WindowBlinds 5 now available!
Start personalizing Windows!
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Stardock has released WindowBlinds 5 to the public today. WindowBlinds allows users to completely alter the look and feel of the Windows interface by applying visual styles (skins) to title bars, buttons, the Start bar, borders and more. Consumers customize nearly everything else in their environments: their cars, homes, clothing and cell phones are based on their personal preferences and needs. With WindowBlinds 5, users can now make their Windows desktops look and feel the way they want.
WindowBlinds 5 introduces a broad range of new features, including per-pixel alpha blending, resulting in smooth or glassy title bars and borders that realistically distort the content behind them; as well as the ability to change toolbar icons, progress animations and the hue and saturation of the Windows interface.
With over over 8 million users worldwide, WindowBlinds 5 is the most popular desktop-enhancement utility of all time according to CNET’s Download.com where it recently passed the 9 million download mark. It is also used by companies such as Microsoft, ATI, nVidia, Alienware, Nintendo and many others to provide custom Windows user interfaces for their customers.
WindowBlinds 5 is $19.95 as a stand-alone program or for $49.95 by purchasing Stardock’s award-winning Windows enhancement suite, Object Desktop. A shareware version of WindowBlinds is available for free download.
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Reply #122 Thursday, December 1, 2005 6:08 AM
Most of the heavy lifting (as I understand it) is done by the video card in this build of WB. And you indicate that you have a Radeon 9800 which should be fine according to Stardock. [I have a Radeon 9200se with no problems seeing glass effects.]
Have you updated your drivers yet? There should be no harm even if it doesn't help.
And if you are not trying to offend skinners, you might want to find better adjectives than "sucks".]
I'm not good with words maybe i need a dictionary to find words that mean what i want.
I updated the drives on my radeon 9800 pro 256mb but it still isn't giving me the glass effect.
reply to post #101: i know for broadband users (fast connection) the update drivers are large 1 files like 30mb but for dial up it's split in 3, about 10mb each and i know how long it takes for 10mb to download on 56k dial up, takes like 25-40 minutes.
reply to #102: i did all you have said but i'm not getting the glass effect (i know it's nothing special) but just wat to see what it looks like, but the themes that come with WB5 aren't working, just a solid window. i have no idea what it is. Might be a dud card.
Reply #123 Thursday, December 1, 2005 6:44 AM
| As far as I know, there won't be any skin that will be able to skin the Favourites menu in IE6 (or any IE) The reason for this is that Favourites is partly a folder (from the seperator down) Or, if it is a driver issue, I have it too |
It was skinned like the others on my system with WB 4.60 (with same card and same drivers)
Euh, well, perhaps i see the same, as the others were not transparent 
Reply #124 Thursday, December 1, 2005 8:32 AM
Reply #125 Thursday, December 1, 2005 9:24 AM
| Can someone tell me where I can find the nice skin used in screenshot number 3? Thanks a lot for your help! |
It's called Cartoon2 by Pixtudio coming with the Toon XP updated suite https://www.stardock.com/products/themes/toon-xp/
Reply #129 Thursday, December 1, 2005 11:28 AM
Reply #130 Thursday, December 1, 2005 11:58 AM
My computer is no powerhouse by todays standards. I'm using the built in Intel graphics. I've got the most up to date drivers from Intel. I also put in DirectX 9. The only thing I see a little bit of lag in is when I drag a window. It doesn't happen all the time either. I can easily live with that until finances allow for a real graphics card. All the bells and whistles are working this being day three.
I've noticed that the computer is now using more of it's RAM. I've got 2-256 sticks. Just to see I opened up some files on Photoshop, put WFMU ( A great Radio station from New Jersey. All Radio should be like this!) on Winamp, opened up Nero, opened Outlook, opened up Opera and Firefox. Used up about 80% of the RAM. Everything worked.
I think the point is that you have to install and uninstall properly. You have to pay attention and have patience. Listen to what people are saying in the forums.
Reply #131 Thursday, December 1, 2005 6:12 PM
Reply #132 Thursday, December 1, 2005 7:18 PM
| reply to #102: i did all you have said but i'm not getting the glass effect (i know it's nothing special) but just wat to see what it looks like, but the themes that come with WB5 aren't working, just a solid window. i have no idea what it is. Might be a dud card. |
Izzee,
At this point, you might want to e-mail tech support and include the following:
- Text from the "System Information" report generated from within WB config panel
- System specs: Processor, Video card, OS, RAM, and if you have it, the Motherboard
- Explain as clearly as possible, the procedure you used to install the program, and what other programs you are running with WB5.
From everything I have seen in the threads for the past month or so, your ATI 9800 series card should support the per-pixel blending and therefore you should be able to use the pre-packaged skins that include this effect.
Sorry the steps I left did not help. 
Reply #133 Thursday, December 1, 2005 11:04 PM
i installed it and it is doing that glass effect.
So i installed a skin i download from the gallery "Vista" but the glass effect won't work on it.
Reply #134 Thursday, December 1, 2005 11:42 PM
Reply #135 Friday, December 2, 2005 12:09 AM
Reply #136 Friday, December 2, 2005 12:30 AM
Have you purchased WindowBlinds 5? The shareware version doesn't support per-pixel bordering on downloaded skins. If you have bought WindowBlinds 5, there is no way that this is a hardware or driver issue, not if you have DirectX 8.1+ or drivers that is less than almost two years old. Radeon 9800 is MORE than capable of supporting per-pixel borders. Intel onboard graphics cards can handle that...
Reply #137 Friday, December 2, 2005 1:23 AM
Good luck!
Reply #138 Friday, December 2, 2005 2:04 AM
| It isnt a easy upgrade... Had a lot of snags that were hard to fix if not for friends here at WC to help me fix them.......... Good luck! |
Hey... I am glad that I was here to help. I really don't know why WB 5 is giving people so many problems. It's no different than updating previous versions. I guess that's what happens when you buy a Dell I guess. But remember... I have said this many times when trying to install new software - make sure that your computer is plugged in and turned on and make sure that you have all the updated drivers, including ones for your motherboard and videocard!
Keep your stick on the ice
Reply #139 Friday, December 2, 2005 2:16 AM
And that wreklasss guy...how about showing or telling what "glitches" you are talking about?
Getting something to work right on your computer and being pissed is like Tony Stewart drinking 2 fifths of Jack Daniels before a Winston Cup race, it's just not advisable. Step away from the box, breath slowly, count to a thousand backwards and eat some ice cream (caramel swirl is recommended), then get back to the "damn" box.
From what izzeee has told us so far, I only know that he can't get the glass effect to work and he has a ATI chipset gaphic card of the 9800 series. That isn't enough info to troubleshoot.
Reply #140 Friday, December 2, 2005 2:21 AM
| i re-downloaded windowblinds 5 to see if maybe something happened during the download. i installed it and it is doing that glass effect. So i installed a skin i download from the gallery "Vista" but the glass effect won't work on it. |
me thinks izzee is using the shareware version. the shareware will only show the effects on the skins included with it. it won't show the effects on any downloaded skins
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Reply #121 Thursday, December 1, 2005 5:34 AM
As far as I know, there won't be any skin that will be able to skin the Favourites menu in IE6 (or any IE)
The reason for this is that Favourites is partly a folder (from the seperator down)
Or, if it is a driver issue, I have it too.