themes

Microsoft started it. And this time we can all give thanks.

The Seattle giant's search for a sleek, cool iPod competitor produced the Zune, and the Zune's youth culture appeal produced Microsoft's Zune-flavored desktop theme. Couple that with the Firefox Zune theme created by the prolific theme meister Brett Bodine--also known as Bodizzle--and you've got yourself a bold, sleek screenscape in orange and black gradations, with just enough strokes of white for emphasis.

In case anyone was wondering, the ringtone craze is officially out of control. Well past their cell-phone roots, custom tunes for home land lines are just one example of a phenomenon that has even extended to doorbells. But its application in car horns are clearly the worst of the bunch.

And accessories such as the "Wolo 485 Star Trek Air Horn," we fear, may indicate that the trend is gaining in popularity. For better or worse, this device blares only one tune with its five air trumpets--the theme from the final frontier--similar to the custom old-school horns that … Read more

It's been quite a while since we visited the subject of best themes for Mozilla Firefox. It took a little while for some developers to catch up with the release of Version 2, but now there's a large number of cool add-ons for spicing up the look and feel of your your browser.

There's also a lot of crap. Luckily for you, I've waded through the morass and found what I consider to be the best themes for Mozilla Firefox. Of course, one of the greatest strengths of Firefox is the ability for every user to … Read more

While searching for new Windows themes, Saad finds an inauspicious link in a Web forum that leads to an invasion of unwanted software on his PC. Luckily, he follows the advice of CNET Download.com editors to restore his system to a healthy state.

Get advice for avoiding similar dangerous sites during your own Web browsing sessions. Read Saad's tale of Windows theme woes in this week's Spyware Horror Story.

>>See all Spyware Horror Stories

Well-built software that can inspire projects and streamline productivity is powerful indeed, but ill-conceived programs, too, can haunt your dreams. In this week's, CNET Top 5 video (also see below), editor Tom Merritt shares five terrifically bad apps you'd most likely encounter in a dark alley of your computer's recycle bin. This Chuck Norris Facts Widget is particularly chilling.

Plenty more ghoulish and gleeful downloads are standing by to ease you into the Halloween spirit. Three skeletons in pointed hats boogie down by moonlight (and UV lamplight) in Halloween Dance 3D Screensaver, a personal favorite. Your browser … Read more

We don't often give a lot of attention to WordPress (for Windows or Mac), Movable Type and other self-publishing blogging systems. They often require a bit more determination than merely creating a Blogger or Livejournal username, password, and some pithy-kitschy title to show the world how witty you truly are.

WordPress has two very strong aspects: The installation really does take about 5 minutes, and it's highly customizable with plug-ins that absolve the user of having to be a CSS expert. OneClick is a two-part plug-in for WordPress and Firefox that simplifies the plug-in experience even further.

… Read more

Its media gear may not be state of the art, but we're just happy to see a home theater that, for once, doesn't have a Star Wars or Star Trek theme. The designers of this Raiders of the Lost Ark theater were commissioned to spend more time on ambience than technical specs, if that's not obvious from the photos. That means special attention was paid to such props as torches, hieroglyphics and Indiana's trademark hat, jacket and whip, as well as the original idol from the movie's opening, according to Electronic House.

The room, which … Read more

While Power Downloader was sifting through criminal case files recently, he received an e-mail from Kitty Kilobyte who had gone back to school. After telling him of her latest "impossible" assignments and new "amazing" friends she had made, Kitty had an interesting software request. Kitty wanted some way to make her computer stand out from the rest of her classmates. She figured, if she's the niece of a famous software superhero, it should show--perhaps even if it's just in her computer's interface.… Read more

If you spend all day at a computer but would rather be out driving twisty roads in a Corvette, this desktop theme will assuage your passion, a little. GM let software maker Stardock use its Corvette brand to create a full Windows desktop theme. Stardock has been redesigning the Windows interface for a long time, so this theme does more than add a Corvette picture to the wallpaper and change a few icons. The software pack comes with a Corvette-themed media player, a Corvette clock and calendar, and a weather application, presumably so your computer can tell you if it'… Read more