This new desktop candy bar from the desktop enhancement sweetstore that is StarDock, IconX, gives you growing, shrinking, animated, tinted and glowing icons with shadows and everything else you'd always like to do with them, but was afraid the neighbours might find out about.

Or to quote the frog:

“IconX is a new program that allows users to do really cool things with their Windows desktop icons. Amongst its features include:

• Have icons "zoom" when you put your mouse over them.

• Animated transitions based on their state (grow and shrink smoothly)

• Sound effects based on mouse events

• Special effects based on mouse events

• Any sized icons on the desktop

• Shadows, glows, tinting, and other effects to icons

• Replace any desktop icon with a new icon or PNG image

• Save your settings as "themes" to use later.

For users who like to have their desktops look nice, IconX is a must-have program. It is part of Object Desktop (Stardock's suite of desktop enhancements) but is available as a free download as well.”

Trouble is, I don't use desktop icons. But then again, the world doesn't revolve around me (at least, not always) and our resident candy girl, Doreen, will most definitely dig this.

IconX is shareware, $9.95. || craeonics | comments (9)

Received a seemingly automated update on the .NET framework based (@#$%!!), yet intriguing Windows widget engine, Kapsules today:

“…because at one point-in-time you expressed interest in Kapsules, or have posted news about Kapsules.”

Big Brother is watching me.

“Kapsules is desktop widget engine for Microsoft Windows.

What's a widget you say? A widget is like a miniature application which rests on your desktop. Widgets can do all sorts of things. A widget could show you the current weather conditions, display news from your favorite website, or even check your email for you.

Version 0.9.0.5 of Kapsules brings to the table brand new hotkeys, new window levels, new window features, new scripting languages, more stability, less resource useage and most importantly - more speed. This is a MUST DOWNLOAD for any current Kapsules users!

• Download

Be sure to check out;

• Getting Started Guide

• The User Guide.

• Frequently Asked Questions.

• Changes for this version.”

And let's not forget some screenshots. || craeonics | comments (7)

I'm late. Nullsoft wasn't. Faced with an exploit and the bad press that comes with it, the WinAmp 5.05 bugfix was soon released.

“Changes in this version:

• Security bug fix

• Fix for upside down videos through DirectShow

• JTFE v0.96c

• Added prompt when loading a skin for the first time”

Unfortunately, the damage has been done. The exploit was front page news, the fix will go somewhere on page 21. || craeonics | comments

• [bz][shl|rls] – GeoShell 4.11.9

• [da][nws|rls] – Serence KlipFolio 2.6

I think I'm going to stop posting about individual modules and just mention the more major releases here. Otherwise I'd just be copying ninety percent of Blizzle's content and that wasn't the idea behind this blurb. || craeonics | comments

Skinnables.org just had a minor update to its support files section. Although this is hardly news in itself, recommendations for the section are being accepted.

Skinnables.org is a site with information on freeware, skinnable programs. It has a Support Files section, which is basically a list of common dependencies these programs might require. The hope is that files required by the programs listed could be found here. This list has been recently updated to include a few more of such files.

The list now includes:

• Msvcp60.dll

• Borland Runtimes 6

• GTK (with source)

Other files are under consideration, such as shdocvw.dll.

Recommendations are always welcome, but they are especially welcome now since the section has recently been worked on. The files have to include hosting permissions, and be used by a freeware, skinnable program. || cuttheredwire | comments (3)

NeXTStep inspired shell enhancer WinStep returns with new versions of popup start menu replacer NextStart and, as it would be called these days, dock WorkShelf. That's right, bloody OSX didn't invent that.

“Among many other improvements and fixes, the new releases fix a troubling bug with the multi-monitor code that prevented both NextSTART and WorkShelf from running properly on NT4/Win95 systems. With most, if not all, skinning applications moving away from NT4/Win9x and specializing in XP only, Winstep software is probably one of the last Windows customizing software that still supports these early versions of Windows.”

If you ask me, NT4 should die a horrible, agonising death. It's certainly nice of the WinStep boys to continue to support it, but really, NT4 needs to go.

“New Features in NextSTART v3.2:

• Taskbar buttons now flash when Messenger windows try to get the user's attention.

