And the Object Desktop 2007 Winners are……

Our latest giveaway includes two software license for Object Desktop 2007!  Ryan and I spent a considerable amount of time reviewing all that it has to offer, and boy, is it a lot! There are so many options for transforming your Windows PC into the look, feel, and functionality that suits you best. Together with Stardock Crop, we are able to giveaway two licenses for the full Object Desktop Suite.  The winners are… ( and we hope you enjoy it!)

• Entry #4  by CoryC: “I want to be able to really customize the look and feel my PC without having to modify system files or use potential virus/spyware infested “themes” downloaded from the Internet. I’ve been a big fan of Object Desktop for a couple for years now. I would be really excited to try ObjectDeskTop2007. “

The second winner that was randomly selected was entry #22, and if you’ll notice, it’s Ryan. So, we had to draw again, and we pulled….

• Entry #14 by Frustrated:

“Although I find myself rather knowledgeable about computers and their workings, I seem to constantly know just enough to get into trouble. So, here goes…

I’ve used skinning applications before, mostly WindowBlinds. I enjoyed the freedom it gave me however was always annoyed by the restrictions set by the “free” trials. I had been using this trial version of WindowBlinds for ~6 months, clicking past the ads and reminders to register every time I booted up my computer. The dilemma was that I was not willing to pay for the software but also, was not willing to give up the cool themes I had found.

So, a couple of days ago, I found an article on your site called “CyberNotes: How to Install Unsigned Themes in Windows XP”. Naturally, I thought this would be the perfect way to get away from WindowBlinds and to be able to find cool themes to use with only the Windows applications. Bingo!

In the process of finding the uxtheme.dll file, I thought it would be a great time to perform a little bit of “spring cleaning” on some old themes I had used. So, I navigate to the Windows/Resources/Themes directory and see a folder called “Luna”. Thinking this folder contained an old theme I wasn’t using anymore, I tried to delete it. However, I got loads of ‘Access Denied’ and ‘The file is in use’ errors. In a heightened state of frustration, I rebooted my machine to safe mode with only a command prompt to delete this bugger of a file that wouldn’t go away. In this way, I was able to delete the stubborn files and get back to work.

Having finished my “spring cleaning”, I proceeded to get the new uxtheme.dll from this web site and replace the old one. OK, no problems there. So I download a theme that looks cool from the website you suggested (deviantart). I unzip it and install it to the Windows/ Resources/ Themes folder and view the display properties on my machine in order to set the new theme.

Upon opening the settings page, I am immediately inundated with roughly 35 popup dialogs telling me I did something drastically wrong. Uh oh. All of a sudden, the screen goes black for a few seconds and I stare in amazement as the screen comes back on with the windows classic theme. ( I use windows xp ). Naturally, I try to change the theme back to the windows xp theme to find that it is NOT ON THE LIST ANYMORE. Oh great!

At this point, I realize that there may have been a reason the “luna” files were in use and I immediately go online to see what the default windows xp theme is called. Oops. Luna IS the default xp theme.

As you may have assumed, I spent the greater part of last night and early this morning attempting to get my machine back to working standards. So, I am proud to say at about noon today, I succeeded in restoring the windows xp theme ( aka luna ). I go online and find some other instructions for replacing the uxtheme.dll file. I follow these, which work exactly as stated. So, I install a new theme (WMP11 theme) and everything is beginning to look up.

So, I bring up Firefox to do a little web surfing. I navigate to this site and lo and behold!!! YOU ARE GIVING AWAY, FOR FREE, THE PROGRAM I SPENT THE LAST TWO DAYS REPLACING!!!!

>> Needless to say, a free copy of the Object Desktop suite would be extremely helpful to me. “

Thanks to everyone who told us why you wanted or needed Object Desktop 2007. Winners, you should have already received an email from us with further instructions.  If not, check your spam folder.. it may be hanging out there.

As always ,stick around because we’ll have more software to give away in the future!