Member Avatar for The Dude

I thought that I would share this with everyone.

Its called "Holiday Desktop 2.0" and is made by Stardock.

It completely rethemes your computer with a Christmas motif and is available at FileForum.

Screenshot - Holiday Desktop 2.0

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shared a genuine Stardock holiday skin (Holiday Desktop 2.0) — it’s distributed as a WindowBlinds/theme package rather than a simple wallpaper pack. That explains why some people see more than a background change: these packages install via Stardock’s theme manager and WindowBlinds and can alter many UI elements at once. (chip.de)

WindowBlinds-style skins usually do not overwrite core Windows files on disk; instead the skin engine applies visual changes at runtime (helper DLLs, hooks and injected modules that skin Explorer and other UI). That runtime hooking can produce the same visible effects as a direct file edit and can also cause stability or uninstall headaches if a hook conflicts with Explorer or other software. There are community logs showing WindowBlinds helper DLLs attached to Explorer’s imports, which is how the skinning is applied. (stardock.com)

When a theme actually replaces a system file (less common), Microsoft’s System File Checker can restore protected files; if SFC reports problems, run DISM first to repair the component store, then run SFC. Typical repair commands (run from an elevated command prompt) are:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

sfc /scannow

If those tools cannot fix a replaced file, Microsoft’s guidance shows next steps (using an install source or manually restoring a known-good copy), or perform a System Restore / image restore as needed. (support.microsoft.com)

Practical, lower-risk approach: create a System Restore point or full image before applying big skins; test unfamiliar themes in a VM or sandbox; prefer non-invasive decorations (desktop widgets like Rainmeter or animated wallpapers) when possible. For cleanup, “Unload” the skin, uninstall the Stardock component via Control Panel, reboot, then run DISM/SFC or restore an image if the shell is broken. (support.microsoft.com)

Notes: ’s lights-around-screen approach is a simpler, safer way to get a festive effect; ’s warning about uninstall trouble is valid—take a backup/restore point first.

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Member Avatar for cohen

Nice find, but i'll past, i got an application and it puts xmas lights around the screen... pretty cool :)

Cohen :D

Member Avatar for CompUfuss

someone in 2004 had problem uninstalling it so that will make me stay away !as they said ,theme to busy !

Member Avatar for The Dude

Yes i have read some stuff like that over the last few days..

This program changes your shell32.dll and explorer.exe files right??

So if you had to,couldnt you restore said files with SFC and everything would be ok?

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