Tips for new users!

Published on February 22, 2005 By Koasati In New Users

It was suggested that an article I put together should be placed in the New User section. I want to expand on that
What I hope happens in this thread is that the people I see helping others in the forums, will help me put together tips for the new folks.
This stuff can be confusing at first, and we see a lot of the same questions being asked often. So, we should be able to answer them in this thread, where they'll be easy to find.

The Problem:
Auto-installing Skin/Theme files are downloaded as zip files.

The Cause:
SP2 appears to be common factor here, but some people report no change after SP2.
What's happening is this... self installing file extension for most skinning programs are simply renamed ZIP archives. For some reason after SP2 is installed on XP, the extensions are renamed back to .zip when downloaded.
But it's easily fixed.

The Solution:

Step 1. File extension must not be hidden. If you're unsure what that means, open Control Panel > Folder Options > View tab > "Hide extensions for known file types" should be un-checked.

Step 2. Right-click the file and select Rename. Change the zip part of the name to the proper extenion. Example; skin1.zip = skin1.wba (for a WindowBlind skin)

DesktopX Themes = .dxtheme
DesktopX Objects = .dxpack
WindowBlinds = .wba
LogonStudio = .logonxp
BootSkin = .bootskin
CursorXP = .CurXPTheme
IconPackager = .ip

If you get a warning about changing the extention, click OK

Step 3. Double-click the renamed file.

Lantec pointed out that if you use Firefox (or Opera), this file extension won't be renamed when you download.

by Developer Lantec
Monday, January 03, 2005

Just a note;
I was having this problem constantly until I switched browsers.
Since I started using firefox all downloads autoinstall correctly and those that don't auto install have the right extension. There are a whole bunch of other advantages, but this one item makes it worth the trouble. SP2 has been a real pain.....

Jason Carver suggested this work around......... rename the files when you download.

by Citizen Jason Carver
Saturday, February 12, 2005

Heres a shorter shortcut ( well shorter in my opinion )

First write down the file extensions listed here. Next pick something to download. In this case , ill download a Window Blind file. When you click download. It shows the save as dialog. Below it , you have two choices from a drop down menu. "Zip files" and All files. Select all files , and add .wba to the end of the file name. When its done saving , you click open and TADA! its installed.

**UPDATE**

So, you like Internet Explorer....you don't want to switch browsers?
It appears that the problem can be fixed by installing a 3rd party archive program [WinZip, ZipCentral, IZArc, etc.] The problem seems to be caused by XP's built-in zip program.

Comments (Page 3)

LunaHa1o

on Mar 02, 2005

Citizen LunaHa1o - I see them just fine.

Please go here https://www.wincustomize.com/Skins.aspx?LibID=29
and tell me if you can find any of my icons I created on any of those pages.
I created them on 2/28, 2/27, and 2/25 so they should be included in the first three pages. They are not. The only way to find my icons is to type in a search for them.

Why is this when everyone else's seem to automatically get listed by creation (updated) date in the catagory?

Koasati

on Mar 02, 2005

LunaHa1o... Your icons are listed on the pages just as they should be. I think your viewing filter is set too high. Go to "My Account" > Preferences > "Show skins with this rating or higher:" ... adjust that setting to show All Skins, and you're set.

LunaHa1o

on Mar 02, 2005

Go to "My Account" > Preferences > "Show skins with this rating or higher:" ... adjust that setting to show All Skins, and you're set.

This is going to sound like I have no idea what I'm doing, but I really do. If I told you I don't have an option to change that everyone would probably just think I don't know how so I included a screenshot of the preferences tab to show you.

There is no dropdown box, radio selection, checkbox, or anything else after "Show skins with this rating or higher:" as you can see by this screenshot. http://ltpn.websiteallies.com/storage/stuff/wincustomize1.jpg

The only thing I can think of is that somewhere there is a setting that is not allowing me to view my own skins, however when I tried logging out I still could not view my skins nor could I on a different computer at a different location. Please do not click my name to view my skins. Go to the ObjectDock catagory on the main page and my skins should show up within the first 3 pages since they are listed by creation / update date. I can list them by author, skin name, etc and I still can't get mine to show up there.

Corky_O

on Mar 02, 2005

Charms55,

Because my knowledge comes from personal experience and learning from friends who are network administrators, my approach is less adventurous, and more likely to attempt getting back to “ground zero”, after which I reapply programs step-by-step to avoid confusion.

When performing an “Uninstall, Reboot, Reinstall” – I always do the following:

1) Deselect any options to “start automatically when windows starts” in ObjectDock, DesktopX, and any Widgets running.

