In case you needed a font or two.....(free).....

ActivIcons makes it simple to change properties for various icons on your Windows Explorer desktop......(free).....

Utility that allows you to add recognition of Windows XP visual styles into programs that have not this ability. Actual XP Style does not harm executables, because it works by creating an external manifest file in the same directory as the application itself (Go to Products).....(free).....

Screensaver contains all the greatest Flash clocks - handwritten digital clock by Yugo Nakamura, timeline by InsertMonkey, Hans Donner's Time Dimension, and many others.....(free).....

Replace your Windows cursors with something better .....(free).....

The basic purpose of AniTuner is to create, edit and convert Windows animated cursors (.ani files)......(free).....

If you are one of those persons who thinks that life was easier in the old days - and this was back then when monitors only had one colour: green - then this tool might bring back that warm feeling. This small utility displays your desktop as ASCII art. It is a live display so everything you do on the desktop is reflected on the ASCII art display.....(free).....

Change the background wallpaper whenever you log to your computer.....(free).....

Balloon Killer XP - Get Rid of Those Annoying Balloon Tips in Windows XP.....(free).....

Stardock BootSkin is a program that allows users to change their Windows 2000 and Windows XP boot screens. Unlike other programs that can change the Windows XP boot screens, BootSkin does so in a safe manner. It doesn't patch the Windows XP kernel. Nor does it require the user to download replacement Windows XP kernels to do so. This has 2 advantages: 1) Boot screens that use BootSkin are typically under 20K compared to other boot screen programs whose files are over 2 MEGABYTES. 2) There is no risk of having your system unable to boot due to a corrupted file or after applying a service pack.....(free).....

Upload any image, get back a perfect Windows icon .....(free).....

Change cursor from Explorer context menu .....(free).....

Chaos Crystal is an utility for Windows that allows setting transparency for any open application. Type or drag the target to the program window you would like to set to be transparent. The transparency can be adjusted with the slider. The value on the slider indicates how transparent the window is: 0 for total transparency, 255 for complete opacity. Have fun with this handy utility .....(free).....

Clock Tray Skins is the advanced replacement for standard Windows tray clock. See the time, day, and date in different skins. Over 50 skins are included in the distribution.....(free).....

An extremly cool addition to your desktop. Think George Jetson.....(freeware).....

ColorConsole brings a little color to your black and white world of Windows console. Features: Favorites commands, Export to HTML and RTF, Copy,Paste,Cut... Changeable font style and color.....(free).....

SnoopSoft is proud to announce the simultaneous worldwide release of ColourMe v2.0 for Windows CE, Windows 95/98/NT and Windows 2000! Never before have Colour Schemes been easier to migrate from one device to another! SnoopSoft brings a first to the entire Windows platform, with the ability to change Colours not normally accessible from the Windows Control Panel Display applet! ColourMe contains the following features: "Flat" UI reduces strain on system resources! Ability to change all colours - even those Microsoft won't allow! Export any Colour Scheme from ColourMe. Import Colour Schemes into another device (share your favourite schemes with others). ColourMe works with devices running Windows CE 2.11 and higher as well as Windows 95/98/NT/2000.....(shareware, $5 after trial).....

Your cursor is no longer stopped by the sides of the screen, but instead comes out on the opposite side .....(free).....

Cut away parts of a window.....(free).....

New internet art studio from a talented artist/coder. Interesting graphics. Lots of wallpapers to "darken" your machine.....(free).....

DeskilatorXP is a neat simple program to hide your desktop, taskbar, startbutton, or change wallpapers, shut down the system, open favorite apps or folders, all in a simple user friendly interface. Alternative download site

DesktopFrames allows you to place bitmap, gif, and jpg images randomly around your desktop. Each picture (or 'frame') can have an action associated with it. It handles gif transparency very nicely. This was made with LiteStep users in mind (since it essentially allows something similar to active desktop) but anyone can use it! .....(free).....

Desktop Graffitist is a small program that enables you to spray paint your desktop, and anything else that might appear on screen. DG is designed for recreation and creativity, and can be used to relieve office stress and boredom. Aside from the added bonus of allowing you to vent on that stupid monthly report or the latest homework assignment, the program is also good for leaving messages on other people's computers that they can't miss (love notes, hate notes, grocery lists, and art/vandalism et cetera)......(free).....

Save and restore the positions of icons. DesktopOK is a small but effective solution for user that have to change the screen resolution often. Featutes: Save your dearest icon locations for each screen resolution. Each user can then have his own arrangement. Minimises to tray area for easy access. Launch at Windows startup. DesktopOK does not have to be installed and can be executed easily from the desktop, and can be carried on a small usb-stick or other memory device .....(free).....

Tweak the windows user interface and rename the Recycle Bin.....(free).....

Skins, themes, wallpapers--where art meets application.....(free).....

Hot and cool: over 300 hi-res original 3d-rendered computer desktop wallpapers, animated windows startup screens, screen savers, tutorials on making your own 3d art, and links to some of the best computer art sites on the web. The public gallery wallpapers are free to use on your personal computer desktop, or you can pass them along to a friend

Calibrate your monitor's colors and other properties on the web.....(free).....

If you want to check system settings in Windows you either have to dig deep into the operating system, use widgets to display them in the sidebar or run other applications that provide you with those information. It?s convenient because it places the information, like the current IP, free hard drive space and Logon Domain and Server, right on the desktop background which means no additional windows, menus or widgets that take up valuable screen estate.....(free).....

DM2 will minimize windows to floating icons, freeing both task bar and tray bar space. Moreover, DM2 can manipulate windows in various ways: minimize to tray, make them standing always on-top over all other windows, roll to caption, resize, align to screen borders, hide, set the opacity etc. DM2 also helps with Open/Save dialog boxes, by providing user-defined menu with favorites and recent files and folders. Plenty of program's settings options will satisfy most of requirements.....(free).....