• Startbar automatically reserves screen space so maximized windows don't cover it.

• Menus too long to fit on the screen can now be displayed in side-by-side panels.

• Added support for capturing the new WorkShelf modules into the startbar.

• Startbar tasklist can now be scrolled up and down using the mouse wheel.

• Better transparent systray support under XP.

• Automatic middle mouse button emulation can now be turned off.

Bug Fixes in NextSTART v3.2:

• NextSTART now runs properly under NT4/Win95.

• Bug that prevented the use of more than 36 hotspots.

• Deleting the last item of a menu in the Menu Editor would crash NextSTART.

• Hotspot button right click context menu could sometimes fail to pop up.

• Tasklist sometimes displaying blank icons.

• Cancel would not discard changes made in the Menu Editor.

• Lots more of new features and bug fixes!

For a complete list of changes and additions, please click here.

New Features in WorkShelf v1.6:

• New Explosion animation when an item is deleted from the shelf.

• WorkShelf automatically positions itself on the screen so it does not cover or is covered by the NextSTART startbar.

Bug Fixes in WorkShelf v1.6:

• WorkShelf now runs properly under NT4/Win95.

• Tray icon was not being added to the systray after an Explorer crash.

• Recycle bin problem with a specific Shell32.dll version.

• Lots more of new features and bug fixes!

For a complete list of changes and additions, please click here.”

For the more sensationalistic among us, check the tension between devs, sparked by this comment:

“While most Windows customization software focuses on eye candy rather than enhancements, Winstep applications raise the usability bar to another level: they give added functionality to Windows and complete control over every aspect of the user interface.”

NextStart and WorkShelf are shareware. The former costs $24.95, the latter $29.95 and the combined package is $39.90. || craeonics | comments

Brand spanking new version of shareware desktop enhancer DesktopX, with the most notable new feature being ‘overlays’, which appears to be the ability to toggle ‘widgets’ between on-top and on-bottom.

I was going to say something about how for the first time ever DesktopX has stopped clinging to the desktop with this new overlay thing and how the next step could be normal z-ordering window behaviour. But I suddenly got this feeling it was long capable of this. That'll teach me for not running it.

“Major new features:

• Overlays - use F9/F10 to activate or show/hide widgets and objects that are normal Z-order.

  Overlay hot keys can be defined by users

• Widgets will automatically install themselves to your widget folder no matter where they are run from.

  Widgets can be set to be run on start up from their right-click menu.

  Important to remember: Widgets DO NOT require DesktopX to be running to be used.

• DirectGUI V2 now the base graphics engine. Means much faster graphics drawing, animation, shadows, real time dragging, etc. Just plain faster.

• Rotation and sizing now integrated into scripts and very fast.

• ActiveX controls have lower memory overhead.”

There's also DesktopX Pro, which has three flavours: Professional LX (‘for non-commercial use’, $129), Professional ($499) and Enterprice (‘call for pricing’), which is somewhat out of the average user's league (which is why it's called pro (‘which’ being my mot du jour)).

The big difference between the pro version and the plain vanilla version being the ability to wrap your objects up into stand-alone .exe's.

Slick. || craeonics | comments (1)

The Kenneth One just notified me of an article he found at DeskMod (it would've been nice if he had included the url). Apparently, running WinAmp is a security risk these days. Would this be the first skin virus?

The article (and its equivalents at WinCustomize, DeviantArt and other places) quotes a C|NET article, which is journalistic rendition of a security advisory by security firm Secunia, which got it from the French security survey site K-OTik. Quite a round trip.

Okay, so, this exploit, how does it work? What does it do? Should you worry? What should you do to guard against it?

What happens is this:

1. First you are tricked into downloading and applying a WinAmp skin. This can be done by secretly loading the file in the background of a page (in a hidden frame, for instance) or by pretending to be a link to an image, which is actually a link to the skin.

   Whatever method is used does not matter. The crux is that, depending on your browser settings, the skin will get downloaded and applied to WinAmp without any app asking you what to do. If you normally can click on a link to a WinAmp skin and that skin gets automatically downloaded and applied, you are vulnerable to this.