2) Unload all programs.

3) Reset the Windows GUI to the default settings (in XP use “Display Properties > Themes tab > theme drop-down list > select Windows XP > click “Apply”).

4) Set the screensaver option to “None” (found in Display Properties under Screensaver tab) - then, click “Apply”.

5) Create a folder named “Odesk_Backup” in the “My Documents” folder.

6) Inside the “Odesk_Backup” folder, I create additional folders (i.e., Windowblinds, ObjectDock_images, ObjectDock_backgrounds, ObjectDock_themes, IconPackager, Widgets, DXObjects, DXThemes, ThemeManagerSuites) – note that I included ObjectDock which is not part of the ObjectDesktop suite for completeness, not as a requirement.

7) I then go to “C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop” folder and copy the following files to their relevant folders in the “Odesk_Backup” folder: (a) All skin folders in the “WindowBlinds” folder, (

All “.suite” files in the “Theme Manager” folder, (c) All IconPackager skin folders, (d) From the DesktopX folder – I copy all widgets from the “Widgets” folder, all Objects (.dxpackage file) from the “Objects” folder, and all themes (.dxtheme files) from the “Themes” folder. (Note – I include all files in this step, but if you know which ones are not included with the programs, you only need to copy those files– otherwise copy all and you can copy back any that are not included after reinstall).

8) For completeness I do the same for ObjectDock, as follows: Go to “C:\Program Files\Stardock\ObjectDock” folder and copy the following files to their relevant folders in the “Odesk_Backup” folder – (a) all background files in the “Backgrounds” folder, (

all theme files from the “Themes” folder, (c) if you downloaded any “Docklets” then create a backup folder for them and copy those as well. (Note – I create my own folders for images in this folder, so I have quite a few folders, which I copy to backup.). Whatever folder(s) you place your images in for ObjectDock, you should copy to the “ObjectDock_images” folder in the “Odesk_Backup” folder so that when you copy them back, they will be set up the same way, and your themes will work correctly. Again, this step #8 is for completeness and is not necessary if you are just “uninstalling, rebooting, and reinstalling” Object Desktop.

9) Now that I have all files backed up, I use the “odnt_zapper” utility, which you can download through the link found in comment #1 of my post here: Link, I have used it before and it does a great job of uninstalling all Object Desktop components. Just download it, double-click to run, and use the "Uninstall tab to select and uninstall the programs you want to remove.

10) After completely uninstalling the programs, I reboot my computer, open “My Computer” and go to “Tools>Folder Options>View tab” and select “Show hidden files and folders”, then click “Apply”. Then I go to “C\Documents and Settings\”user name”\Local Settings\Application Data” folder (where “C” is the letter drive, and “user name” is the name on the account when logged in), I then delete any “Stardock” folder found here.

11) I go to “C:\Program Files” and delete any “Stardock” folder found here, (where “C” is the letter drive).

12) Now I reinstall Object Desktop programs either off the CD or through Stardock Central, and reboot the computer (note – if using “Stardock Central” you will want to delete any restore archives “Before” installing the Object Desktop programs. This is to prevent previous issues from possibly being reinstalled. To do this, run Stardock Central and go to “File>Restore Archive” and delete any Object Desktop restore archives – do not delete any archives for programs that you are not “uninstalling and reinstalling”).

13) I then run each program one at a time either with the default theme or by selecting a theme or package that came with the program to insure that the install procedure was successful.

14) After completing step #13, I copy my backup files back to their proper locations, and I am ready to apply any Desktop Theme I had made previous to the procedure – hopefully without any issues.

Note – when copying files back, the system will indicate whether there is already a file by that name in the destination folder – always select the option that tells the system “Not” to overwrite the file already there.

Note #2 – I have used “Bootskin” before, but I decided that I want to see my boot screen options, so I uninstalled it and therefore have little knowledge to offer concerning that program. I do however think that the “uninstall, reboot, reinstall” method is a good idea, even after a successful system restore, because it allows the OS to install the program cleanly with it’s current configuration and should therefore work well.

I have used this method myself a few times and have been successful with it, so I feel confident with the results – especially if you use the “odnt_zapper” utility mentioned in step #9.

There is also an option in the settings menu of Stardock Central which enables (acronym starting with "M" - not at my home machine so I can't check till later). Deselecting this seems to stop the Object Desktop splash screen, but I have not contacted Stardock support yet to clarify what it does, so it is currently a "Try at your own risk" comment from me. Someone posted a thread on this a few days ago "Essencay" maybe?

