The familiarity with Windows is
something that none of can ever let go. We instinctively know our way through
the Start Menu, we look for the computer icon and love the small little bar at
the bottom of the screen that connects us with all the applications running.
For us, a computer is the easiest when it flaunts a familiar workspace. But
what about people who want a little more? No matter how familiar the OS is,
Windows can get a tad bit bland after sometime, and if you have a decent
computer, there are various things you can hack to make your Windows look like
something else completely, keeping desktop productivity in mind, nonetheless.
Here we show you different ways to get that spice back up into your system. But
be warned that some of these also come with various imperfections that you
might have to live with.
A few years back, the best tool to customize the whole user experience of a
Windows PC would be with the use of Stardock’s WindowsBlinds. But these days,
it seems that WindowsBlinds has somehow gone out of fashion, and a new trend of
using SkinPacks has appeared on the scene.
SkinPacks are archives of Windows customization tools that change the entire
appearance of your Windows, from the Explorer to your cursors. A quick visit to
skinpacks.com will yield ample options for you to try out, but my
recommendation would be to choose one pack carefully and stick with it,
primarily because these skin packs change vital system files that are often
safer left alone.
Also, changing these files would be fine for a couple of times, but repeated
changes could cause your system to malfunction. So using a few skin packs would
be great, but continuous change would be harmful to your Windows.
Ever used a Mac and noticed the beautiful fonts that you thought you could
never get on your Windows computer? Now with a neat little tool, you can get
the same type of font rendering that you get on Mac system on your Windows PC.
A little tool called GDI++ can help you achieve the same type of fonts that
adorn the Mac and Linux systems.
GDI++ is very simple to install, and once the G icon appears on your system
tray, your desktop is redrawn to encompass the font rendering of a Mac
computer. This tool does have a flaw that messes with your Google Chrome.
Google Chrome does not work well with GDI++ and is rendered useless, but other
browsers like Firefox and Chrome should work perfectly fine. It’s just a small
price to pay for some beautiful font rendering.
Another tool that could come in handy while using a launcher would be
Stardock’s Tiles that mimics that Windows 8 application switcher that appears
on the left side of the screen. Tiles works in the same way and provides you
with an alternative method of switching between applications in an easier way.
Tiles is also highly customizable and can even hold some shortcuts to your
frequently used applications.
WinLauncher is another application that brings a Mac feature to Windows.
Getting tired of the Windows start menu would only seem fair after continuous
use, but with WinLauncher, the beautiful Mac-styled launcher would grace your
Windows screen. WinLauncher is also very easy to use and comes with various
Mac-style themes that help you get the perfect Mac look. You can drag various
shortcuts to the application and make it so that it houses all of your
applications, or just the ones that you use frequently.
Another awesome feature of WinLauncher is that it integrates with the
SynapticsTouchPad that comes with so many laptops and starts up with a very
Mac-like three-finger touch. This makes it easier to get access to the launcher
no matter which application is running on your screen.
And finally, the application that I cannot do without could be Fences 2 from
Stardock. With the initial release of Fences, Stardock only offered the feature
to spate icons into different fences on the screen. But with the release of the
new Fences 2, Stardock has integrated a lot of new features.
The most prominent one is that now Fences will emulate different pages of icons
on your single desktop, a single swipe from the left or the right side of the
screen will take you to a different page of desktop icons. Apart from this,
Fences also makes it easier for you to hide all of your icons with an easy
double click on any blank part of the desktop. So if you prefer a clean desktop
environment without any clutter, then Fences would be right up your alley.
There are many more options that you can use to customize your desktop without
compromising your productivity. But these applications would use a part of your
system. So a decent computer would be recommended to use these applications.
This way, you can break free from the ties that Microsoft has set on your
system and turn your Windows into your own by making it look like something
none of your friends have ever seen.