Drempels is a utility that makes colorful, swirling patterns for you to gaze at, much like a hurricane or tornado. It has three basic "render modes", or ways you can watch it. In Desktop Mode it becomes your Windows background, (also called your desktop or wallpaper). In Windowed Mode, it runs in a small window, just like Solitaire or Word. Finally, in Fullscreen Mode, it takes over your entire screen.....(free).....

DrvIco is a drive icon customiser for XP. It can apply icons and labels to any kind of drive. No need to modify shell32.dll, no need to create a bunch of autorun.inf files, and no need to open regedit .....(free).....

This is a program that speeds up your Windows Explorer on Windows 95/98 by removing all those silly icons.....(free).....

A faster more versatile Start Menu for your Desktop .....(free).....

Makes screensavers out of flash files. You load a .swf file and it creates an .scr of it. It handles mouse-movements and keystrokes for you. (In German).....(free).....

Change folder icon or color by one mouse click. One mouse-click and it becomes clear at once, which documents have a high priority, and which of them have normal or low priority. Folder Marker adds an item "Mark Folder" in the folder popup menu. Changing a folder icon or color is now a piece of cake.....(free).....

Change the icon representing any folder. Brighten up your Explorer. Make special folders easier to spot .....(free).....

FreeSnap allows you to instantly resize any window edge to the corresponding screen edge. Want that window to touch the right edge of the screen? Press and hold the left ?Windows Key? (see illustration below) and press the right arrow. It?s just that simple. The number-pad keys work as well, regardless of the NumLock state .....(free).....

Use 256 colors icon in your TrayBar.....(free).....

Thoughts about the future of Desktop customization. Biased towards shells, of course! What should such a third generation shell be?.....(free).....

Dims all windows except the active one .....(free).....

According to Tog, Certain "principles are fundamental to the design and implementation of effective interfaces, whether for traditional GUI environments or the web. Of late, many web applications have reflected a lack of understanding of many of these principles of design, to their great detriment. Because an application or service appears on the web, the principles do not change. If anything, applying these principles become even more important." In this article, Tog runs down the laws of effective interface design--some are obvious, some are not. A great lesson for all the shell programmers out there.....(free).....

We love this one.... Graphical user interface gallery - website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces, as well as various materials related to them.....(free).....

Click once, your Windows desktop icons disappear. Click again, they reappear. Thanks to our friends at

Sometimes you don't want others to be able to manipulate the system .....(free).....

Customize the color of each WindowsXP folder .....(free).....

This little tray app will allow you to show and hide your desktop icons, as well as start your screensaver and minimize all applications. You can do this from the program window, or when it's minimized -- just use the right-click tray options.....(free).....

Windows allows icon sizes from 1 up to 72 px. This tool will provide feature to set up icon size up to 256 px (Go to Small Utilities).....(free).....

A full featured icon editing program that has many options. (Go to "Our Free Software" link).....(free).....

Small utility to search for all icons on the computer......(shareware, $15 after trial).....

Iconoid is a Windows desktop icon manager. Make icon backgrounds transparent. Select any color for icon backgrounds. Save and Restore Icon positions for each (or every) screen resolution. Select any color for icon text. Automatically or manually select the best color for the text background. Dynamically hide icons when you don't need them and show them when you do. Quickly minimize all windows so that you can see your desktop wallpaper.....(free).....

Make your computer is capable of running nearly any visual style that you can find on the Web. .....(free).....

Nice substitute for the Windows systray clock program. We particularly like the calendar options. LClock is a modified (stripped down) version of Kazuto Sato's TClock Light. LClock also comes with a simple but configurable popup calendar that opens when the systray clock is clicked. No more double clicking on the clock just to view the calendar in the "Date and Time Properties" dialog box. The calendar also contains reminder feature found in Rainlendar .....(free).....

Stardock LogonStudio allows Windows XP users to edit, change, and apply new logon screens. LogonStudio comes built with a visual editor to make it easy to create your own logons which can then be uploaded to websites to be used by others users.....(free).....

Magic Folder Icon allows you to give an icon for all your folders on your computer,making every folder different. The simple and cool interface makes it easy to change the look of an individual folder.It is a powerful software and easy to use. You can change icons of all your folders quickly and freely.Also you can extract an icon from any type of resource files like .exe files.Aren't you bored with the way the standard Windows folders look?Make your folders different, make them lovely with Magic Folder Icon.....(free).....

Small system-tray application that allows you to control the screen brightness on your laptop or Tablet PC.....(free).....

Monitor Calibration Wizard is an easy-to-use tool for calibrating the colors displayed by your monitor. Most monitors have flaws, they may be too dark, too bright, or they may have a color tint like green or blue. All these problems can be easily fixed through Monitor Calibration Wizard.....(free).....

My Drives customizes the look of disk drives in Windows Explorer by replacing drives icons, setting labels and hiding drives.....(free).....

MyToolkit is a simple program to add or remove theme support to or from programs that do not have it. Set the desired priority to all running processes (also system ones). Replace in-use or system files.....(free).....

Have you ever wanted to remove some Windows components like Media Player, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, Messenger... How about not even to install them with Windows? nLite is a GUI for permanent Windows component removal by your choice. After removal there is an option to make bootable image ready for burning on cd or testing in virtual machines. With nLite you will be able to have Windows installation which on install doesn't include, or even contain on cd, unwanted components.....(free).....

Do you miss the days of typewriters, when you heard a distinctive sound each time you pressed one of the keys? Those days are back when you use Noisy Keyboard. This system tray-based utility lets you hear seven different types of sounds as you hunt and peck your way through another computing session: one that plays when you hit the Spacebar, another that's heard when you touch the Enter key, and a third that's played when any other key is pressed. The setup program installs the sound events in the Windows Control Panel/Sounds module, which means it's easy to modify the sounds that are placed. Take advantage of the three crisp-sounding .wavs provided, or use your own. Need a quiet keyboard for a moment? Just click on the program's system tray icon to instantly mute the sound......(free).....

