VStyle vs WBlinds vs XP theme?

what's the difference between a VStyle and an XP theme?

...I don't like WB, always felt kinda heavy to me everytime I had it installed it took me less than 24hours to uninstall it... I wonder why I even installed it ~4 times

also to use visualstyles you don't have to steal software to run them ;)

(yeah, because you could just _buy_ the stuff)

Visual styles are generally more popular than Window Blinds skins here, I think that's because it reaches a bigger audience (for reasons above).

WB does offer some things that you simply can't do with visual styles, such as opacity and blending, but they run on top of the system, so are a fair bit more computer intensive

I think the general quality of VS are better than WB, because it's not hard to shove in an image into SkinStudio and call it a day, That's not to say there aren't beautiful WB ones out there.

I would suggest try and see what you like. There is a 60-day trial for WindowBlinds.

As the other poster said with WindowBlinds you will get features such as per-pixel skins, the ability to change the color of your skins, and you don't have to alter your system files.

Download the trial, and give it a go for yourself.

http://www.windowblinds.net

:)

It's a question of style - want minimal? --> vs
want bulky, techy and huge skins? --> windowsblinds

visual styles are my preference. i still on occasion use wb[rarely] but i have to agree with aMADME,and uac marine.

"It's a question of style - want minimal? --> vs
want bulky, techy and huge skins? --> windowsblinds"


Thats a pretty general assumption. I could post plenty of WindowBlinds skins that are minimal.

minimal windowblinds skins!?!?!?!??!?!

oh wait, alex already released those, both of em...
they were damn good too.

XP Themes and Visual Styles are the same thing by the way...

And the problem with WB skins is people get carried away because they can keep adding and adding to the skin. Therefore it always seems to end up bulky.

And there aren't enough WB skinners to make nice usable minimal skins for people. Nobody wants to buy the program. And take the time to learn the MORE complicated skinning engine.

Basically it's still more natural and easier for people to use VSes. Simple patch of a file, boom you got it. Get a simple VS and Style Builder and boom you've easily modded it.

But this topic has been argued lots of times, so Laziebons try both and see how you like them. Lets not get Frogboy involved.

By the way I like how you ONLY link WindowBlinds, Island Dog..

How to use VSes/XP Themes

I've had some nasty experiences with Windowblinds being quite unstable and crashing on me every once in a while. VSs, since they customize the built-in features of the OS without any additional software, are, at least in theory, faster, too, but since moden day computers are so fast I don't know if one can see/feel the difference. More stable at least - but the problems I've had with WB might just have to do with my system and/or settings.

By the way I like how you ONLY link WindowBlinds, Island Dog..

I have never denied that I have a biased opinion, but my statements are true regardless and I was a WindowBlinds user years before I started working for Stardock.

As I said to the original poster, I encourage him to try both and see what pleases him the most. If he chooses patching his files is better for his needs, then good for him, but saying things like there are no minimal or usable skins for WB is just not accurate. ;)

I hate windowblinds because it messes up the xml files on my pc and all the themese you can probably get off the net are those funky ones with big caption bars and reflections and all that.

THANKS all for your views.. I will try both first though I think I'll prefer VS since it's easier to use. And I like the option of being able to change skin every now and then, which VS probably has a larger collection of..

I agree with all the negative comments made about WindowsBlinds. Sry Island Dog =P

WindowBlinds is a superset of what what uxtheme can do. UXTheme is the engine that runs msstyles which are sometimes referred to as "visual styles" or "XP themes".

The advantage of uxtheme is that it's free if you're technical enough to patch the DLL.

The advantage of WindowBlinds is that it can do a lot more. Virtually every popular msstyles out there is available as a WindowBlinds skin plus there are thousands of WindowBlinds skins out there.

Anyone suggesting that WindowBlinds skins are all "bulky" is mistaken. Like I said, nearly every popular msstyles ever made has a WindowBlinds version as well.

Moreover, if you have SkinStudio installed (which is a free program) you can run msstyles in WindowBlinds as well and gain advantages that WindowBlinds provides (like being able to change the color of the skin and get hardware acceleration).

There are a lot more skins for WindowBlinds than there are for msstyles but as some said, because WindowBlinds has a lot more power, there are a lot of weird looking skins too.

Like Island Dog and others have said, try both and decide for yourself.