   
   

2. This automagically applied skin would use the mini browser in the skin, which would then load a webpage packaged in the skin (a .wsz file is basically a renamed .zip file, so it can contain any number and type of files).

   You've probably seen this before in many skins already.

   
   

3. But here's where it gets nasty. First of all, the mini browser uses the IE engine, regardless of what your browser of choice is. Secondly, the page that gets loaded is not fetched from the Net, but from your machine (because it gets loaded from the skin you just downloaded).

   This page contains an ActiveX object that will load an application also packaged in the archive. Now you don't have to be a genius to figure out that this application can be anything. It can be harmless, but it can also be a virus or trojan.

   And since the security settings for locally browsed pages are usually very lax, you know you've got trouble brewing.

   
   

4. Bamm! Infected.

Obviously a serious matter, even more so, since this is not just a proof of concept. Actual implementations already exist. This proves that it is possible to package a virus in a skin.

And it's only dangerous because some bright mind felt the urge to build that pointless mini browser into WinAmp. And since the mini browser uses IE, you are vulnerable to every loop hole it has.

Somewhere there's this sense of satisfaction, since this proves once and for all my theory that the mini browser should not be part of a media player.

You don't even have to venture into shady territory to run into such a ‘malicious’ skin. As far as I know, none of the skin sites scan their uploads for virii. Someone could upload a such a WinAmp skin and the hapless downloaders would get infected.

Okay, what to do about it? Aside from uninstalling WinAmp and exiling it to oblivion. Fire up explorer and disable automatic opening of .wsz files. Secondly, it's wise to always download to disk and inspect stuff before using it and to never just open things from the web.

The exploit has been reported as ‘fixed’ for an upcoming release of WinAmp, so it shouldn't bother you too long. Ofcourse, it's logical that it gets fixed pronto. Not so much because of the potential hole, but more so because of the bad press it generates when people are advised to shun WinAmp. || craeonics | comments (6)

Ever heard of iShell? Probably not. It's one of those shells I could never find screenshots of, so I never paid attention to it. But now it has changed its name to Emerge Desktop and lo and behold, screenshots!

“What is the Emerge Desktop you ask? Emerge Desktop is an alternate desktop shell (user interface) for Microsoft Windows 2000 and above. It provides menus similar to the standard 'Start Menu' available via a right or mid click on the desktop.

In addition, there are many additional applets that provide additional functionality, including a task list, system tray (the icons located on the right hand side of the Windows Taskbar). There are many informational applets that display CPU, Memory and Disk usage. It will even display the weather for you.”

Another tree in the forest of shells. One day I'll have to climb up and check out the scenery. || craeonics | comments

A Japanese company by the name of SamuraiWorks, has obtained a license from StarDock to localise their windowskinner WindowBlinds for the Japanese market. Furthermore, a Japanese version of WinCustomize has been created.

Well, a ‘Japanese version of WinCustomize’ (or should I say ‘ウインカスタマイズ’?) makes it sound like more than it is. It's basically no more than the skins section for the Japanese version of WindowBlinds. Which is logical. It would be sloppy to offer a localised version of the apps, without localised versions of the skins.

A number of authors have given permission to get their skins translated into a Japanese version and posted on the site. || craeonics | comments

Over here we refer to this time of the year as ‘komkommertijd’ (cuecumber time), the time of the year when nothing happens and people post news on completely trivial matters.

I'd say the move of the #skinnables irc channel to irc.pixelarmy.us would qualify as komkommertijd news. Those that need to know already know and the rest doesn't care. Still, it's the only channel you'll ever find me in.

Hmm, should Tek have its own channel as well? None of the crew are into irc really. || craeonics | comments (10)

Ever wanted to have your machine look like a Mac, without actually getting one? Rejoice! ObjectDock brings one element from OSX' interface to the win32 platform, the much loathed dock. Ergo, a tabbed app launcher annex taskbar, which can auto-hide and has icons that grow and shrink when you hover your mouse over it. Ooooh!

It comes in two flavours, free plain vanilla and a $20 plus version with chocolate dip on top.

Okay, so it's not a brand new app. New version though.

“What's new in 1.04?

• Revised power monitor support

• Fixes for firefox minimizing

• Fixes for screensaver always on top issues

• Handle leak fixed!