Stardock developed ObjectDock as a research project to see if Windows XP could reasonably handle the kinds of visual effects that are available on Apple's MacOS X. ObjectDock is a program that allows you to have a nice animated launchbar/taskbar on your screen that reacts to your mouse when you mouse over it. In short, it's a task bar and program launcher that does it with style.....(free beta).....

The program can attach any desktop window to one of the screen edges and auto hide it. (Hidden panels will work like the windows TaskBar).....(free).....

Paper Changer is a small application for changing the background wallpaper on the windows desktop from a random selection of JPEG images within a specified folder. Paper Changer can be set to change the wallpaper every time that you start Windows (without remaining loaded) or just used to change the wallpaper whenever you get bored of the current picture. Paper Changer stretches the image to fit as much of the desktop as possible without distorting it.....(free).....

Nice new skinz and shell emulation site. Heavy on the Mac look. How does your GUI look today?.....(free).....

Make the Preview pane in Vista display contents of text based files .....(free).....

Rainbow Folders is a unique application that allows you to change color of any icon representing any folder. To make it short: with this program you can colorize your folders! Such operation will speed up your navigation among thousands of folders located on your hard drive. Would you like to mark your favorite folders with green color, your work or school folders with blue, and your personal documents and photos folders with red? No problem .....(free).....

Modify and create static (.cur) and animated cursors (.ani) of any size and color depth. Animations with custom frame sequence are supported .....(free).....

Extremely well done graphics site.....(free).....

This one rotates your Windows colors (text, buttons, toolbars, etc.) once every 10 minutes. Supposed to be a prank, but might be a cool configuration for a unique machine (Go to Pranks).....(free).....

Screen Launcher lets you choose any program to run as a screensaver. You could start a Powerpoint, a movie or any EXE or associated file. To install, simply unzip, right-click and click Install on the context menu. You can then use Screen Launcher just like any other screensaver.....(free).....

ScreenMask is a small utility helping you to check your monitor color settings and help you to set up the logical screen on it by providing 8 color and 2 test patterns.....(free).....

Screen Saver Generator converts Html to Screen Saver. With a simple user interface, you can create your Screen Saver just like publishing a website. Unlike other generators, Linkexe Screen Saver Generator creates just one single dot scr file. You probably ask why Html, it is because Html is a well-developed and easy-to-use language. It gives you the full control to script/program a Screen Saver on your own.....(free).....

One of Shell City's favorite sites. Want to find a skinnable freeware app? Got one that needs beta testing? Got an idea for one, but need someone to code it? Looking for one that seems to have disappeared? Want to participate in beta testing? All this and more.....(free).....

The place to go to get skinz---radical enhancements to the way your Windows look.....(free).....

Interesting and fun prog - Soundmaps makes music out of your desktop actions. Soundmaps translates a part of the bitmap image on your desktop into sound. Drawing, typing, surfing, playing a movie etc. will constantly change the sound. Hence, you can make your own music while working. Soundmaps becomes your personal music mate. Soundmaps has 6 different modes and is very easy to install and use .....(free).....

The SphereXP is a new Windows replacement shell in 3D. Taking the known concept of three-dimensional desktops to its own level. It offers a new way to organize objects on the desktop such a icons and applications. The SPHERE (SphereXP) is a 3-dimensional workspace for Windows. It replaces and extends the regular desktop. It offers a different way to organize elements of the operating system like programms, icons ... Although the app is experimental, the concept can serve as a theory for the future .....(free).....

SplashKiller lets you hide those splash screens that appear when a Windows application is loading.....(free).....

Skin your shutdown dialog boxes without editing system files .....(free).....

Start Moving is an odd little program that causes your Start button to start dancing to the right on your taskbar. You can set the speed and the steps involved in the movement. Just click on Start, and it slowly slides to the right on your taskbar. You can click Reset to put it back. The change isn't permanent, as the Start button is right where it should be the next time Windows loads.....(free).....

Allows you to modify the clock on the taskbar and the icon and letters on the start-button.....(free).....

Taskbar Button Manager is a simple utility that helps you arrange the buttons on your Windows taskbar in any way you want by using drag and drop. Moving your task buttons is very easy, no hotkey needed. In addition to drag and drop you can also use a special program window for moving the taskbar buttons. You can hide running programs too, so they don't show on your taskbar. The program works in all situations ? even when the taskbar buttons are grouped or when the taskbar is not located in the standard bottom area of the screen.....(free).....

Rearrange the buttons on your Windows taskbar by simply dragging and dropping them.....(free).....

Removes the entire taskbar from the current logged in user. Stops users from changing Taskbar properties. Stops users from accessing the Start Menu. Stops users from interfacing with icons in the system tray. Easy Setup/Implementation. Starts up from the Hkey_Current_User Run key or Hkey_local_Machine Run key. Runs hidden in the background.....(free).....

Render the TaskBar transparent and show it on mouseover .....(free).....

Interested in skinning? Read the back issues. Watch the news.....(free).....

AT LAST! The newest issue of the Skinner's Journal... Where has Tek been the last eighteen months? And where have the bunnies gone? Crae explains all that and the mysteries of the universe as well. .....(free).....

Wallpaper manager that allows you to schedule specific images for specific date and time ranges. Lets you associate specific images with specific hours of the day, or days of the year, etc .....(free).....

Toolbar (alias Rik's Toolbar) provides a way to add a customized floating toolbar to any application. When a button is pressed a pre-defined sequence of keystrokes is sent to the desired window. All options for the buttons and what they do may be altered within the configuration file. See the links for useful configurations submitted by users .....(free).....

