GreenReaper

Reply to Optimization - Why do skin designers ignore it? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

When optimising it often pays off to consider where it's worth spending time on it and where it's not. Look at what the largest files are, or the simplest to convert to lower bit levels, or where it's easy to tile rather than stretch or convert an image to have no transparency/translucency. You can get big wins for small amounts of effort. Be aware that images will be converted to the target display's colour depth when loaded, so there is not likely to be much change in the memory usage

Reply to DesktopX Security.. in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

This will be added back in future builds - however, note that it is only intended for non-commercial (home) use. If you want support for it as a full security solution, buy DesktopX Pro.

Reply to The Un-Official WindowBlinds/SkinStudio Documentation Project in Skinning WinCustomize Forums

Tip : Annoyed by the all programs solid background on mouseover? brewman's StetZ ported by Snidely ( https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=1&SkinID=3921 ) demonstrates how to use an oversized more programs arrow to cover the entire area - note that the arrow also allows the use of animation . . .

Reply to VMWare vs. Virtual PC in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

You are missing something. The point is to be able to run different copies of windows at the *same* time on one computer, and to be able to test on different configurations that end up unaltered once you've finished testing, and an awful lot of other things. And I say I want to try linux out (indeed, in that Gentoo 1.4 configuration), but I only have one machine and I want to be doing everything else as normal - what do I do? I use VMware to run linux in XP. Also it's nice to have 98 in a

Reply to PoliticalMachine.com launched in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Sorry, Larry, but from what I've read so far it's mostly people flaming other people or quoting huge articles to "support" their flaming. This is why I stay out of politics. On the plus side, the game looks like it might be fun. *g*

Reply to hacking/skinning the MCP core in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

It'll probably be in one of the files in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Stardock

Reply to Altarian Prophecy beta Available to Drengin.net users in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Incidentally, if anyone is having problems archiving, it's probably due to the name (can't have a : in a filename). Which should be a simple fix for the SD team.

Reply to Bad serial number? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Have you tried talking to Stardock sales ( [email protected] ) about this? They should be able to sort you out.

Reply to Is it possible to have animation in a WindowsBlind theme? in Skinning WinCustomize Forums

Of course. Animation will take effect on mouseover. You just set the number of frames it has, the start and end frames, the time between frames, add the frames onto the end, and voila. The animation options should be in SkinStudio. Have a look at, say Docking Station to see how. You can animate most things.

Reply to Libraries back up, restoration begins in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

I do hope that backups will overwrite the "help" being given when they are available - it's all very well for temporary downloads, but things like preview images might well not look as the author intended, and if Stardock has them backed up they should use them.

Reply to *** The G.C. Play House *** in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

That was freaky. I was just singing that in an IRC channel for something totally different, and a few minutes later kyro starts singing it on the Stardock servers. Coincidence? You decide.

Reply to "When Colony Ships Attack!" - [v3x3n] in Software Development JoeUser Forums

I like the way in Star Trek they had a 3d (volume) gaseous effect as you moved through the galaxy. That would be cool to see - don't know how hard to implement it would be, though. :-)

Reply to Internet collapsing? in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Just having an open port does nothing. It's having an open port *and* having something on your side listening that's insecure that's the problem. mIRC doesn't even listen unless it knows there's a file coming in, AFAIK, so it's fine to open the necessary ports. You don't have to open all ports, just the ones it's using.

Reply to Star menu in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Have you got the "Always use the XP taskbar defined in . . ." option set? Does it work if you set it? Have you changed the start panel in any other way?

Reply to Internet collapsing? in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Madice: Why did you think I'm always so careful about ease-of-use? If it's nice to use they don't mind even if it has a few oddities.

Reply to Internet collapsing? in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Snowman: That's exactly what I am talking about. What is someone's life but the sum of their time on this earth? If you take away people's time, you take away part of their life. I and others want it back. Failing that, I want to stop anyone else taking some of it. If that means taking one person's life to stop others doing the same thing, then maybe that's what it takes. Madice: Truly? I don't hate it that much, but I do think that people should be really hurt fo

Reply to Internet collapsing? in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Isn't it? *puts on devil's advocate hat . . .* How much time have these people taken up? I reckon it has to be at least an average of five minutes for each internet user. How many complete lives does that total? If they take our time, shouldn't we take theirs?

Reply to SkinStudio 4 beta available! in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Sounds like you've got a messed up install of SDC. Try reinstalling?

Reply to Galactic Civilizations broadens its horizons in PC Gaming JoeUser Forums

Who said we had to feel fine? I feel tired, personally. Tired and hungry.

Reply to WindowBlinds 4 Guide in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Go to BFG's resource site ( http://www.bfgtech.com/resources_redux.html ). At the bottom, get the "3 skins" pack. It should detect if you have WB already, and install them as usual. Enjoy. [Message Edited]

Reply to Power outages hit north-eastern US - some Stardock servers down in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Yes. The internet routing appears to be down. Stardock Central works, but you can't get new copies of it via stardock.com because the DB server that checks registrations is down. I suspect things shoud be better by the start of next week.

Power outages hit north-eastern US - some Stardock servers down in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

The entire north-eastern US power grid has gone offline. Object Desktop subscribers should still be able to get their software as the main servers are outside the affected area - however, the main Stardock website appears to be down, as are news and IRC servers. Service will be resumed when the power is - for now, sit tight. Update: stardock.com is now back online. Still no news or IRC <P

Reply to Boot Screens and other conundrums in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Frogboy, surely it's only piracy if someone loses out? I mean, come on, you can't even use these files unless you already have the operating system. So it duplicates compiled code . . . that the people already have. It's just not a big deal.

Reply to AOL Email Problems in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Yes, same here with Hotmail.

Reply to WinCustomize: July breaks all time traffic record in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

That's exactly what you get: One year of updates and after that year you have to renew (for less: $35) or you don't get any more updates, just keep the stuff you have. But be aware that it's quite likely that WindowBlinds will be updated quite a bit, and if it goes up to another major version number, Object Desktop subscribers will get it for free if it's in their subscription time, but registered users are liable to an upgrade feew (historically $10). So you could get WB now, or you coul