WB has one single great feature that VS don't. Per-pixel borders.

This feature don't play well with lotsa programs, for instance intensive Photoshop or Premiere.

Therefore VSs are way better, they are inherent to the OS, the rest is blahblahblah.

I use Photoshop every day with WindowBlinds and per pixel borders. I don't know what you're talking about.

WindowBlinds also has a lot of configuration options that I think are pretty crucial such as coloring, being able to control how mouse button clicks affect things (I have WindowBlinds minimize windows when I right-click on them).

WindowBlinds is also hardware accelerated. So on a decent system, WindowBlinds is noticeably faster. First thing I notice on a system running just XP themes is how sluggish they seem as I see repainting and such.

FrogBoy says:

on a decent system




Yeah, way to advertise.

I'm just pointing out facts. By contrast, you were just claiming that WindowBlinds has problems on Photoshop and Premiere which isn't true and that VS's are better becaus ethey are "inherent to the OS" (which is nonsense, uxtheme.dll is just bundled, it's no more integrated than wblind.dll is -- it's like saying MS Paint is better than Photoshop because it's "inhernet" to the OS).

If someone wants to say they prefer uxtheme because it's free, then hey, there's no arguing against that. But to argue that uxtheme is somehow technically better is utter nonsense. Half the comments on this reek of a total lack of knowledge on WindowBlinds (especially about what content's available).

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2107934,00.asp




"Some applications and games, however, don't work properly with WindowBlinds loaded.

For instance, there's a documented problem by which some Macromedia tools won't allow you to activate them with WindowBlinds in memory.

Another anomaly popped up when I played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadows of Chernobyl. I could see the Windows Sidebar flickering through the game interface while WindowBlinds was active. I worked around this by shutting down the Sidebar when I played, but later I tried unloading WindowBlinds—with the Sidebar on—and the problem vanished. "

And from the rest of that page....

"Incompatibilities were rare, however, and, more importantly, performance tests showed that WindowBlinds didn't hinder performance in games, or in encoding, at all. Stopwatch tests showed that applications such as Internet Explorer and Windows Mail loaded just as quickly with WindowBlinds loaded as they did with it unloaded. I'm not publishing result graphs because there's nothing to see; frame rates and 3DMark scores were consistent before and after installing WindowBlind".

Yeah ,so basically you lied.........


Whatever, I'm done.

bout your skinstudio importin msstyles ...when I had it installed I tryed that with 2 vs and both got fucked and unusable w/o adjustements

also hardly any "popular" visualstyles are avialable as wb ...for an example I'm pretty sure heylove's and fourimp's visualstyles are THE most popular out there ...non of em is available for WB... just an example

Indeed, the most popular VSes are NOT availible for WB. And WB can very easily screw up a VS and display it wrong. Therefore you need to be able to alter it so it displays correctly.

ALSO you admit that WB skins are quite a bit harder to make. Therefore making it the lesser chosen app to skin. For people who aren't experience. Or don't care to put that much effort into learning.

FrogBoy says: The advantage of uxtheme is that it's free if you're technical enough to patch the DLL.

Hence that statement is bull crap. The uxtheme patcher is the simplest and easiet thing to do. Most likely the first mod/custo that some one does. And I reiterate Altering VSes to work with WB, and creating WB skins are indeed MUCH harder to do.

ALSO not only do you have to buy WindowBlinds, you have to BUY SkinStudio to create skins. If you don't, you can only maybe get a VS working.

Yeah ,so basically you lied.........

Uh, what? You claimed Photoshop and Premiere don't work with WindowBlinds. That was false. Most skins are made with Photoshop and we use Premiere all the time.

Indeed, the most popular VSes are NOT availible for WB. And WB can very easily screw up a VS and display it wrong. Therefore you need to be able to alter it so it displays correctly.

What are these most popular VSes? If you go by the ones on deviantART, nearly all are available as native WindowBlinds skins.

Name which ones you're referring to.

Kol, b0se, Bant, Cha Ninja, etc. all have their skins with WindowBlinds versions.


ALSO not only do you have to buy WindowBlinds, you have to BUY SkinStudio to create skins. If you don't, you can only maybe get a VS working.

That's utter bull. First, SkinStudio has a free version. Unless you're planning to make WMP skins too, there's nothing to pay for.

