Tech at November 18, 2004 1:22 AM Permalink
