Want to learn how to totally customize your windows desktop to impress your tech savy friends who think they know everything about PCs. Here is a quick overview of how I customized a several PC’s with a few steps and varying themes. It consists of several programs that I used and I will link the websites below. For my desktop I am biased towards a Battlefield 3 theme so I looked for custom icons, cursors, windows sounds, web browser, and media player.
Dreamscene
Now, to start off you need to know what you are going to be working with. What kind of feel or look do you want for your desktop? So, I figure a good place to start off is with your wallpaper. Everyone knows the basic wallpaper you download from some website or google search images but what I will be guiding you through today is on a totally different level. Dreamscene lets you put movies or just short animated clips to bring your desktop to life. You can download Dreamscene from different places or you can enable on your computer if you have Windows 7 Ultimate. Now to enable Dreamscene you can go to the link below and download an activator. You may do this at your own risk. I did not have to worry about activating the software because it came with Windows 7 Ultimate. If you have not run Windows Experience Index, you need to in order to have Dreamscene initialized. After you installing Dreamscene, go to deviantart.com and search for Dreamscenes. There is another site called Customize.org that you can go to as well and check their Dreamscenes. After you install the program, you can make almost any video file into your background by right clicking the file. The video will play continuously as your PC is on and doesn’t take up much memory as well.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-7-dreamscene-activator-released
Windows Log-On Screen
Now to change your windows log on screen it’s pretty simple. I used a third party software from a company called Stardock and the software is called Log-On Studio which is pretty easy to use. You just download whatever picture you want for your windows log on screen and you run the software and basically create your custom log on screen for every time you log into your computer. You can also change your user icon pretty easily as well. You just have to click your start button, then go to your control panel, then user accounts and family safety, then users, and then change your picture.
http://www.stardock.com/products/logonstudio/
Icons for Rainmeter and Cursors
Ok so now for icons and for your custom cursor. It really depends on what you want and I’m sure that there are a million sites out there that have icons and cursors. But I always find the best images on deviantart.com, which I linked you guys to earlier. I will show you guys a program called Rainmeter a little later that can basically run your task bar, launch games, and shutdown your pc, all with totally customizable icons and varying designs. Now when you want icons just for your windows folders maybe your recycle bin or your music folder, you can download then and make sure that they are in .ico format because that is the one that will be compatible. You can also change the icon by right clicking the current icon, go to properties, then click change icon. For changing your recycle bin and my computer icons you right click your desktop, go to customize, then on the left you can see change desktop icons. It takes a little while to find the icons that suite you and your custom build but it really does make a big difference. Now changing your cursor is a bit more difficult. You can find them on deviantart.com like most of this stuff but you need to download one that is a cursor file. The ones that are for Windows XP are weird, not too sure on how to install those. Anyways, you want to make sure that your cursor is saved in the directory for your cursor in windows. You can find this in C:\Windows\Cursors. You can also make a sub folder in that directory if you want, it just has to be in there because if it’s not when you restart windows it will not be your custom setting. Now after you copy your cursor files, right click your desktop, go to personalize, and then go to cursor. You have to change each option but cursor files are usually labeled with what cursor is for each action the best way to search for a cursor is to search like animated cursor or something like that so you don’t get a boring old cursor.
Windows Sounds and Screen Saver
Now for your own custom window’s sounds. It’s pretty difficult to find your own sounds; I have been mainly using Starcraft 2 sounds because I already downloaded them and there are a lot of them to work within the pack. But I mean you can get any .wav sound and use it for your computer. One time I spent a whole night just clipping from songs I liked. Needless to say I won’t be doing that again because of how long it takes but it was pretty cool for a while. For screensavers you can go with the classic matrix screensaver that you have probably seen a lot but I got this one that I just found a few months ago called freefirescreensaver. Its pretty awesome, you just download it, install it, and whatever you have going on your desktop when your screensaver comes on is set on fire. You can customize it to play the sound of fire or even have it play music too.
You can download the free fire screen saver here
http://download.cnet.com/Free-Fire-Screensaver/3000-2257_4-10627791.html
Start Orb and Media Player
We have gone through a lot of steps on how to customized windows but, I think changing the start orb really gives you a different feel you can do this by downloading windows 7 start orb changer below. I used the bloody skull icon, which is just a skull that when you hover over with your mouse it starts to have blood pour down it. There are many different kinds; you just have to search for one that suits you. Now the only reason I mentioned a media player is because I used winamp and they let you customize the look of it. They had the best visualizer I have ever seen in any media player before I would suggest trying it out.
http://kishan-bagaria.deviantart.com/art/Windows-7-Start-Orb-Changer-v4-153001999
Rainmeter
Now last but definitely not least is the software called Rainmeter because it can do almost anything on your desktop for you. Now before I go too into detail on this I have to say it takes quite of bit of time to really modify links and set everything up perfectly on Rainmeter. You can always use the default ones that you find online but if you have to one that perfectly suits your tastes, get ready for a long night. Now first off, you have to download the software itself. Once you have Rainmeter installed and turned it on, you will notice there default setup and a welcome screen in the middle. To close anything open in Rainmeter right click it and then go to Unload Skin. Now one thing you should know if you want to monitor system temperature and cpu core usages with Rainmeter you need to download cpuz or speed fan. Now to find all of your custom Rainmeter skins you can search deviantart.com they have awesome ones. However, one really annoying part of deviantart is that they sometimes just post their desktop screen but not the links for the actual Rainmeter skins. Make sure when you see a certain Rainmeter skin that it has a Rainmeter skins along with it not just an image, that will save you a lot of time. Now when you download the Rainmeter skin pack your going want to open the zip file if there is an installer to run it. This will makes things simple. If not then you have to extract the files into your Documents/Rainmeter/Skins folder. Once you have your new skin extracted right click anywhere on Rainmeter and go to manage. After that you want to click refresh all then there should be a folder in the drop bar in Rainmeter that has the same name as the pack you just downloaded. Now comes the annoying part, have to open each folder and right click it then load the skin. They should all appear in the top left hand side of your monitor. Now from there you can just click and drag across your screen to wherever you want. With Rainmeter you never really know where your skins for this are coming from so always be cautious of what you’re downloading. And some skins don’t always work so don’t get to frustrated.
And once more another annoying part is if you want to customize the Rainmeter to include different icons and different file paths. Editing the icons and the file paths may look at first but is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. First make sure you always have the Rainmeter/Skins folder on hand. Then find the icons you want and put them into a separate folder called images. After that comes the tedious part, you have to right click the exact skin that you want to edit and click edit skin. A text document should open up and you will see a bunch of commands and text. Don’t worry you don’t really need programming knowledge for this part. Just find the icon that you want to change and look for a file path line. Just replace the file path with the file path of the icon you want and you’re done. Save the text file. And then right click any Rainmeter skin and click refresh all. After all of this your pc should really look awesome and everyone around you will be like how did you do that. I’m sure the first time you do this it should take several hours finding what you really like and making everything work but in the end it is really worth it. Every time you log on and you look at your desktop you’re going to get the feel that you are on your personal system. I really hope that you can find this helpful and that your computer looks as awesome as mine does.
http://rainmeter.en.softonic.com/