Make all windows but the active one transparent .....(free).....

Transbar is a little tweaking tool which takes advantage of Alpha Transparency in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Using TransBar, you can adjust the transparency level of your taskbar meaning that a full screen wallpaper is made partially visible through the taskbar .....(free).....

According to the authors, "We've taken the best free programs and united them into one package "Transform XP to Vista". Now you can easily modify Windows's appearance and make your work more comfortable and pleasant" A "looks only" mod.....(free).....

Make all windows but the active one transparent.....(free).....

TransparentFX is a general purpose plug-in for Winamp 2.x. It gives the user full control of the transparency effect for Winamp windows under Windows 2000. The plug-in allows independent transparency control for each of the four windows: Main window, Playlist Editor, Equalizer, and Minibrowser. It can change transparency depending on which state the window is in: active, mouseover, and inactive. Skin authors can also create custom settings for their skins to be used with TransparentFX. For the coding developers, there is a Winamp style API so that external applications can control the plugin.....(free).....

User Styles let you change the way your browser displays web pages by creating your own css stylesheets for use while browsing.....(free).....

Unless you are still using prehistoric configurations (less than 98SE, less than IE4...), you are able to enhance your interface using Active Desktop. Old versions of this were a bit buggy, but it works fine under XP (and it's even enabled by default ;-)), so let's see what can be done with it. Here's the cookbook. Thanks to

ViOrb automatically replaces your start button with one that looks the same as Vista's start orb. So you can get the Vista feel and look for Windows XP. Just download ViOrb, extract the ViOrb OneStep executable and then double click it.....(free).....

Probably our favorite site. A site with all sorts of "appearance changing" tips and tricks, including icon, startmenu, wallpaper, and logo customization.....(free).....

Take any foreground window to maximum available virtual screen size - that is - it will even maximize across multiple monitors.....(free).....

The Vista Flip 3D Activator is a tiny utility that enhances the Flip 3D feature of Windows Vista by allowing you to control it with your mouse. Just move the cursor to a corner of the screen that you choose, and Flip 3D is activated. You can then use the mouse to scroll through your open windows and/or select one.....(free).....

Vista Start Menu is the convenient alternative to the plain Start menu you find in Windows XP and Windows Vista. The program uses your cognitive abilities (visual memory, reflexes,etc.); however, while it is easily understandable for beginners, it is also highly efficient for experienced users. Go ahead and try replacing your Start menu right now! It is safe because Vista Start Menu does not change your system settings, thus making it easy to install, as well as simple to remove .....(free).....

Vista Visual Master is a free application that will help you to customize your Windows Vista easily. With a clean and simple interface it brings you an All-in-One set of powerful and neatly classified tools, settings and tweaks. Now You can change the look of the windows and buttons, change the system icons and hundreds of file icons, reconfigure the boot and logon screen, patch and apply your new themes, and you can customize Windows Vista according to your wishes. Thanks to

The Vista Start Menu for your Windows XP. Skinable. Sizeable. Customizing is unlimited.....(free).....

Vital Desktop is a desktop animation utility, a program designed to bring a fresh new look to your desktop. Never again will you be faced with the same static background every time. Now, your desktop actually comes alive.....(free).....

This is a revolutionary program which allows you to set Macromedia Flash (*.swf) files as your wallpaper on the Windows desktop. You can set to change wallpapers in random sequence, change them after the program starts, or after a time delay. (Site loads slow).....(free).....

Turns Internet Explorer into a fully skinnable Web browser, allowing users to skin the toolbar buttons, the window itself and the progress throbber. It supports alpha blended throbber animations (unlike anything else out there) and is easy to use. Version 0.80 of WebBlinds is completely re-written from the previous release, has improved speed, and now skins the status bar and accepts toolbar buttons of any size. Moreover, it uses much less memory than a fully featured stand alone skinnable browser might use, while at the same time having just as much, if not more flexibility than a separate skinnable browser.....(free).....

Whistler Msgina is a replacement msgina.dll (shutdown screen) for XP, based on Windows Whistler.....(free).....

WinMac is a free program that allows Windows 95, 98, NT4, 2000, Me, and XP users to add a Macintosh-style menu bar to their system.....(free).....

Give Windows a personal look. Customize your computer to fit your needs: exchange icons, assign icons to any folder, change or modify windows elements, change start button text, start menu url and much more .....(free).....

New site dedicated to bringing you the latest information about Windows Desktop Customization. Lots of themez, icons, wallpapers.....(free).....

Make a window roll into its title bar, send it to the back or make it stay on top. Minimize, maximize or close all visible windows, including minimizing to the tray area. Make a window translucent on Windows 2000 or above. WinRoll is lovingly hand-crafted in 100% pure assembly language to give the fastest response and the smallest memory footprint.....(free).....

Add tabs to every program. A tabbed browser, tabbed putty, tabbed terminal or tabbed shell, tabbed anything. Multi tab your windows in seconds. A terminal or shell with tabs work faster and efficiently! Having multiple windows as tabs will give a better overview of your windows than before. Also having multiple ssh sessions by the click of a tab works faster and efficiently.....(free).....

Automatically control how to display a window. Features: Move, maximize, minimize, restore, enable, disable, hide, show, ontop, bottom, alwaysontop, clip, transparent, transparent color, move relative to another window, stick to the edge of the screen, center, run a program. Doubleclick trayicon to center the active window.....(free).....

WindowBlinds is a software utility that extends the Windows GUI to accept thousands of different looks and feels. WindowBlinds has been used for everything ranging from making one's desktop look "like a Mac", to integrating help desk features in corporations, to enhancing productivity, to branding, to just looking "cool". Today, WindowBlinds has an installed base of over 4 million users around the world. WindowBlinds works on all versions of Microsoft Windows, from Windows 98 on. It uses the built-in features of Windows to enhance its performance and make itself a seamless part of the operating system. In Windows XP, for example, Microsoft provides users with the ability to switch between different looks (or styles ? Windows Classic and Windows XP style). WindowBlinds takes advantage of this new architecture, in effect allowing users to add additional styles.....(shareware, $19.95 after trial -- no time-out on shareware version).....

