comments

Add a comment

0 comments

Windows 7 comes with some decent screen savers pre-installed. However, it seems you can only use these screen savers the way the Microsofties want you to. Clicking on the Settings button to tweak these screen savers is a recipe for disappointment. Our buddy Vishal of Tweaking with Vishal fame steps up with a quick fix that'll let you turn your lackadaisical Bubbles screen saver into big rolling balls or doom or your Mystique screen saver into something truly mystifying.

The

Start button in Windows 7

looks a little different that you may be used to. Especially if you wisely sidestepped that whole Vista thing. Sure, it's shiny and purdy, but it's still the factory default and Lucas has no time for factory defaults. In this episode, Lucas pimps out the

Start orb in Windows 7 with a custom logo

pimp.

Gadgets

were a must-have in

Windows Vista

... and not in a good way; you had gadgets in your sidebar and unless you went to the effort of getting rid of them, you were stuck with them. Now that gadgets are optional in Windows 7, they're much more appealing. Lucas runs down a few of his faves in one of his easiest pimps yet.

Windows 7 is still pretty new and shiny, even with the factory default settings. However, we're not interested in factory defaults. Lucas demos how to pimp out your

Windows 7 login screen

with a little regedit hacking. In this case, pimpin' may not be easy per se, but it's worth the effort.

While Windows 7 is looking newer and shinier than its computing cohorts, it's still in dire need of a little personalization. Redmond's latest actually has its nose open and doesn't require any third-party software, any hoop jumpery or skullduggery to enact your pimpery.

Creating a custom theme in Windows 7

is so easy, it wouldn't be worth doing if the end product didn't look so sweet.

With the switch to Windows 7, Lucas finds the Microsofties have removed DreamScene. Sure, the slideshow desktop in Windows 7 is nice, but it's not the active, full motion desktop that DreamScene offered up in Windows Vista. As Lucas discovers, nothing makes you want something more than when someone threatens to take it away.

Until the Microsoft sees their way clear to add a

dock into Windows

, Lucas is forced to take matters into his own hands. Mac users can be so pious with their aluminum-clad MacBooks, their as yet largely virus free OS and Docks. Lucas silences them (well, on the last point at least) by

bringing some hot dock action to Windows 7

.

Lucas lays his pimp hand on Internet Explorer 8 to check out some

cool add-ons

for the everyman. Now, Firefox is our browser of choice but the force is unusually strong with Internet Explorer. It's still the browser of choice for the majority of PC users... even our resident Pimp is thinking about making the switch.

Clearly not adhering to the love 'em and leave 'em pimp mantra, Lucas follows up with John from the HiTech Tattoos to ask the burning questions that were left simmering after his last visit to the laser etching studio.

Lucas is sleeved out with Star Wars tatoos, making him look a bit like an enforcer in some kind of sci-fi Yakuza. Carrying around a decidedly factory default-looking laptop is not befitting a man who clearly holds customization near to his heart.