We're constantly featuring articles written by members of both Stardock and the larger WinCustomize community.  We look for interesting pieces about skinning, the community or technology in general.  This week in particular there have been some great articles I want to feature more prominently. ID's May Roundup Blog A great synopsis of what ID's been up to across the skinning community in the last month.  This month he talks about the WinCustomize Podcast, the status of ...

Last week, our friends over at WinStep Software released the latest version of Winstep Xtreme, 8.5.  This version is packed with great new features and a ton of cool eye candy.  Winstep Xtreme 8.5 brings Apple Dock style icon reflection to Windows, an absolutely awesome visual effect that looks good with pretty much any icon. Here are a few highlights from the 8.5 version: New optional and user configurable icon reflection effect on docks and shelves. Restored the weathe...

This week's poll is about a potential feature that's being debated internally for the next major update to WinCustomize.  Since we're gearing up for the GUI Champs, and a major feature of the competition has always been forming skinning teams, we wanted to know if something like that would be a good addition to WinCustomize proper. Should WinCustomize add a "Group" feature to allow skinners to affiliate themselves with one another, and to work together and post skins under a team label?...

With the start of a new month, we have a new Desktop Screenshots thread on the forums.  This is where you can show off what awesome skin you're mainly running on your desktop this month.  So far, there are already over a dozen great screenshots showing off people's systems at the moment.  Head on over and post your own! At the end of the month, I'm going to go through the thread and pick my favorite screenshot of the bunch.  Whoever is picked will get a 1 year WinCustomiz...

This week it's just Spencer and myself talking about the upcoming GUI Championships event scheduled for later in the year.  Clocking in at about 22 minutes this week we talk about the 2006 event, some of the things we learned from it and what we hope to accomplish with the 2008 event.  Also of note in this episode is the changes to our sound setup.  We've added in a soundboard and higher grade microphones to try and improve the recording quality.  So my end of things should ...

Last week I asked who your favorite guest on the WinCustomize SkinCast has been so far.  In 6 episodes we've had four guests.  Zubaz (Ep 3) being our first and Kittymalone (Ep 6) being the most recent.  The idea was to get a feel for what sort of shows are the most popular, and what kinds of guests you all enjoy the most.  Since the four guests so far have all been very very different, we felt it was a good group to use.  You have Zubaz who's a moderator and big communi...

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend.  It seems like summer is finally here in Michigan and we had some nice weather for a few days.  Here's hoping it sticks around for a bit!  Anyway, while I was out enjoying the weather, some of you were here uploading great skins to share with the community.  As always, here are my picks for my favorite skins from the weekend that was.  Enjoy! ...

DesktopX is one of those applications that just doesn't get enough attention.  When people talk about gadgets these days it's all about Apple or the Vista Sidebar.  Everyone forgets that DesktopX came way before the others.  And when it does get mentioned, people forget that it does oh so much more than just desktop gadgets.  You can use it to completely redesign your Windows user interface. One skinner in the community hasn't forgotten this: PuterDudeJim.  He keeps t...

Wow, Friday already?  Well, since the week is pretty much over, that means it's time for Island Dog's weekly skinning feature.  Even though it was a short week, folks still managed to put out some terrific skins for everyone to enjoy.  This week ID features a bootskin, cursor set, dx theme, logon screen, a dock, two wallpapers and a new WindowBlinds skin.  Check out the full article for all the skinning goodness!

Another quickie review comes from Tyson Kopczynski of NetworkWorld.com.  He takes a belated look at WindowBlinds 6.0 and shares some brief thoughts on the latest and greatest edition of the top Windows skinning tool on the market. Tyson gives it an overall seal of approval, saying that it's a definite improvement to an already good piece of software, and definitely worth the $19.95 purchase price.  Read the full review here .

Download.com recently posted their Editors review for TweakVista 1.1, giving it a glowing 5 out of 5 star review.  They specifically praised the UI and the ease with which you can tune and customize your Windows Vista installation to get the most out your hardware and available resources.  They consider it a utility that every Windows Vista user should have on their system. Check out the full review and download the trial version of TweakVista 1.1 here .

It's been hinted at, we've made a few references to it here and there, but for the most part things have been pretty quiet regarding the 2008 GUI Champs.  We said we'd be back in 2008, and we've begun work in the background to prepare for the latest edition of the biggest skinning competition on the Internet. Today, a bit on what we're thinking of for the new GUI Champs website .  It's all up in the air still, but I wanted to share some of the design ideas with the community fir...

Earlier we put up Episode 6 of the WinCustomize Skincast, and this week Kittymalone joined in on the fun.  Since we've now had several guests on the show, we'd like to know who your favorite is, so far. Zubaz ( Episode 3 ) Jafo ( Episode 4 ) RomanDA ( Episode 5 ) Kittymalone ( Episode 6 ) After you cast your vote, go ahead and post a comment below sharing why they were your favorite guest.  Hopefully we can craft future episodes based on what everyone has enjoyed the most. ...

This week kittymalone joins us from the Land of Oz to chat with Spencer and myself about her life as a skinner.  Coming in at about 16minutes, we finally manage to hit our 15-20min window!  We had a lot of fun with this show, and despite some interesting time delays (kitty is on dial-up, on the other side of the globe it turns out) we think it turned out fairly well.  Yes, my volume is a bit off (I'm loud this week versus quiet last week).  We're working on a new sound solut...

Last week, I asked how often you change skins on your PC.  Based on the responses, about 64% of you change skins once a week or more (though once a week seems to be the sweet spot overall).  What makes you change a skin when you do?  Is it boredom, or does something new and shiny catch your eye?  What is the most recent skin you switched to on your PC?