I know this is a long comment and apologize to anyone aggravated by it; I just wanted it to be as complete as possible.

This procedure is geared towards any situation where identifying the problem program has been difficult or seemingly impossible and allows the user to test the programs after reinstall with the default settings of each program. If the program runs correctly with a default or included theme after reinstall, the user can be confident that the program has installed and registered with the OS correctly.

I hope this helps in some way.

Koasati

on Mar 02, 2005

There is no dropdown box, radio selection, checkbox, or anything else after "Show skins with this rating or higher:" as you can see by this screenshot.

LunaHa1o... I should have checked your User Level before I mentioned the preferences. You don't have the ability to change that setting at your level. Those that use only the free products don't have as many options as customers, and subscribers.

LunaHa1o

on Mar 02, 2005

I see... I believe that this has been solved then because if I go to advanced search options and check every box (or just dock icons since that is my catagory of my icons) then mine do indeed show up in the correct spots.

Thanks for everyone who has helped me out with this issue. Hope to become a subscriber in the near future.

Perhaps someone here could answer a couple of other questions that I'm sure a lot of new members have...

How do you get your rating higher? Is it purely by the number of downloads? I do not see anywhere an option to "vote" for skins. Is that a subscriber only feature as well (to vote)? Also, under "my skins" it says my rankings for all of them are "5" but if I click on them to go to the more info page they only have 2.5 stars. Is this a known issue or am I just missing something?

Corky_O

on Mar 02, 2005

Subscribers, Administrators, and people who have earned a "rank" through their giving to the community over the years are allowed to rate skins - though rating should be done only after downloading and test driving a skin, icon set, wallpaper, etc.

The old site used a 1 to 10 rating scale, and upon moving to the new site a "star" rating system was adopted. It is my understanding that the rankings under my skins will be changed in time to reflect the new system, and is a "leftover" of sorts from the transition to the new site.

At least this is my understanding, though I am currently a subscriber level.

charms55

on Mar 04, 2005

Hi Corky,

Printed your suggestions and will give it a shot soon.

Checked out your profile. How do I download some of your skins? I particularly like Lovelight...

Maybe I"m missing something someplace...

Let me know,
charms55

Corky_O

on Mar 04, 2005

Thanks charms55,

Lovelight and some of the others are a screenshots of my desktop -most of which are others art I assembled for the shot, the components are listed in the details, and most of those are available here at WC.

The wall from that shot (which I modified slightly to fit my screen) can be found here: Link

The Zippo stuff here: Link

The Firefly icon links: Link, Link, Link, Link

Have fun.

Guba

on Mar 06, 2005

How do I change my cursor? I tried by moving the downloaded files to the "Cursors-folder" but it didnt help there was no way to choose them... then I changed their file format to .cur or .ani asthe others were but it didnt help... And as Kosati said here in his first text the filenames to change to, they were automatically those but they are unknown so I cant open them or anything what must I do!?

Corky_O

on Mar 06, 2005

Guba,

I assume you have CursorXP program, so here are the steps:

1) Cursor theme file extension must be ".CurXPTheme" using upper and lower case as shown.

2) Theme files must be placed in "C:\Program Files\CursorXP\Themes" folder (where "C" is the letter drive).

3) Go to "Start Menu > All Programs > Stardock CursorXP > Configure CursorXP" to load program.

4) Deselect the "disable all" check box under the CursorXP tab to allow selection of themes, select a theme from drop down list, click "Apply".

I hope this helps.

Koasati

on Mar 06, 2005

And as Kosati said here in his first text the filenames to change to, they were automatically those but they are unknown so I cant open them or anything what must I do!?

What you need is the CursorXP program. https://www.stardock.com/products/cursorxp/

s0jwa

on Mar 08, 2005

Hey guys wasup.

I just downloaded new version of OD. I downlaoded a skin named Indemnity Pro Tabs.
i can set the background for this skin but i have no idea how too setup the tabs? my OD still looks the same just with a difrent background. How can i set it so i have the scroll down menus for like games multimedia n stuff like that?

thanks heaps s0jwa.

Koasati

on Mar 09, 2005

sOjwa... you need ObjectDockPlus to have a tabbed docks. The free version doesn't support them.
You can have any folder open as a menu. The setting is in the Dock Entry Properties dialog. (but this could be another OD+ only feature, I dunno)

CerebroJD

on Mar 09, 2005

Its a free version feature as well Koasati.

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