The team of moderators here at WinCustomize have been compiling their “Best of 2008” lists, and today we bring you their favorite skin picks of 2008!

• WC Moderator picks of 2008

TheMasterBaron is back with a new Master skin, this time it’s an animated wallpaper called “Planetrise”.   If you have ever seen a TMB .dream before, then I really don’t need to tell you the quality and animation are nearly perfect, and this is a beautiful planet-type scene.

Remember that WinCustomize subscribers get a 20% discount on Master Skins!

It’s been over a year since our last subscription drive, and with the New Year upon us, we are excited  to announce the 2009 WinCustomize Subscription Drive!  The drive starts immediately, and will run until March 1st.  Our goal is to reach $50,000 which will in turn pay for the development of WinCustomize 2009.

You don’t have to do anything special to participate, just become a subscriber which offers many benefits over a registered user.  Remember, this is not for new users only, as now is a great time to renew your subscription and keep all the great content flowing.

Benefits of subscribing:

• Ad-free browsing – Browse through the many skin galleries without seeing banner ads that regular users see.
• Unlimited downloads – Download as much content as you want without hitting any download caps.
• Premium skins – Premium skins available for subscribers
• Master skin discounts – Get 20% Master skins when you are a WC subscriber.

A subscription to WinCustomize.com also makes a great gift.  Purchasing for someone else is easy, and can be given to virtually anyone.  Subscribe now!

New content on WinCustomize was lacking for a week or so, as the database issues were being worked out.  I also see it didn’t take long, literally minutes after we announced it was working, for the submissions to come pouring in.

Hats off to the WC moderators who have been working double-time getting the submissions through moderation!

Since we have the new skins coming in, let me give a quick feature to some of the latest works.  Remember, you can always check the latest submissions here.

As many of you might know, the uploading system on WinCustomize was broken when we had our database server fail recently.  I'm happy to report the upload system has been fixed and uploading can commence.  Please note we expect a ton of submissions, and although we wll try to get them through moderation as soon as possible, it still might take a few days to get through them.

Thank you for your patience, now get uploading!

Sumo Paint is a 'free' online image editing application.

High-end image editor SUMO Paint is a fairly impressive clone of Photoshop's major features inside a browser window.  Sumo Paint is designed more for image creation rather than image editing.

If you're without your favorite desktop editor and in need of photo-tweaking power, SUMO can load images from uploads, URLs, and do its own in-browser copy and paste. SUMO Paint is free to use.

Check it out ..... Sumo Paint

To all the wonderful people who make Wincustomize.com a 'great place to be' ....have a Happy New Year....

...and a safe one,

From all the guys and gals at Stardock.

[I get in first becase I'm in the 'Twilight Zone' of an alternate universe......the other side of the planet.

It's currently 12.04am....2009.....here....

 The new year is nearly upon us, and although there aren’t a bunch of New Years skins in the galleries, there are a few that I wanted to feature.  If you know of any I missed, please share the links.

Everyone have a safe and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday, and are getting ready to start the new year off right!  I wanted  to drop in and feature some of the skins that have come in over the last week.  I don’t have an ETA yet for when the upload system will be up and running, but hopefully it won’t take too long.

Here are some of my latest picks from the WinCustomize gallery.

Day 3 of the Impulse Gift Guide is taking a look at Desktop Enhancements.  These are applications designed to let you change the complete look and feel of either Windows XP, or Vista, to a style that is all your own.  Remember that sending gifts to people with Impulse is easy, and you don’t even have to wait for delivery. 

Check out the Impulse Holiday Gift Giving Guide.

Day 3 – Desktop Enhancements

Next up we have some Christmas and winter holiday logons for Windows XP.  The LogonStudio XP gallery has a bunch of holiday logons, and the ones below are some of my favorites.  If you see a good one that I missed, please post it so others can enjoy.

To use these logons you will need to install LogonStudio XP (free).

 Link: LogonStudio XP

Several months have gone by already in the 2008 GUI Championships, and today we get the honor of announcing the final winners in this competition.  Winners will be receiving great prizes from our sponsors like AMD, TechSmith, Corel, Stardock, and Wacom.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Link: GUI Champs 2008 : Final Winners!

The final day of the 2008 GUI Championships is upon us, and before the big winners are announced, we have the winners of the Most Original WindowBlinds skins and Icon Pack.

Congrats to all the winners!  Click the link below to see the winners.

• Most Original WindowBlinds skins
• Most Original Icon Packs

The holidays are approaching fast, and if you are still looking for some last minute gift ideas, look no further than what we have to offer  in the Impulse Store.  The big advantage is that you can purchase a gift for someone, and they will be able to download it via Impulse without having to worry about delays from the post office.

Day 2 of the Impulse Gift Guide is all about tools and utilities for your PC.

Check out the Impulse Holiday Gift Giving Guide.

• Day 2 – Tools and Utilities

We have checked out some holiday bootskins and CursorFX themes, and today we are going to feature some DesktopX gadgets and widgets.  Looking through the galleries I had forgotten some of the really cool and creative widgets that people have built over the years.

Some of these require DesktopX to use, but some are gadgets that will run on any Windows PC.

The holidays are approaching fast, and if you are still looking for some last minute gift ideas, look no further than what we have to offer  in the Impulse Store.  The big advantage is that you can purchase a gift for someone, and they will be able to download it via Impulse without having to worry about delays from the post office.

Day 1 of the Impulse Holiday Gift Guide is focused on MyColors skins, which is perfect for anyone who wants to customize their PC without having to worry about purchasing multiple applications to do it.  It’s also perfect for sports fans looking to support their team right on their desktop.

Check out the Impulse Holiday Gift Giving Guide.

• Day 1 – MyColors Themes

Last week, AMD released an update to their Catalyst drivers, including enhancements that were added specifically for the benefit of DeskScapes users who are still running Windows XP. You should expect to see a dramatic drop in CPU usage especially for dynamic dreams.

We are encouraging all AMD card owners who are using DeskScapes to update their drivers. If you are still using Windows XP, this is a requirement.

The drivers are available for download from http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx or can be accessed directly via the Community tab from Impulse.

One of the top prizes in the 2008 GUI Championships is a Wacom Cintiq 12WX.  This thing is just awesome, and unfortunately I wasn’t the one who had the opportunity to try it out.  However, the awesome Art Team at Stardock was able to spend some time with it, and Zoomba wrote up a great hands-on article about the Cintiq.

Link: Hands-on with the Wacom Cintiq 12WX

The winners in the Most Usable category in the 2008 GUI Championships have been announced!  This includes Most Usable WindowBlinds skins and Most Usable Icon Packages.  Click the links below to see the winners!

Congrats to all!

• Most Usable WindowBlinds Winners
• Most Usable Icon Package Winners

The Best Overall Judging in the 2008 GUI Championships is underway, so I wanted to take a  moment and show the finalist skins in the WindowBlinds category.  There was an awesome display of work this time around, and I can only imagine what a job it was to pick the final skins.

Check out the Top WindowBlinds Skins for the GUI Champs.

Last time we checked out some Holiday Bootskins, so this time I wanted  to move on to CursorFX themes.  This is one of my favorite categories for holiday skins, as some of the animations used are just incredible.

To use these cursor themes, you will need CursorFX, either the free or Plus version will do.