Secondly, you can make WindowBlinds skins with Notepad if you want. How do you think msstyles are made? Most of them use StyleBuilder which is hardly free.

Hence that statement is bull crap. The uxtheme patcher is the simplest and easiet thing to do. Most likely the first mod/custo that some one does. And I reiterate Altering VSes to work with WB, and creating WB skins are indeed MUCH harder to do.

Oh please. Right here on Customize.org there have been posts from people who had the uxtheme patcher blow up on them. Just go look around.

Secondly, once you install SkinStudio, you can literally double-click on a .msstyles and it will run it. It's pretty rare to have problems with them.

Thirdly, Uxtheme can't run WindowBlinds skins period of which there are thousands of.

Fourthly, when people move to Vista, all those msstyles are dead. They won't run on Vista -- unless you use WindowBlinds. So the person who uses WindowBlinds and migrates to Vista can still use their skins.

You should learn what your'e talking about before trashing other programs. Here we are on a Customization website and people like you spread FUD about one of the most popular customization programs out there.

also hardly any "popular" visualstyles are avialable as wb ...for an example I'm pretty sure heylove's and fourimp's visualstyles are THE most popular out there ...non of em is available for WB... just an example

You mean like shown here in this screenshot running under Windows Vista with WindowBlinds?

http://www.stardock.com/brad/img5B.jpg

In the article "Best skins of 2006" (http://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=150608) the top msstyles were picked by a consensus of msstyles users on the net and all of them either had WindowBlinds versions or ran without modification with SkinStudio.

I'm a big believer in letting people make their own choices. If they prefer to patch uxtheme and do it that way, then more power to them. But some of you seem intent on trying to scare people away from WindowBlinds.

Damzk points to a review of WindowBlinds that gave the program a NINE out of TEN as a means of attacking the program. Come on, a 9 out of 10 and some of you are trying to make it out like it's crummy?

I'm not going to argue with you for eternity over the pros and cons of VSes vs. WB skins. But you are indeed FALSE with your statements as well. I'm not trying to "attack" wb.

AND they are getting really close to and/or already running msstyles on Vista on some people's computers. So hows about you try making sure you have correct information as well.

Oh and by the way, the free versions SUCK, how does that sit with ya? The 'free' WB is a glorified ShellWM in what it actually skins. Whoa, you'll skin combo boxes and crap, but not the scrollbars. Big freakin' whoop.

Just admit the majority of users, like the EASYNESS of msstyle making. And the EASYNESS of patching one file to use them. Yeah people are not complaining that much of failures. But of not knowing how to do it, and not checking the help section.

Pyro: You claiming something is false doesn't make it so.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

The majority of users prefer making msstyles? If that were the case, there'd be more msstyles being made than WindowBlinds skins. But there are not only a lot more WindowBlinds skins out there, there are a lot more WindowBlinds skins being made. There's a whole wide worl dout there, Pyro.

They are not anywhere close to being able to make msstyles on XP work on Vista. That's not going to happen because it's a totally different engine on Vista. They are able to make NEW .msstyles on Vista (Which largely involve replacing bitmaps in Aero.msstyles). But if you think you'll be running say Watercolor or Luna Element on Vista using uxtheme then you are misinformed.

We were talking about SkinStudio as the free version and it's not crippled in any way.

They are close to making msstyles work on vista.
http://www.anti-tgtsoft.com/ Get your facts straight buddy.

And that's only because a lot of users don't release their skins. There are in fact a whole lot more people skinning msstyles over WB skins.

Pyro:

Listen carefully.

Rafael (the guy who runs anti-tgtsoft) is working on an auto-patcher for Windows Vista that will let users of Windows Vista run VISTA .msstyles. It will NOT allow users to run XP .msstyles (which is what we're talking about).

XP .msstyles are a totally different format under the covers that have quite a few features. VISTA .msstyles, by contrast, are basically about reshacking PNG files in Aero.msstyles.

The two .msstyles files have nothing in common.

Also, there are, in fact, more WindowBlinds skins released each week than .msstyles.

Unless there's some ultra-secret place that people are releasing them outside of here, themexp.org, deviantART, SkinBase.org, and a few other places, there are more skins being made for WindowBlinds. All ones has to do is count the # of releases for XP .msstyles and the # for WindowBlinds.

