Add some Mac OS X style to your desktop...

    After discovering the Yod'm desktop manager and the guide to make your desktop look better with the icon mod, I went on
a search to make my desktop look as cool as possible. As much as I like windows, Mac OS X really trumps Vista with its style.
The one thing I enjoy most about Macs is the dock on the bottom of the screen.

    I tried out 3 different docks which all work on Vista: Aqua Dock, ObjectDock, and Rocket Dock. Aqua Dock was really lacking in features, providing only two skins which resembled the Mac's dock. ObjectDock and Rocket Dock are somewhat similar, but I found that ObjectDock has a lot more features that appeal to me and the skins that come with it look at a lot better.
                        
  Dock with Mac OS X wallpaper                 Object Dock Properties 
(my monitor doesn't support any
resolutions above 1024...dell )       



Object Dock even features Docklets, which are similar to Windows Gadgets and Mac Widgets. Docklets are made
for Object Dock by the users (An SDK is linked on the site). In the picture below, the Weather Docklet is shown.
When you hover your mouse over it, the icon gets magnified just like the Mac dock. If you let the mouse sit over it for
a few seconds, a 5-day weather shoots out from the top of the screen with a cool looking animation and spreads out
over your desktop (you can change the size of the 5-day forecast icons so they aren't as big and chunky). It disappears when you click the icon or take your mouse away from the icon.



If you use Yod'm or another desktop manager (similar to SmackBook for the macbook pro), the Dock will be on all four of your desktops, just like your desktop icons would be so you have nothing to worry about.

Also, it comes with a large high-res icon pack (as you can see, the firefox and trillian icons are kind of weird looking). If you don't like them, just right click-> properties and you can change the icon back to the default one by finding the .exe file for that program and selecting it.

http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/

Download the free version there. It's really nice if you are sick of the plain-looking icons on your desktop. Enjoy