From our friends at

Set of utilities for Windows that provide additional window management services, Windows desktop and task bar management. The user can hide windows, make windows transparent, switch windows into the 'always on top' mode, etc. Utilities can be integrated into the shell. (Go to Desktop Utilities link).....(free).....

Windows Sidebar Styler takes advantage of the new technologies introduced in Windows Vista in order to provide extensions to the existing functionality of Windows Sidebar. Custom styles allow for resizing and customizing the appearance of Windows Sidebar so that it fits other UI elements, such as the Aero Glass colorization or an actual third party theme. Designers could save their visual styles so that other Windows users could apply them. Designers would not necessarily create these files on Windows Vista - Windows Sidebar Styler is backward-compatible with legacy operating systems as well. Gadgets are mini applications managed by Windows Sidebar. They can now take full advantage of Windows Presentation Foundation - the powerful managed code-oriented framework for presenting rich visual compositions such as vector graphics, 3D drawing, animations and more. In addition to that, it could be used in conjunction with Windows Communication Foundation in order for the Gadgets to connect to services and provide frequently updated information.....(free).....

Tips and tricks to speed up and configure Vista .....(free).....

Make a window roll into its title bar, send it to the back or make it stay on top. Minimize, maximize or close all visible windows, including minimizing to the tray area. Make a window translucent on Windows 2000 or above. WinRoll is lovingly hand-crafted in 100% pure assembly language to give the fastest response and the smallest memory footprint. WinRoll is proudly a FREEWARE and OPEN SOURCE application .....(free).....

Move windows automatically to a predefined place. Resize width and/or height. Moving OR changing size possible. Supports text contained in titles (like "Notepad") to identify window. One hotkey for all functs. Multi language support/Handbook .....(free).....

WinSplit Revolution is a small utility which allows you to separate your screen into two, three or four portions... Especially suitable for high-end LCD screens with high resolutions, Your screen is split so that you are able to display up to 6 non overlaping windows at the same time.....(free).....

WTask allows you to to hide the Task bar of Windows. This option is not present from Control Panel, yet may be useful in some cases. By hiding this Task Bar, you no longer have access to the small icons in the Tray, nor to applications lodging in the Task bar, or even to the Start menu unless your keyboard is set to activate it (e.g., through the Windows key).....(free).....

Xearth renders a shaded image of the earth on your desktop, as seen from your favorite vantage point in space. By default, the image is updated every five minutes according to the current position of the sun.....(free).....

XNeat Windows Manager adds additional features to the Windows taskbar and system tray, that enables you to minimize any window to an icon in the system tray (instead of the taskbar), keep any window on top, set a custom transparency level, and also hide any window or tray icon, furthermore the program allows you to re-arrange the order of the taskbar buttons by simply dragging them around. XNeat Windows Manager integrates into the right-click menu of the taskbar and system tray. It also allows you to change the taskbar appearance by hiding the Start button, system clock and other elements.....(free).....

Despite the name, XPBench is not really designed to be a skinning benchmark program (we suggest checking out programs like SkinBench for that). Rather, XPBench is specifically designed to query which Windows XP features a video card/driver combination supports and then to demonstrate the performance improvements supporting the XP API's makes. At this time, XPBench checks for the following: 1. Does the driver support constant alpha blending (this improves the performance of fade effects as an example) 2. Does the driver support per pixel alpha blending (window shadows make use of this).....(free).....

Make every application use an XP-type interface in XP, even pre-XP ones.....(free).....

XPize is a GUI enhancer that replaces most of the non-XP icons, avis and bmps that Microsoft has always overlooked. It also includes some extras and a reloader, which you can use after visiting Windows Update .....(free).....

Solution for extending your desktop display using displays of other computers (including Pocket PC) with a network connection. Like VNC, ZoneScreen is able to mirror a local desktop to another computer in the network. The main difference is that it also allows you to extend desktop, not only mirror it. Also, you could use ZoneScreen for Windows Mobile to extend/mirror your desktop to screen of your handheld. All you need for ZoneScreen to work is network connection between your computers (your computers are both connected to the same network, or connected directly with cross-over cable or 1394 firewire cable, etc). In case you are using Poket PC, you may also use connection provided by ActiveSync (using cradle cable, IR port, etc).....(free).....

Zorro is a utility to completely blank the screen except for a rectangular area selected by the user. This is especially useful for watching videos on your computer without being distracted by other programs.....(free).....

Alt+Tab replacement. "VistaSwitcher is an elegant and powerful task management utility for Windows OS. Once installed, it replaces the default Windows Alt-Tab dialog with a nice box that shows a list of all running tasks, with their names and preview snapshots, and enables the user to take actions on them using the mouse and keyboard shortcuts."

The easy, automated way to stay on top of Vlad Studios. "Vladstudio Companion is a freeware program with the following exciting features: Wallpaper changing & New wallpapers notification. Vladstudio Companion will add an icon to the taskbar tray, next to the clock. Simply right-click Companion icon and select an action!"

Shift the close, maximize and minimize buttons to left side of Windows Explorer. Thanks to The Windows Club

Dual Monitor Tools is a software package for Windows users with dual or multiple monitor setups. All the tools are open source and free, and each tools is independent so you only need to install or run what you want

You might wish to change and try something new and original, something which has not been released yet…like Windows 8! Here is a great, free package which turns and transforms your boring Windows Vista to Windows 8

ProgressBar Clock is a normal clock that shows seconds, minutes, hours, years, months and days. The time is mainly shown in progressbar form, but labels have been added for an accurate time. ProgressBar Clock also has a stylish glassy look. Thanks to Instant Fundas

F.lux makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day. It's even possible that you're staying up too late because of your computer. You could use f.lux because it makes you sleep better, or you could just use it just because it makes your computer look better. Or try the Linux version. f.lux makes your computer screen look like the room you're in, all the time. When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again. Tell f.lux what kind of lighting you have, and where you live. Then forget about it. F.lux will do the rest, automatically.

