Heaven o.o

Many thanks to Lifehacker for the feature. Very very very very unexpected.

 

Enigma (modified, just a little), 10 foot HUD (modified, just a little), CD Art display and System Tray with stacks. Woohoo.

 

Here is another shot. And yet another one with yet another different VS theme.

 

--------Please scroll down to read the most recent update posted--------

 

**Update**

I made a mistake, that's not the system tray, that's the quick launch. Geez... I'm sorry everyone.

 

**UPDATE** (2/10/09)

 

O.K... What can I say... Holy crap! I didn't expect this shot to be a hot shot. I just got home and the article on Lifehacker really made my day (After 2 tests and a presentation, I was procrastinating the whole day haha).

 

Alright, I'm really grateful for the comments you guys gave me. And for the little criticism regarding the "No-Step-By-Step Instruction", well I'm sorry, this screen shot was just something I uploaded in Flickr, posted on the pool and went to sleep (notice the lack of information posted compared to my other posts [well if you looked at them that is]). This set-up is also something I came up with while studying for my tests, listening to music and chatting.

 

With that being said, I apologize again =]

 

Alright, let's make a small guide then. Please comment down below or message me here if you have any question(s).

 

Applications running:

-YES, IT IS A WINDOWS VISTA

-Rainmeter

-CD Art Display

-Minilyrics

-StartKiller - Vista Edition

-Mozilla Firefox (customized - See Kaelri's photostream)

 

**Rainmeter** - I'm sure everyone reading this have heard of this application.

 

I am in love with Kaelri's Enigma configurations, they're neat, simple and easy to modify (well all skins can be modified anyway). Also, the 10 foot HUD is a must have, it's simple and useful.

 

Enigma and 10-Foot HUD modified:

Basically, the only thing I did was change the text size and colors of the configurations. I changed the colors of some texts and I also enlarged the texts.

 

I'm assuming you all know how to find the "Edit Skin" which opens up a Notepad window. Under "Font", "Font Size" and "Font Color" you can changed them easily until you find what you want.

 

The text I am using is Century Gothic. I also uploaded a document which contains a Color Chart for text colors. You need Adobe Reader, get it here.

 

**CD Art Display**

The skin I got from a friend of mine. She said she modified it just a little (and I did too). But I'm sure you can find this skin and a hell lot of skins for CAD if you just spend a couple minutes browsing their directories in their website.

 

**Minilyrics**

That lyrics thing, I like to sing along, I don't always know the lyrics so I look at my desktop.

 

Others:

 

**StandaloneStack**

Well, this little apps is very simple and pretty straightforward. It was featured in Lifehacker as well. Check it out here (instructions included).

 

**Other words I can say**

Many thanks to Lifehacker (Adam Pash) for the feature. For the wallpaper, I don't remember where I got it haha, but I saw a link for it posted below the comment, please scroll down. For the programs, in case you don't have it, google is your best friend.

 

P.S

Comments and questions, welcome.

 

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**UPDATE 2/11/09**

O.K... Seems like more questions were added both on here and Lifehacker... So let's start with what I remembered so far.

 

**Visual Theme**

First of all, this is a Windows Vista 32 bit (I refused to go any higher [64 etc]). It is called NINE. It's a fabulous theme.

 

**Taskbar**

So... I remember people asking how to move the taskbar on top of the screen, how to move the quick launch on the right side on where the system tray is and how I changed the icons on the taskbar (quick launch).

 

Before all, I want you all to know that I am writing a tutorial that applies in Vista, if it's about XP, I am NOT sure if it applies the same way.

 

--Taskbar--

O.K I'm sorry again, I forgot to include StartKiller (which removes the Start Menu). The taskbar can be moved on top by right clicking and un-checking the "Lock Taskbar", then you can drag it on the four sides of your screen. For the transparency, I used AutoHotkey. Kaelri's latest Enigma release includes this script.

 

--About System Tray--

Not a lot of people may know, but you can actually hide all the icons in there.

 

How:

-Right click the taskbar --> Properties --> Notification Area --> Customize...--> Read and voila!

-You can either choose to always show the icons, hide or hide when inactive.

-From the previews window, you can disable some icons by simply clicking the box next to it.

 

--About Quick Launch--

Basically, this area is just full of shortcuts. You can always drag something in there. Let's say you dragged Recycle Bin from your desktop on the quick launch, and what you got is of course, a shortcut for Recycle Bin. You can do this to other things like programs, folders, etc.

 

So how did I change the icon? I simply changed the icons of these shortcuts and dragged them on the system tray, no tricks.

 

Now, we come with StandaloneStack. I read a few comments that states "the stack closes when I drag taskbar on top". Well, it never happened to me. But the issue might be Vista. I'm not exactly sure, but there are things that does not really work well with Windows Vista 64-bit edition. So that might be the issue.

 

--About CD Art Display--

 

Check this link first: CAD Skin. As you can see, the only minor difference is the location of the text and its fonts. Which is also easily edited.

Done