• CPU at 100% due to VDMs fixed

Full history here.”

Check out the news post at WinCustomize (where I stole this from) for a load of screenies explaning the app more. || craeonics | comments

• [bz][brw|rls] – Maxthon 1.0.0220 beta

• [bz][shl|ls|rls] – xLabel(Light) 3.1.2

• [bz][shl|ls|mod|rls] – xDesktop 1.3

• [bz][shl|ls|rls] – xPopup 0.7

• [bz][shl|she|rls] – sharpE PB beta release 3

• [bz][shl|bb|rls] – bbLean 1.13b2

Time to skip the daily deluge of BlackBox for Windows plugins else it'd completely flood out most of the other releases, like that of the sharpE shell. || craeonics | comments

Blizzle brought my attention to an unplanned version of Rainy's excellent sysmetering app Rainmeter. This build got released due to the weather script going haywire.

“I wasn't planning to release this yet, but since the weather config stopped working I thought that why not release an update to Rainmeter too at the same time as I fix the config. So, here it is. Some bugs were fixed and couple of new features were added.”

Who needs weather scripts anyway? One look at the sky should suffice. What is this fixation with something that doesn't change from minute to minute and you can't control anyhow? || craeonics | comments

eSource Magazine, a blog on the the entertainment biz and a certain part of skindom, has had an interview with the CEO of The Skins Factory, one of the earliest forerunners of commercial skinning.

This (short) interview covers skins made for case maker AlienWare and the CatWoman movie. TSF being a company means you'll never get to see the people behind the scene who create the actual skins, but just the spokes person. A damn shame, for if you've ever wondered where all those great skinners of days of yore went, look no further. It has some nice pictures though (if you haven't noticed, I'm a visually oriented person).

Now, eSource Magazine… I still don't know what to think of it. It's a skins meets gossip glossy blog thing and I, for one, am very wary of that last bit. || craeonics | comments

Speaking of SacRat, whom you will probably know if you're on Shell-Shocked's secret mailing list and probably not otherwise, the dude has a blog these days (et tu, Brute?). It features quite a lot of articles and reviews on this thing called ‘GUI Customisation’.

And the best thing is that it has pictures to go with it. No, I ain't gonna comment on how he steals bandwidth by directly loading those pics from other sites.

He's not a complete idiot when it comes to discussing apps, so hop on over and have a peek. || craeonics | comments

There are a lot of things Aston and Talisman have in common. They're both shells, they're both Russian, they're both shareware (and thus shunned by the likes of me), they've both ‘just’ released a new version (which I did not mention) and they both caught the eye of the frog.

I've always felt that Gladiator Soft's Aston was LiteStep for people who don't want to wade through .rc files and like spending money ($28). As I happen to be someone who does like wading through .rc files and does not like spending money (greedy bastard), I never bothered to give it a try.

And still don't. Every screenshot I see reminds me of what LiteStep looked like years ago. Must be that wharf. But, it has quite a loyal following, with plenty of themes floating about, so the unbiased among you might want to give it a shot.

Version 1.9.1 (2.4 megs) was released two weeks ago.

LightTek's Talisman Desktop, on the other hand, has always been hard to describe. It seems to be much more freeform. Old themes used to have controls all over the desktop, but they seem to have realised that most of the time you don't see that desktop and thus the new default theme is more toolbar-esque.

But for the same reasons as before (shareware, $25) that's based on visuals alone. I know the looks, but not the ‘feel’. But again, plenty of themes, though less than Aston, so it too has its following.

Version 2.8 beta, build 2803 (4.9 megs), was released two weeks ago as well.

Now about that coverage.

A week ago, froggles asked for people who had been using both apps to give him their opinion on the two and compare. He didn't get much of a response (probably because WinCustomize visitors generally use only StarDock apps and aren't into shells), so he did his own comparison.

“I think the biggest difference between Aston and Talisman is that Aston feels better put together. Talisman strikes me as something that has too much legacy code in it and they keep taping more stuff on top of it. By contrast, Aston feels like it had a specific vision and went for it. Its interface seems more logically put together.”

