Red | 25 Jun. 2008, 01.16
Spot Light on Des
Just when you think things have gotten too quiet, somebody goes and makes a little noise. One of our own, Des, has made his little corner of the web worth a visit. He's got several nice tricks to try out, but first here's a mini-interview for those who haven't been lurking around the VirtualPlastic.net forum.
Red: So tell us a little about yourself & your site?
Des: I'm 28 years old and a 'customization-freak' or something like that. I mean I customize everything. Not just windows and programs, but hardware stuffz also, such as my pc, or custom cooling system for my cpu or vga card.
Or a simple desk lamp, bicycle, photo, or anything I can customize a bit. I started customizing win xp in 2005. before that i did not care about how my windows looked.
Red: What are your favorite parts of windows to mod?
Des: Fav parts to mod in windows: hmm... shellstyle, my visualstyle, logonui, user accounts, add remove programs, my html desktop, going total iconless and simple as possible, the menus... and programs like firefox, foobar, miranda, foxmail, everything.
Red: What are you working on for the future?
Des: Working on xp-sp3 right now. Switched to sp3 (from sp1) two months ago. Plus working on my new site to share my hacksperiments.
Des's site has tutorials on controlling crazy things, like the windows analog clock colors, to function things, like striping the folder 'taskpane' to just icons. The thing that stood out to me, as an experienced file tweaker, is the regular use of a hex editor. He's no stranger to it, and his tutorials explain what you need to change. I'm really tempted to try it out. He also has a lot of Original/Hacker screenshots. That gives a great visual to the site, making it worth the visit just to see what he's done.
Here is a list of his modding content:
Taskmanager colors
Windows clock colors
Windows calculator colors
Iconic taskpane (Classic)
Removing control panel icons from category view
List view in control panel's category view
Add / remove programs window layout
Removing the annoying focus rectangle (Sp3)
On a side note, he also has an unique "Tips and Tweaks" section too:
Removing the drive letters
The find, search panel / bar
Your control panel (.cpl), hta application
Customizing the user accounts window
Balloon message icons
That doesn't cover the whole site, but what I don't want readers to miss. I'm sure most customizers out there will find a gem or two in his collection. Special thanks goes out to Plastic for hosting his site, and just for being a good guy.
Des's Site: http://des.virtualplastic.net/index.html
Des's VP Profile: http://www.virtualplastic.net/msgboard/profile_s.php?nick=des
Red: So tell us a little about yourself & your site?
Des: I'm 28 years old and a 'customization-freak' or something like that. I mean I customize everything. Not just windows and programs, but hardware stuffz also, such as my pc, or custom cooling system for my cpu or vga card.
Or a simple desk lamp, bicycle, photo, or anything I can customize a bit. I started customizing win xp in 2005. before that i did not care about how my windows looked.
Red: What are your favorite parts of windows to mod?
Des: Fav parts to mod in windows: hmm... shellstyle, my visualstyle, logonui, user accounts, add remove programs, my html desktop, going total iconless and simple as possible, the menus... and programs like firefox, foobar, miranda, foxmail, everything.
Red: What are you working on for the future?
Des: Working on xp-sp3 right now. Switched to sp3 (from sp1) two months ago. Plus working on my new site to share my hacksperiments.
Des's site has tutorials on controlling crazy things, like the windows analog clock colors, to function things, like striping the folder 'taskpane' to just icons. The thing that stood out to me, as an experienced file tweaker, is the regular use of a hex editor. He's no stranger to it, and his tutorials explain what you need to change. I'm really tempted to try it out. He also has a lot of Original/Hacker screenshots. That gives a great visual to the site, making it worth the visit just to see what he's done.
Here is a list of his modding content:
Taskmanager colors
Windows clock colors
Windows calculator colors
Iconic taskpane (Classic)
Removing control panel icons from category view
List view in control panel's category view
Add / remove programs window layout
Removing the annoying focus rectangle (Sp3)
On a side note, he also has an unique "Tips and Tweaks" section too:
Removing the drive letters
The find, search panel / bar
Your control panel (.cpl), hta application
Customizing the user accounts window
Balloon message icons
That doesn't cover the whole site, but what I don't want readers to miss. I'm sure most customizers out there will find a gem or two in his collection. Special thanks goes out to Plastic for hosting his site, and just for being a good guy.
Des's Site: http://des.virtualplastic.net/index.html
Des's VP Profile: http://www.virtualplastic.net/msgboard/profile_s.php?nick=des
Long, but I just wanted to have some fun with this one. Besides, it's been over a year since VP had some news, so what the heck.
Apologies in advance if this is too long of an article, Plastic. I actually did shorten it a lot. Please, do edit it down however you see fit. Really the mini-interview and the list are what did it in.
; Next time I'll write a blurb and post the body as a first comment.
In any case, nice work Des. Hope you like the article.
Apologies in advance if this is too long of an article, Plastic. I actually did shorten it a lot. Please, do edit it down however you see fit. Really the mini-interview and the list are what did it in.
; Next time I'll write a blurb and post the body as a first comment.
In any case, nice work Des. Hope you like the article.
Holy crap, a news post on VP? That's incredible! Funny, and I was just stopping by for info on the calculator edit.
Ya, I have news posting privileges, but at VP news is only news if it's new. 
That said, Des's site was a perfect example. It's a new customization corner, and is by an active guy. The interview sounded like a fun idea, too. I figured it would give Des a little extra encouragement.
Heh, now that you mention it, I hope those passing by will even notice this article.;
That said, Des's site was a perfect example. It's a new customization corner, and is by an active guy. The interview sounded like a fun idea, too.
I figured it would give Des a little extra encouragement.
Heh, now that you mention it, I hope those passing by will even notice this article.
;
Red: Yes it's fine. 
Thanks.
And BIG thanks to Plastic for hosting my page.
Thanks.
And BIG thanks to Plastic for hosting my page.
Whoa, a post on VP . Nice site, des.
. Nice site, des.
Ok, so, I just stopped by to check on things, and I find this... good deal indeed Nice job Des, you've come quite a long way my friend, good to see you're keeping things alive, and doing a damn fine job of it. Keep it up man.
I see that Red is still around, and then of all the folks, it's Pogz!!!!!! Hello to all
Nice job Des, you've come quite a long way my friend, good to see you're keeping things alive, and doing a damn fine job of it. Keep it up man.
I see that Red is still around, and then of all the folks, it's Pogz!!!!!! Hello to all
More VP updates, please!
Eh.. What the hey. I'll dig up something.
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