One wonders if you've ever even looked at the WC skin gallery (http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?libid=1).

Like I said elsewhere Pyro, it's a big world out there. You should explore it.

People will always continue to skin msstyles. Whether they are XP or Vista, I heard Vista may or may not be easier. And try READING my posts, people are making msstyles but not releasing them.

Edit: I foresee Linux coming up from behind and trumping Windows is EVERY way. Especially because it's Open Source. And I look forward to it, and more importantly welcome it.

But like I said I am done with you.

As I said, you can't run XP .msstyles on Vista.

Something having the same file extension doesn't magically make it the same.

There are ALREADY lots of Vista .msstyles:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/55040109/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/55041078/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/55039639/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/55103974/

But as the screenshots make clear, there's not as much you can do on Vista with .msstyles as you could on XP.

The point was that all these lovely "minimalistic" XP msstyles won't work on Vista's uxtheme. You'd have to use something like WindowBlinds on Vista to use those XP .msstyles.

People will use what they want to use, no amount of bickering will win over any one. Let the stardock guys go fishing for customers if they want. Anyone tech-savvy enough to skin windows is most likely savvy enough to steal wb.

Edit: I foresee Linux coming up from behind and trumping Windows is EVERY way. Especially because it's Open Source. And I look forward to it, and more importantly welcome it.

It doesn't surprise me that you think this.

Open Source is a wonderful thing for users who are excited about OTHER people doing work for them for free.

But until that day happens, I think most people will probably stick with operating systems and software that do the job whether it's free or not.

You are most likely accurate when you say that a lot of tech-savvy people steal our software. That's probably why they just gave me a copy when I found a bug in it, back in (1.) '08. Fortunately, Stardock's largest market is not geeky students living in their parents' basement, like me eight years ago. (Now I live on the second floor, but I'm still a geek. :)

Stardock's objective is to make it so that people who are not tech-savvy can still enjoy having a customized experience without too much effort. And we hope that they will pay us a bit for our help in doing that. Not much - maybe an hour's pay for WindowBlinds, or two if they want the complete package.

So far, that's worked out pretty well. In return, we've spent a significant amount of time upfront to ensure that WindowBlinds will still work on Vista. And that's part of what people pay for, too.

I am sure that Vista msstyles will be quite popular once they get going. And that's fine. People should try both solutions. If ours isn't better for the average user, well, we'll be in trouble. But I don't think that will be the case, simply because it matters more to us. If WindowBlinds doesn't work, I don't get to have any cheese and carrots, and that would make me awfully sad . . .

Well you have to have cheese... ;)

diversity is good ...

so much hate on WB. seriously i dont understand where it comes from. its just as good as msstyle's. you have to pay for stylebuilder too, so the only difference is paying for WB itself, which gives you tons more features than stylebuilder so in my eyes is worth it. and everyone saying that when you import VS it messes it up. if you have skinstudio, you can EASILY fix those few things that it messes up when the msstyles are imported. i have imported tons of msstyles and the only thing that messes up most of the time is the caption buttons, and those are not hard to fix at all. i have never had a problem with things coming up that are not fixable. i think people just hate stardock just like they hate starbucks. bc its some corp asking for money(or a lot of money) for something they dont see is worth that much. but whatever, i am tired of trying to point people in the direction of WB too, because everyone just hates on it for false reasons and shrugs it off and never bothers with it again. anyways
/horribly typed rant

I just registered because I *had* to voice my opinion on this. I use both, WB on my main home PC and msstyles on my work PC.

The dll patch did not work for me, so I had to do it manually, which was a pain. But it is only a one time process.

WB is much easier to install the program and SKINS, all you have to do is click download on the web site and they get automatically installed.