Dims all windows except the active one

This tool will allow you to resize and tweak the Windows 7 taskbar thumbnails left and right, in and out

Small program but effective solution to easily check for dead, paralysed, or stuck pixels on LCD monitors

Make all windows but the active one transparent. From Skrommel

Tiny portable tool that allows you to change your Windows 7 start orb button with just one click. Thanks to instant fundas

Save and restore the positions of icons. DesktopOK is a small but effective solution for user that have to change the screen resolution often

Display Color Calibration allows you to calibrate the display or screen color of your computer in order to get an optimal color view, be your computer screen an LCD or a CRT. However, this feature hides a bothering and annoying downside

View, change order, or delete icon formats in .ico files

A 3D desktop adding the third dimension to your Windows screen. Windows will appear in three dimensions and transparent on your screen and have the ability to be flipped, zoomed, moved, swiveled in almost any way you want. T3Desk is lightweight on your resources, unlike most applications of its kind

.Windows 7 seems to have one glaring omission, OSX style stacks. Now, with 7stacks, you get almost the same functionality as the OS X stacks, but with a more Windows 7 appearance. 7stacks is an easy to use, free app that lets Windows 7 (and Vista and XP) users have "stacks" of icons in their Taskbar (in 7) or QuickLaunch Toolbar (in Vista and XP). By using stacks, users can reduce icon clutter, and combine a group of related icons into a single icon. For instance, if you use application suites such as Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or Adobe CS4, you can have all the suite's icons combined into one icon! Thanks to freewaregenius.com

Save and restore the positions of icons. DesktopOK is a small but effective solution for user that have to change the screen resolution often

Hide the desktop icons when the mouse is elsewhere

FontPage lets you examine and compare all of the fonts on your system. You can view any typeface in bold, italic, underline and also 3D. In addition, you can also compare two selected fonts and preview fonts that are not yet installed on your system. FontPage can also print a sample page for selected fonts or print a list of all installed fonts

WiLMA for short, this is a fabulous must-have help if you have to keep track of many open windows at the same time, even over multiple monitors. (The developer shows a shot of eight monitors.) The main application has a basic window that allows the management of various layouts. Adding new ones, editing existing ones, configuring the options, all the basic things you can expect from any normal application. When closed or minimized it sits in the tray and offers a tray icon with quick access to layouts that are enabled (it’s possible to exclude layouts from populating the tray menu since some layouts are not meant to be applied directly). A layout is a collection of window definitions that contain conditions and actions. Conditions that describe the window and how it should be detected and matched and actions that allow various actions to be taken such as minimizing, moving, relocating, moving it to a different screen, offsetting the position, maximizing it to a certain screen, etc. There are three types of layouts: Normal Layouts: these contain window definitions where the entire layout can be applied to a current desktop. Individual Window Layouts: these contain window definitions that can be applied individually through an active window context popup menu. Live Layouts: these are layouts where the system is monitored and when windows that match any or all definitions it will apply the actions to that window as it becomes available and gets noticed

Rainmeter is a Windows customization application. Empower your desktop with an expandable library of useful tools – handy notes and application launchers, weather and feeds from the web, system status and more. Then, rearrange and modify them to suit your personal style

Style 7 is a Windows 7 theme generator. It uses the default Microsoft Aero theme as base and generates a new theme using blackbox styles. Blackbox styles are created with a single, simple, human-readable, configuration file. Thousands are also readily available for download on the internet. You will need UxStyle Core or UxTheme patcher to run the Unsigned Themes created by Style7

iRotate provides convenient access to the native rotation capabilities present in contemporary display drivers, via a popup menu accessible from the system tray and optional system-wide hotkeys. It's no longer necessary to resort to bloated Windows hacks, additional software layers or phantom drivers to achieve content rotation. In most instances, support is now available directly from the graphics chip manufacturers, who continuously improve and apply quality assurance to their drivers. By leveraging the native rotation capabilities now provided by ATI, nVidia, Intel, Matrox, S3, XGI and others, iRotate offers exceptional speed and efficiency, with minimal impact on scarce system resources - the entire iRotate package, including installation, documentation, and native language support in all the major European and Asian languages, weighs in at only 125kb. And like all EnTech graphics utilities, iRotate supports multiple graphics cards from various vendors, simultaneously, under every multi-monitor enabled operating system from Windows 98 to Vista

The main application has a basic window that allows the management of various layouts. Adding new ones, editing existing ones, configuring the options, all the basic things you can expect from any normal application. When closed or minimized it sits in the tray and offers a tray icon with quick access to layouts that are enabled (it’s possible to exclude layouts from populating the tray menu since some layouts are not meant to be applied directly). A layout is a collection of window definitions that contain conditions and actions. Conditions that describe the window and how it should be detected and matched and actions that allow various actions to be taken such as minimizing, moving, relocating, moving it to a different screen, offsetting the position, maximizing it to a certain screen, etc. There are three types of layouts: Normal Layouts: these contain window definitions where the entire layout can be applied to a current desktop. Individual Window Layouts: these contain window definitions that can be applied individually through an active window context popup menu. Live Layouts: these are layouts where the system is monitored and when windows that match any or all definitions it will apply the actions to that window as it becomes available and gets noticed

Titlebar Date-Time displays the date and, or time on the right hand side of the titlebar of whatever program is active. There are many options for customizing the display. You can change the color of the background and text. You can drag and drop to change the order of the items, more

