A New Desktop Look

calendar Posted on November 8, 2006   comments 6 Comments

Microsoft recently launched a website related to their new Zune player which comes out in a week or so. That didn’t interest me so much, but what caught my eye was the link for the Zune XP Theme (that’s a download link). Always up for a new look, I grabbed it.

I’m really rather naive about the whole “make windows pretty” scene. A year or two ago I messed with WindowBlinds a bit, but that’s about as far as I’ve gone. In fact, on a fresh install the first thing I do is turn off the Tonka theme (or whatever that default thing is) and go with good ol’ classic. Uses fewer resources and all that.

My DesktopI guess this week I’m feeling a bit zany, but I actually like this little bit of prettiness. Ok, correction: I like it after I replaced that wallpaper it comes with (holy cow, I hated that). I like the colors, I even like the orangeish start button.

As for the wallpaper, I’m using the “no-text graphite” from this forum post. I bookmarked that one a while back and have rotated through several of those colors over the past few months.

The final bit of icing is that I’ve changed my RocketDock skin to “CrystalXP.net” which I think looks pretty sharp along with everything else. I briefly mentioned RocketDock back in August and I’ve been using it ever since. As you can see from the screenshot, it works well with my aversion to cluttering up my desktop.

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6 Responses to “A New Desktop Look”

  1. Rich G. on November 8th, 2006 9:16 pm

    you like the orange because it matches your site and yes… you thought the song was about you too… :P

    Windows blinds for me always caused stability issues. I even bought it but don’t run it because as much as I love the purdy - I can’t stand the instability.

    Like this theme, and like the wallpapers you suggested. I’ll give rocketdock a peep when I get home. Not sure what I’d use it for really… what do you use it for that the quicklaunch area doesn’t already do for me?

  2. Chris on November 8th, 2006 9:49 pm

    Speaking of orange, I was using the red (looks orange to me) background from that same forum for a really long time. I should mention I first found those via this article: http://www.taimila.com/orange-look.php
    Wanna guess what my xubuntu laptop looks like? ;-)

    RocketDock is where I put the things I use a LOT. I have it set so that it stays in the background unless the mouse hovers at the top of the screen and then it “pops” forward. Dramatically different than quicklaunch toolbar? Nope. I should just hide my quicklaunch bar, I haven’t used it since I started using RD.

  3. » pingback » A New Desktop Look - Zune-Gear - Your Zune Connection on November 9th, 2006 12:59 am

  4. Peter on November 11th, 2006 9:18 pm

    Love the theme! I just setup all the stuff on my laptop and it looks great. BTW, RocketDock is a pretty neat toy. Just installed it and gonna have some fun getting it setup.

  5. » pingback » RocketDock Redux » Solo Technology on November 11th, 2006 10:04 pm

  6. » pingback » Launchy - simplerich - ~ an open letter to you and the www ~ on December 21st, 2006 10:06 pm

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