I have never had a problem with WB on my home PC yet, and I use alot of different software at home.
I do not have any performance issues with WB either. I play games on my home PC and if I thought I could get a couple more frames per second out with WB unloaded I would, but when I compared I really couldn't feel much of a diffrence.
(I have an intel P4 3Ghz, 2GB memory, and nvidia 7900GS)

As far as availability of skins is concerned, I find it much harder to find good skins for msstyles, but I admit perhaps I am not looking in the right places. Still most of the skins for msstlyes lately seem to be flat or 2d for lack of a better word. While I like minimal skins(meaning taking up as little space as possible while remaining functional), I still like things like transparency, glass like effects, glow etc... Now granted I have a hard time finding cool and minimal skins like this for either msstlyes or WB, but WB still has the better selection. With msstyles all I can seem to find are Vista recolors or some color variation of the flat 2d thing that seems to be all the rage. WB does tend to have alot more bulky skins out there, but they have some great minimal ones too. I guess WB has so many features that some skinners maybe feel like they have to use all of the features, or get carried away with the cool factor and throw functionality out the window. But there are still alot of great skins on WB that you wont find anywhere else. The other good thing is you can find all the good WB skins on one site, you don't have to browse 5 different web sites just to find something you like.

If the price is an issue, you can't beat free. So that's where msstlyes is definately stronger. And that is also why I use msstyles on all my non-main PCs.

However the only negative thing I can say about WB is everytime I try and buy something from their site it's like pulling teeth, but that probably has something to do with the fact that I live in Japan.

Wow Frogboy you just don't quit do you..

It doesn't surprise me that you think this.

Open Source is a wonderful thing for users who are excited about OTHER people doing work for them for free.

I mean my God, do you not understand a dang word any one says? And just zero in on the part that you dislike, or don't agree with.

I repeat I NEVER wanted to start a fight. And I NEVER wanted you of all people to come in and start arguing with me. But you just don't get it.

The whole point and idea of Open Source and and things alike. Is that it's a Utopian idea, the ideal, how things should've worked in the first place. People doing the 'work' as you put it, for the love of it. And because they give back to the community freely. Is that so hard to understand?

What does Custo represent? EVERY ONE here makes skins and release them FOR FREE. AND even lets people 'mod' them and re-release them, again FREELY. I only stress the free aspect of things, because of the Utopian ideal.

NOT because I want people to do the work for me for free. It's just like a big corporate person to try to sell the greedy aspect of things. And yes, Stardock is just like Starbucks. I would prefer some 'dive' coffee shop over it any day. Same with restaurants.

Usually 'dives' put more work into their things, as opposed to the big franchise restaurants putting it premade stuff. And no I'm comparing that particular aspect to Stardock. Just stating a reason of why I prefer 'dives' to franchises.

I'm sure this a spark a NEW argument. But hows about, we actually STOP posting in here... and call it quits. Before things get really heated. Ok? OKAY.

Edit: And yes I know people need to make money. And the Utopian society isn't actually possible on large scale. So don't go insulting me there.

I was just merely stating what an ideal life would be like. And there are other ways to make money, not just in a huge corporate.

Window Blinds hogs up your computer's resource. Plus several years ago, it was a really crappy program with lots of adware/spyware. I used it in the past, the result of my computer was horrible. But that was several years ago, I don't know how it's like nowadays because I see StyleXP is far superior than Window Blinds. It's just easier to use and doesn't hog up my computer. Plus the skins are amazing.

So far, any skins that aren't window blinds work quite well with StyleXP.

If only there is a similar Icon program that doesn't hog up a lot of space.

I've tried out the 5.0 version of WB recently, and I didn't notice any real performance hit. What I *did* notice was much more frequent crashes, as some program or another (usually fullscreen DirectX apps & games) would barf on WB's particular method of widget-painting. I'd dutifully find the offending conflict, add the program to WB's exception list, and move on.

Problem is, I ended up putting most of the programs I use on a daily basis on the "do not skin this app" list, because of these issues. At this point, I wasn't really getting the skinning functionality I was supposed to get out of WB, so I uninstalled it and dug up my old copy of StyleXP, which still works perfectly.

I'm not going to sit here and debate the examples raised by anybody else, but IMOExperience, WB just doesn't work very well in its current iteration.

To clarify, I'm a gamer, and a lot of the programs I use employ DirectX modeswitching in some way, so my experiences may not be typical of the average Custo denizen. YMMV.

Hmmm. I play Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights2, WoW, Guild Wars on occasion. I believe all of the above employ DirectX modeswitching. Never really noticed a problem. Are you sure it's not a driver issue?