Desktop Earth is a wallpaper generator. It will generate a high-resolution, accurate representation of the Earth. The imagery is based on NASA's Blue Marble Next and Earth's City Lights. Day and night is accurately represented depending on the Sun's overhead position (which depends on both the time of day and the day of the year) and both the snow cover and the foliage changes with the seasons

Gridy adds an invisible grid to Windows, so that any window you move or resize is snapped to it. Snapping is enabled with mouse drag or keyboard arrow keys. In addition, you can: Make any window semi-transparent, hide the window's Alt-Tab icon and set any window to be Always on Top

Make a window roll into its title bar, send it to the back or make it stay on top. Minimize, maximize or close all visible windows, including minimizing to the tray area. Make a window translucent on Windows 2000 or above. WinRoll is lovingly hand-crafted in 100% pure assembly language to give the fastest response and the smallest memory footprint

Ask for an invite - we've been using it for a week. Allows you to combine all your phone numbers, screen calls, block calls, ring based on who's calling, lots more

Get longhorn 4xxx style Glassy notification balloons in Windows XP / 2003 and Vista

UxStyle Allows Custom Windows Themes Without Patching. Thanks to Lifehacker

xpize is a utility program for Windows XP (32-bit only) and Windows Server 2003 (32-bit only) that replaces most of the bits in Windows that didn't match XP's style with bits that do. xpize does not replace any files, system or otherwise. Instead it "patches" the files by replacing the old resources inside the files

A ResHacker clone developed as a testbed for Anolis.Core and to replace ResHacker (because ResHacker doesn't support x64, XN Resource Editor (ResHacker's spiritual sequel) doesn't support multiple-language resources and crashes a lot, and other utilities rest cost actual money. It has a powerful yet simplified UI that doesn't duplicate commands or confuse the users with special-case handlers (which ResHacker and XN have in spades)

Lets you watch video and surf the web in a transparent browser. You can click through the browser to your open applications and work seamlessly Thanks to Freeware Genius

Theme your windows so that they look like Mac OS, BeOS and more - beta, possibly unstable

Google Chrome displays thumbnails of the most visited websites together with a search function and a list of recently closed pages which can be a great time saver if the user intents to open a website that is listed in that display

Rotate Monitor Screen. A tiny program to rotate your screen and touchpad at the same time. Especially designed for EeePC but should work with all computers Thanks to gHacks

Only for the most eccentric of Windows users - lets you control the order that buttons appear on your taskbar. Alphabetize them, etc. Requires IE4+ with shell integration. (Scroll down)

Give transparency to almost every visible window of your running applications, or make your taskbar transparent at a desirable level. TransApps is a systray application with two features: 1. The Transparent Applications feature, from were you can make any visible running application's window transparent (which means the applications that appears on the taskbar), selecting from a panel of transparency level buttons. 2. The Transparent Taskbar feature, from were you can make your taskbar transparent, selecting also from a panel of transparency level buttons

MaxTo is a small Windows program that divides your monitors into regions. When you maximize a window, it will no longer fit the entire screen, but only the region it was maximized into. Your windows are neatly organized into the grid you have defined when they are maximized. MaxTo has been described as a tiling window manager. MaxTo is light-weight, and works on both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. The .NET framework version 2.0 or higher is required

Full vector graphics desktop Clock that offers a unique, scalable interface that can be freely sized and placed anywhere on your desktop. You can make the clock display as large or as small as you like, and even rotate it 360° degrees if you feel the need for it. To size or rotate the clock, simply hover your mouse over the edges of the display to reveal the control buttons. CrossGL Surface Clock also comes with adjustable transparency settings, optional background animation and a date display. No installation needed, add it to your startup folder to have it launch automatically

Aximion provides a 3D interface for Windows-like operation systems. It replaces ordinary 2D GUI Windows interface with a true 3D virtual interactive environment. All two-dimensional windows and forms are transformed into three-dimensional and user can freely move them in 3D space, aquire, arrange and interact as with a common 2d windows. On the first stage of the project, we spent three years for testing capabilities of Windows system and trying various techniques and approaches of visualization and interacting. The result is a program that fully integrates into Windows and transforms 2D windows user interface into the true 3D environment, unlike other projects which create 3D environment that aren't related to the current system

Backup and restore icons position on desktop (and wallpaper) separately for every screen resolution. In the event that a computer crashes, if automatic desktop icons placement is selected or if the screen resolution is changed there is the possibility that the icons shortcuts position on the Windows desktop becomes scrambled; IconRestorer has been designed to remember the icon setup to avoid the boring job of manual restoring for the right icons position on desktop after these events. IconRestorer can be used to place the icons back to their original location on the Windows screen when needed, or even to manage two profiles of icon position. The icons position on desktop (layout) can be saved manually when wanted (every screen resolution will be saved separately) and can be restored at any time. IconRestorer also have the capability to save and restore the desktop wallpaper with the icon positions

Seven Remix XP from niwradsoft is a free transformation pack for Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server and Windows Media Center Edition. Like any other transformation pack, Seven Remix XP replaces a great number of system files associated with the GUI of Windows. Files that contain icons, images, animations are extracts of Windows 7 to update your Windows XP interface to that of Windows 7. The installer also applies adjustments in the registry, it installs programs of third, skins and visual extras like sounds, styles, etc. Description thanks to a fabulous site we recently discovered: Instant Fundas

Magic Formation is a kind of 3D Circular desktop Dock program. But, It appears anywhere on your desktop. Just draw a circle by mouse cursor on desktop anywhere you like

Cool visual for your desktop. Switches virtual desktops by spin-flipping the old one out in 3D, and then flipping the new one in

WinFlip provides a 3D window-switcher as a replacement for the standard Windows Alt-Tab. Winflip displays all open windows in a 3D stack, which the user can flick through and select using either keyboard or mouse

