WinCustomize is a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

that provides content for users to customize

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. The site hosts thousands of skins, themes,

icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

wallpapers Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so ...

, and other graphical content to modify the Windows

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

. There is some premium or paid content, however, the vast majority of the content is free for users to download.

Site history

WinCustomize was launched in March 2001 by

Brad Wardell Bradley R. Wardell (born June 24, 1971) is an American businessman, programmer, author and AI Engineer. He is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Stardock, a software development and computer games company. Wardell's specialty i ...

and Pat Ford, both of whom work at

Stardock Stardock Corporation is a software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Microsoft Windows due to the collapse of the OS/ ...

. After the dot-com recession had taken down many popular

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other cuticle, animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have diffe ...

sites, WinCustomize quickly grew in popularity due to a combination of wide variety of content, uptime reliability, and being the preferred content destination by Stardock customers. The site has grown at a far greater pace than its founders had anticipated. It has managed to avoid having to put many limitations on users or having to resort to pop-up advertising because of its corporate patron Stardock subsidizing its costs. This growth has prompted several site redesigns to offer improved functionality and reliability to users. Since launch, WinCustomize has undergone several iterations: WinCustomize 2k5 — Launched at the end of 2004, WinCustomize was redesigned for improved stability, and added functionality, such as personal pages for subscribers, an articles system, tutorials etc. WinCustomize 2k7 — Launched January 15, 2007, WC2k7 was a fundamental rewrite using

ASP.NET ASP.NET is an open-source, server-side web-application framework designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. It was developed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic web sites, applications and services. The name s ...

. The focus was to build a foundation that was easier to maintain and, in the future, expand. WinCustomize v6 — Planned for Late 2008/Early 2009, the WC v6 project aims be a major revision to how users navigate and interact with the site and the community as a whole. Where 2k7 was focused on the core codebase, v6 is focused on the user interface and experience. In July 2007 the WinCustomize Wiki was launched. WinCustomize 2010 — WinCustomize 2010 was launched on April 20, 2010. This major revision represents a major change in the sites look and navigation for users. A guided tour of the new site was published for users.

Popular skinning programs

Programs heavily associated with Windows customization include: *''

WindowBlinds WindowBlinds is a computer program that allows users to skin the Windows graphical user interface. It has been developed by Stardock since 1998, and is the most popular component of their flagship software suite, Object Desktop. It is also avail ...

'' – enables users to customize the look and feel of the Windows GUI. *''

Winamp Winamp is a media player for Microsoft Windows originally developed by Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev by their company Nullsoft, which they later sold to AOL in 1999 for $80 million. It was then acquired by Radionomy in 2014. Sinc ...

'' – A skinnable media player from Nullsoft. *'' IconPackager'' – A program that enables users to change their Windows icons. *''

Rainlendar Rainlendar is a calendar program for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Versions prior to version 2 are licensed under the GNU GPL as free software, but subsequent versions are proprietary shareware. Rainlendar is characterized by very small space ...

'' — A skinnable calendar and small desktop application (widgets & monitoring) program. *''

DesktopX DesktopX was a shareware desktop enhancement program that allowed users to build their own custom desktops. Amongst its features was a complete widget engine for Windows as well as a desktop object system. User creations could be exported as .de ...

'' — A program that enables users to build their own desktop with objects and widgets. *''

Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on ...

'' — Microsoft's skinnable media player. *''

LiteStep LiteStep is a Windows Shell replacement for Windows 9x and up, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). LiteStep replaces the Windows Shell which provides access to the graphical user interface on Windows-based computers ...

'' – A noted desktop shell replacement for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. *''

ObjectDock ObjectDock is a dock similar to that in the Aqua GUI. It is distributed by Stardock for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 and comes in ''Free'' and ''Plus'' versions. Features ObjectDock allows the user to place shortcuts to a ...

'' — provides a dock that adds functionality to the Windows interface, similar but not an emulation of the dock in Mac OS X. *'' LogonStudio'' — alters the

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...

and

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

welcome screen. *'' BootSkin'' — alters the

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), releas ...

and Windows XP boot screen.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.wincustomize.com
WinCustomize forumsWinCustomize Wiki
Digital art Art websites Online databases Computing websites Stardock software