Just to add, I guess that could be another downside to WB. I believe it does try to optimize things a bit to better use your video card where standard msstyles do not, so you could possibly experience some weirdness based on your video card ando/or drivers.

what greenreaper said, I always thought something like wb was for people who actually think the luna.msstyle was and improvement designwise to the windowsclassic theme ....LOL

OK there might be tons of wb skins being made... but nevertheless they are bold and ugly and huge and distracting and have mostly a huge lack of style... every once in a while a nice one pops up there too but that's rare

seriously look at that

also if I look around on other OS stuff Linux, MAC ...I only see rather minimal skins

I don't use windowblinds, i don't like the way it runs on my system, but that doesn't mean its a bad product, good on the stardock guys for putting effort into it, its a decent alternative / option. And I would even say in a way it has helped to make customizing accessable to the masses, its a good thing. Just coz I don't like and don't use it, doesn't make it a bad thing, and so what if the stardock guys love and recommend their product ... their is always a sense of ownership and pride that comes when you work on something. Just like all of us here at custo are proud to be custo. Take a deep breathe everyone ;)

As a skinner / theme maker myself i expected ppl to ask for more freedom when designing skins themes and what not. It gives u the extra edge to be unique. Comparing msstyle engine and windowblinds i think wb wins by a mile when making a theme. You can do so much more with it design/layout wise and the difference is hardly noticable regarding pc resource usage. I think that extra freedom wb gives is worth the money you pay for it and the occasional application issues. If you're gonna compare wb themes and msstyles in a discussion about skinning engines u can stop right away. It has nothing to do with the skinning engine but with the theme makers. Compare the skin authors not the skin engine cause that doesn't make sense at all. Apples and oranges both fruit but still different. Just cause the msstyle crowd has a few ppl that actually have a designer gene while the wb crowd has less doesn't mean windowblinds is worse than msstyle. When it comes to chosing one of them u have to think: what do i really want and how much will i be able to pay for it. If you want more freedom in making your interface i suggest wb but it will cost ya. If you want less freedom but money saved for something else go msstyle.

seriously look at that

Look at what? I see Vienna, I see Black, I see Relent, I see Eminence, I see Thallos, I see..... I can point out many great skins, just as I can point to a gallery and say look at (insert insult) skins over there.

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

As a designer of visual styles and Windowblinds ports of them for almost the past six years, I must say by far I find .msstyles easier to design, and with all the features now available in Style XP, including some of the transparency effects native to SkinStudio/Windowblinds, that I prefer the .msstyles better. However, Windowblinds has other advantages, and both formats I feel are quite good. It is not Windowblinds that make themes look 'bulky', but rather the theme designers. So don't blame Windowblinds for that. I use both Windowblinds and Style XP on my system(s).

There was talk of the Vienna theme by vStyler (my associate) in this discussion. I must say that by far, it is the best Windowblinds theme I have ever seen, and definitely not bulky at all. Sheer genius in my opinion (and the opinion of many, many others).

Anyway, both products have their advantages and disadvantages, and I support them both. I can only hope that tgtSoft (Style XP and StyleBuilder creators) will start to further their products again, and design products to work with Windows Vista also. Otherwise, only Stardock products will be available to future skinners and users alike.

Oh, and the last line above about Stardock products is only meant to say that there will be basically nothing else around is all, not against their products, which I love also.

The whole point and idea of Open Source and and things alike. Is that it's a Utopian idea, the ideal, how things should've worked in the first place. People doing the 'work' as you put it, for the love of it. And because they give back to the community freely. Is that so hard to understand?

So I'm curious Pyro...Do you have a job?

So much of your angst seems to be directed at those who write software for a living.

I mean, why confine your belief about people freely contributing to software? Why not food, clothing, shelter?

Because in my experience, the people most in favor of freeware and open source don't write software. They're happy to advocate other jobs be of no financial value but their own are protected.

Hence - what do you do for a living then?

Window Blinds hogs up your computer's resource. Plus several years ago, it was a really crappy program with lots of adware/spyware. I used it in the past, the result of my computer was horrible. But that was several years ago, I don't know how it's like nowadays because I see StyleXP is far superior than Window Blinds. It's just easier to use and doesn't hog up my computer. Plus the skins are amazing.

So far, any skins that aren't window blinds work quite well with StyleXP.

If only there is a similar Icon program that doesn't hog up a lot of space.

I don't think there's a single accurate thing in your statement.

WindowBlinds has never come with Spyware.

Style XP isn't a skinning program, it's a uxtheme patcher in which the developer charges money for it (it would be like selling a wallpaper changing program).