Cool animated visual for your desktop

People use LCD displays as if they were CRTs - We can do better than that - by ExtremeTech

Interesting concept - WinSplit Revolution allows you to easily organize your open windows by tiling, resizing and positioning them to make the best use of your desktop real estate. WinSplit is especially useful for high-end LCD screens with high resolutions because it helps you to efficiently manage many active windows. The advantage of using WinSplit is that it saves you from having to drag and drop windows by allowing you to snap windows into specific tiled configurations using simple keyboard hotkeys. Thanks to Download Squad

In just two clicks, WinBubble will help you to Customize and Tweak your Windows Vista easily. Its features cover Customization, Security and Optimization

Standalonestack lets you set up your desktop icons as stacks, in a rectangular formation, or otherwise, and put them anywhere you want on the desktop

If you use Internet Explorer for browsing the web then you know that for some links you add to your favorites, there is an icon indicating the webpage. These are called FavIcons. But after a while these icons get replaced in the favorites with the standard web icon again because the Microsoft Internet Explorer stores them in the web cache which gets cleaned up according to your settings, usually after a few weeks. Internet Explorer Favorites without FavIcons. Here's where FavIconizer comes to the rescue

Save and restore the location of your desktop icons

Completely hides the taskbar until the Windows key is pushed. By Skrommel

Dim the whole screen. By Skrommel

Digital desktop clock that allows you to fully customize its look and feel. You can insert any text, pick custom colors and fonts, set custom sound to play at the top of the hour, play real Westminster chimes, etc.....(free).....

Very cool look. Standalone gadget that puts a great looking clock on your win7/winVista desktop. it comes in 2 sizes, 4 styles, many different languages and works on both 32- and 64 bit systems. just doubleclick the executable, make some adjustment settings to your preferences and you're good .....(free).....

Sets an image as your wallpaper and then creates a neat translucent effect on your entire desktop. Thanks to our friends at Donation Coder! .....(free).....

Desktop Media is small application for Windows that automatically adds drive icons to your desktop. It will detect USB drives, fixed drives (ie. your hard drives), CD/DVD drives, network drives, and even RAM disk drives. For removable media (such as USB drives and CD/DVD drives), it will only add the drive to your desktop if it is present. So if you have a CD/DVD drive, but no disc is present, you won't see the icon on your desktop .....(free).....

How to use Multiple Wallpapers On Dual Monitors without any additional Software needed .....(free).....

Lightweight portable Windows program. If you use desktop backgrounds, it helps you to see sometimes the wallpapers clean and in full bloom. With an automatic hiding and showing feature of the desktop icons, an adjustable timer and arbitrary activation options. It is the right desktop tool if the desktop is awash with icons so you can see more of your desktop background .....(free).....

Stardock Fences Is a program that helps you organize your desktop and can hide your icons when they are not in use. Clean and organize your desktop by creating shaded areas which become movable and sizable containers for your icons. Double click blank spaces on your desktop and all your fences will fade out, and back. Here's a vid from our friends at CREATE COMPUTERS which explains how to use it. Get the vid Here!.....(free).....

ConvertICO is a Free Online ICO/PNG File Converter. It is fast, free and easy to use. It is used to convert Desktop Icons, App Icons as well as the much needed favicons for websites.

Weather Monitor is a lightweight sidebar gadget that downloads the weather forecast from Accuweather, enabling you to view it directly on your desktop. When downloading select the .ZIP option

eXtra Buttons is a freeware software that provides additional buttons placed in the caption of all windows. Extends standard OS functionality and looks like standard system buttons. Gives you up to 10 assorted configurable buttons to keep the desktop and windows organised.

ZBar is a utility for those who use multiple monitors. If you have a single screen, then there's nothing to see here. Move on.

Free File Icons is a free community project. This large collection of file icons is supposed to help developers, designers or webmasters improve their designs or developments on their web sites and applications.

StartW8 is a FREE but powerful tool for Windows 8 users. Do you prefer desktop to modernUI? Would you like to logon directly to desktop? And than use Start menu for running your apps? Then it's right for you. Get Start menu back in Windows 8!

XWidget is a free desktop customization platform. It is light, handy with powerful visual widget editor and very smooth animations.

The Winstep Nexus Dock is a FREE professional dock for Windows. With Nexus, your most frequently used applications are only a mouse click away - and Nexus turns working with your computer into a fun and exciting experience.

The IconsExtract utility scans the files and folders on your computer, and extract the icons and cursors stored in EXE, DLL, OCX, CPL, and in other file types. You can save the extracted icons to ICO files (or CUR files for cursors), or copy the image of a single icon into the clipboard.

TaskSpace is a simple Windows application intended to group ANY applications in a single window(task space) to provide fast and easy access to multiple applications simultaneously(no Alt+Tab switching and/or searching for a program in the taskbar is required).

CudaText is a cross-platform text editor, written in Lazarus. It is fully open source.

FREE utility with a multiple functions to help to extract data from PDF, convert PDF to CSV, PDF To XML, PDF To XLS or XLSX, PDF to TIFF images, extract file attachments and much much more!

Whether you are an illustrator, designer, web designer or just someone who needs to create some vector imagery, Inkscape is for you!

WYSIWYG Bash Prompt customization for linux bash. Pick your options and colors and insert the result in your ~/.bashrc

Terminus is a highly configurable terminal emulator for Windows, macOS and Linux Integrated SSH client and connection manager Theming and color schemes Fully configurable shortcuts Split panes Remembers your tabs PowerShell (and PS Core), WSL, Git-Bash, Cygwin, Cmder and CMD support Direct file transfer from/to SSH sessions via Zmodem Full Unicode support including double-width characters Doesn't choke on fast-flowing outputs Proper shell experience on Windows including tab completion