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5 stars
Version: Winstep Xtreme 9.5
"Nothing comes close to Winstep Xtreme, not even Windows"
Pros: 1) It's chock full of the kinds of tools Windows should have had 14 years ago
2) It's completely and totally configurable, but ony if you want to.
3) It looks the same way on EVERY version of windows. Unlike windows.
4) The support is world classCons: There are just so many configuration options, it can be intimidating to the novice user.
Summary: There aren't many tools out there that help you interact with your computer the way you like to. And there are precious few that make it so much fun. Winstep Xtreme is both.
BUT : you don't have to dig into menu endcaps or aero windows thumbnails or transparency unless you really, really, want to!
If you're really lucky, you'll find a totally configurable menu organiser, or a totally configurable on-screen clock, or a totally-configurable weather gadget, or a totally configurable dock manager, or a totally configurable task-bar replacement, or a totally configurable system tray replacement, but it will take you decades and then none of those tools will really work properly with any of the others.
Winstep Xtreme is all of those things and more.
Not only can all the tools and gadgets and features be "skinned" to look sensational together, they can each have their own skin "theme" to suit you.
Each of the themes looks better than the others (well, only if you line them up that way!), and if you don't see the theme you like, there are literally THOUSANDS of sexy, glitzy, funny, colourful, elegant, creative themes available on dozens of skinning sites.
And if you don't like any of those, you can literally build your own. There's documentation to help, and the Winstep community is like no other.
In fact, you don't really understand what "support" is until you've experienced Winstep support. I can't explain it any better than that. The community is fantastic, and the developer, well, I'm not sure when the developer sleeps, because his support is just a friendly email away.
If you're thinking "Oh, retro gadgets aren't my thing", then you're not really looking hard enough. The gadgets are one part of the whole Winstep experience, and without exception they're useful, infinitely configurable, and fun! In other words, what windows has been trying to be for over a decade.
But the underlying tools are what makes this a killer suite.
Here's a "pro" for you: just setting up a single Nexus dock (or Workshelf, if you're that way inclined) can bypass your start menu - for good!
And with NextStart, you don't ever have to look at the ugly, clunky, boring, mind-numbing start menu ever again.
From sliding and hiding workshelves (all of which can be configured to show your running tasks (like an extra taskbar that you can put and skin any way you want), to Nexus "docks" (like the start bar, but with lots of botox and much, much better looking), to the NextStep taskbar replacement, which works better than the Windows taskbar. Which windows? Every windows.
You might spend 10 years finding individual tools that make your day in front of the computer go a little bit quicker (I did!), but nothing out there will give you as much fun.
Some folks will say "a computer isn't supposed to be fun, it's a machine that you use to get a job done". The strange thing is, some of those people work in cubicles (as I did for more than 15 years), and you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find any of their cubicles (or office desks) devoid of family pictures, funny sayings, special coffee cup, mouse mat, goony toys, or anything that makes the place a little less like work and a little more like home.
Winstep Xtreme is the ultimate tool that allows you to not only make your computer look the way you like, but it makes your computer WORK the way you like. And that means ANY windows computer, whether you're running Windows 2000, Windows XP (32-bit and 64-bit versions), Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit versions) or Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit versions), on a Pentium 4, dualcore Intel or AMD, Centrino laptop, or (like me) a quad-core AMD beast. You can take your favourite skins, colours, placements, sounds, layout, and settings and they will look and run the same on anything that will boot Windows!
You can't get much more YOU than that.
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