Saying that WindowBlinds (several years ago) didn't work well is meaningless in a discussion today when you're comparing it to something else. (Very little ran particularly great on Windows 95/98/ME).

Icon changing programs require no memory at all (IconPackager just applies a package of icons). http://www.iconzone.com.

To clarify, I'm a gamer, and a lot of the programs I use employ DirectX modeswitching in some way, so my experiences may not be typical of the average Custo denizen. YMMV.

WindowBlinds should have no affect either way on games.

And for the record, I'm a game developer. (Designer and developer on Galactic Civilizations II -- the highest rated PC game of 2007 -- 9.1 from Gamespot, Editor's Choice from GameSpy, IGN, PC Gamer, Games for Windows, 1Up, etc.). So gaming is something I'm pretty familiar with. ;)

well rooty toot toot on you

ZOMG YOO ROCK AT LIFE LEMME TELL YA :O


stop arguing, it's freaking pointless, to answer to the original post, try them both out, that's how our preference was made, i prefer using visual styles but thats just my opinion, there are few decent things for windowblinds, but i haven't used it enough to find out.

I know we both look like complete as... losers now. And the only reason I'm posting AGAIN -- is to clarify.

I don't confine my belief to software just for your information. I openly, freely, and often share my food, clothing, and shelter with people in need. And that IS what I believe in.

A Utopian society would be perfection -- including bartering for things instead of using money. And I would help ANY ONE out, as long as they aren't pyschopaths.

I think everyone should read Utopia, or research similar living styles. And ya know, if you're lazy, just rent 'Lackawanna Blues' because that woman is inspiring, and powerful. And it's a swingin' good movie either way.

So since I've been done with this hows about we all stop picking on every one's posts, and lets just let it drop?

WHO'S IN THE MOOD FOR CAAAANDY???!!!!!????

yeah candy..........hooray. i'd like some.

Ok so every one that wants candy...can...uh.

GO HERE!

bbleanskin ftw

Rebellion!

I don't think there's a single accurate thing in your statement.

WindowBlinds has never come with Spyware.

Style XP isn't a skinning program, it's a uxtheme patcher in which the developer charges money for it (it would be like selling a wallpaper changing program).

Saying that WindowBlinds (several years ago) didn't work well is meaningless in a discussion today when you're comparing it to something else. (Very little ran particularly great on Windows 95/98/ME).

Icon changing programs require no memory at all (IconPackager just applies a package of icons).

----------------------

It's my experience, not a claim about WindowsBlind, but rather my experiences in the past with the program which is why I stay away from it. I don't see why I can't voice my opinions about my past experience with a certain program. I'm not here to convince anyone about WindowsBlind, I'm clearly stating my horrible experience with WindowBlinds in the past and how my computer crashed several times while using it. If you're such a police officer with "factual claims and false claims" you might as well say everyone else is wrong, but you.

I like Style XP because I got it for free, and what more can you complain when you got it for free?

I'm clearly stating my horrible experience with WindowBlinds in the past and how my computer crashed several times while using it. If

You claimed WB was full of spyware/virus, which is not accurate. You can voice your opinion about your experience, but WB has never contained spyware or viruses.

;)

We're entitled to our own opinions. But we're not entitled to our own facts.

"Open Source is a wonderful thing for users who are excited about OTHER people doing work for them for free."

That's pretty entertaining, considering your product wouldn't have many skins to run if 99.9% of the skinners in the world didn't do it for free and the love skinning.

Also, I have never known Wb to contain viruses or spyware.

Pure fiction.

I'm going to just make this short as to not throw a cigarette into a forest.

To me, WindowBlinds is the best out of the three (er....two). Sure, it costs money. I know this is risky since FrogBoy is literally three posts above me, but because I couldn't afford it, I had to, well. You know.

Now, here's my reasoning for why I chose it over Visual Styles.

1. It's faster than UXTheme from what I've tested, so long as you disable the Themes service which is really just running them both at the same time.

2. It's more flexible than UXTheme. No, not all WindowBlinds themes are bulky, and no, it's not a bitch to make a theme that isn't bulky.

3. It's easy to create themes for. SkinStudio is not a hassle to use, it just takes a bit of getting used to. From then on you're smooth sailing. I was literally making a new theme just about eve