SacRat has something to say about the two as well. Bear in mind though that he is a die-hard Aston user who can't stand Talisman, so his views are way less balanced than that of the frog. || craeonics | comments (1)

…and we're back in the air. Teknidermy has moved from the DeskMod servers onto the machinery that powers Skinnables.

Some thankyou's are in order. Grab your camera's, for crae thanking someone is a always a historic moment.

First of all, thanks to Dave and Mike for putting up with us all those years. Secondly, a ‘thank you’ to froggles for offering to host us. And thirdly a big thanks to panda integer, who's currently carrying the bunnies on his back.

'Nuff sucking up, 'fore it gets sticky in here.

I'm still not done ftp-ing the entire site onto our new server, so there will be 404's abound. Some accidental, some intentional. Moving a site is always the perfect opportunity to do some restructuring.

Because I haven't been able to reach our old server the whole day (thanks to my sucky ISP), the database is missing a day. So any comment made in the last 24 hours or so will be gone. Unless I can get a back up somewhere, that is.

“And what about #13?”, you ask. Well, it's been gathering dust on my drive for eight months now, but I'm working on it. Slowly, but steadily. Patience, grasshoppers. || craeonics | comments (9)

Jark's been posting teasers of the upcoming version 4 of DeviantArt on one of his numerous blogs.

I and a boatload of others actually know much more of this, but it's supposed to be a secret, so I'll only spill what the boss man is feeding the world. || craeonics | comments (11)

You can never have a holiday without something happening which requires your direct attention. What's the matter this time? Looks like Tek will be moving hosts some time soon.

Or as big kahuna Ken told me:

“Hi Guys,

got this from DM.

‘Hey guys,

I dont know if you didnt get my email about a month ago or what, but there was a cutoff for our hosting ending this past saturday night.

I havent taken your sites down because itd be a bummer to you and your communities, but you need to find a new home ASAP. We really have to drop hosting soon for reasons we cant disclose.

-iMike’

So, I can get someserver space thru Hostroute really cheap. they are our registrars.

What do you guys think? Keep on keeping on>? Crae, are you hip to moving all the files?

alternatives?

thanks

Kenray ”

Secrecy is wasted on me. I figured I'd inform ya'll before we went down this time. For the past few years, Tek has been hosted by the DeskMod boys <?include('obligatory/thank_yous.txt')?>, but that was apparently supposed to end last month. Ahum.

We're currently evaluating our options, but fret not. We'll keep you posted. || craeonics | comments

Matt Inglot of Lizardsoft informed me of the official release of CustomBar, their extensible mini-taskbar/app launcher on steroids:

“Hi there,

I have a news submission about a new skinnable product that has just been released by Lizardsoft. I would appreciate it if you could post it on teknidermy.”

Exactly eight minutes later though, I got this follow-up:

“It appears CustomBar was already listed on your site. I neglected to check this fact and mistakenly e-mailed you requesting a news post. Apologies and please disregarded my previous e-mail, although a link in your links section would still be appreciated.”

I posted about CustomBar a month ago, when I stumbled across it on customize. However, honest and courteous behaviour as displayed above deserves a repost. Ergo:

“The first version of CustomBar has been released after two years of development. This toolbar, which behaves similarly to the taskbar, provides an always-visible way to access common functionality and information.

Examples of such features include Winamp controls, web search, a mini notepad, shortcut menus, system information, shortcuts to special Windows dialogs, a template copier, and more. Additional components can be downloaded online.

CustomBar's major strong point is its flexibility. The strong scripting and plugin system allows users to create their own additions for the bar, instead of being limited to only officially supported features. It is also skinnable with skins already available in the skin gallery and even more on the official forums.

The bar was designed from the start to be as non-intrusive as possible. The default height is only 18 pixels and it can be docked to either the top or bottom of the screen. The full version includes multi-monitor support.

The program is under constant development, with 1.1 already scheduled for an early October release and with twice as many official components planned.

A 30-day free trial is available at http://www.custombar.net.”

Technically speaking, it was released a month ago, when I first posted on it. But back then, the site was still largely under construction. Since then, sections for skins, plugins and prefabs (?) as well as a bunch of screenshots have been added. || craeonics | comments (8)