Since its launch about a year ago, Windows Vista has been widely criticized for several reasons: security restrictions, poor usability, lack of actual new features when compared to XP…

But what nobody complained about was the cool eye-candy included in Microsoft's new operating system, such as the 3D system to switch between active applications. What's more, this particular Vista feature has been turned into a software tool that enables you to enjoy that same 3D window switcher in Windows XP.

WinFlip is very easy to use. Simply unzip the file (no installation required), launch the program and you're ready to go. If you want to use it instead of the standard Alt+Tab, press the Windows key+Tab combination. All your active apps and opened windows will be displayed in an attractive 3D environment, where you can flip among them by pressing Tab repeatedly or choose a certain window by pressing the key associated with it.

WinFlip worked fine during our tests, although sometimes the content of some of the windows turned to complete white or complete black while flipping through them. I guess it's just a matter of further development.

WinFlip is an easy, simple - and above all, very cheap - way to have the 3D Flip function in Windows XP.

Download WinFlip 0.42 in Softonic

Would you like to interact with any version of Windows in a 3D desktop, without loading up the system resources? Actually, there are lots of applications that allow you to do so, but they take to much system resources. Bottom line, they are useless.

However, there's a nice tool that makes 3D desktop possible under Windows 2000/XP without hogging your whole system. It's called Madotate and works pretty well. Its 3D desktop management helps organizing your work a lot. Besides, it only takes a peak usage about 5 MB of RAM.

To install it, just create a folder on your hard drive, unzip all files and run it. It also includes a plugin that adds a button on every window to make it 3D/2D.

Download Madotate 2.02.02 in Softonic

You may not like the way Vista works, but you have to admit it does have some nice features. One of them is the new Start menu with an embedded search field that enables you to open any file or application by just typing the first few letters of its name.

This convenient function has now been replicated for Windows XP in Vistart, a small app that requires no installation and emulates Vista's Start menu in Windows XP. Vistart is perfectly integrated in XP and works very well, although we missed some other Vista features such as the ability to move up and down the menu with arrow keys or having support for right clicking.

Try it in combination with any of the Vista-inspired visual themes available at Softonic and you'll be able to enjoy a fully Vista themed Windows XP.

Download ViStart build 2489 in Softonic

The Vista sidebar was one of the most popular new features included in Microsoft's operating system, and it still remains as a very attractive way to display information bits in the shape of customizable gadgets. Now, with Windows Sidebar Styler, you can customize it even more and take advantage of all its possibilities.

This neat tool includes several skins (called "styles") to change the sidebar's appearance, as long as the ability to freely resize it. It will also allow you to run more gadgets because it supports WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).

Windows Sidebar Styler is easy to install, but I had some problems while testing it. The styles didn't seem to work, the program displayed a "installation successful" message but nothing changed. After reading the develeoper's blog, I found out that you may have to change permissions in the folder AppData\Windows Sidebar Styler directory and make it writable, or just restart your sidebar completely.

Customize your Vista sidebar with styles and more powerful gadgets.

Download Windows Sidebar Styler 2.0.6 in Softonic

Let's admit it: Windows Vista does have some graphical eyecandy that many of us would like to enjoy too, that is, if we could have it without having to give up on our beloved XP.

Well, who say we can't? Here's the trick: download TrueTransparency, copy it to any folder on your hard drive (no installation required) and you'll be able to add a sleek transparency effect to your windows. It's as easy as that! Just bear in mind that it may not work with all your apps (during my tests, for instance, Winamp didn't get the Vista look) but most system windows and standard applications will show off a shiny transparent look.

Like I said, the program doesn't require installation and hardly uses any system resources. From the little icon displayed on the system tray you can change between two different skins, set the program to be run on Windows startup and also close it when you grow tired of so much transparency and want to go back to traditional Windows XP windows.

TrueTransparency is a very quick, simple way to have the Vista transparency effect on your XP windows.

Download TrueTransparency 0.9.4 in Softonic

If you're not content with Windows Vista standard appearance and want to customize it in detail, this program is for you.

Vista Visual Master lets you do loads of changes to Microsoft's new operating system, mainly referring to its visual appearance and graphic design. Tweaks are organized in different categories to make them easier to find and apply. You'll find tools to customize desktop and system icons, change logon screen and boot picture and personalize the OEM information (that is, the PC owner's name) among others. There's also a special tool to patch Windows theme DLL file, in order to be able to use third-party visual themes. The program includes a restoration function as well, in case any tweak doesn't have the desired effect or you simply want to go back to the standard configuration.

What I didn't like about Vista Visual Master is the inclusion of links to other programs under the Vista Extras tab. I felt like they were trying to fool me, while I know this is clearly ads. But then again, at least they're hidden under a tab and don't disturb the program's functionality.

With Vista Visual Master you can customize every single aspect in Windows Vista, from logon screens to desktop icons, in just a couple clicks.

Download Vista Visual Master 1.0.2.0 in Softonic

Have Scooby-Doo show you a few dance moves and in particular his famous "Scooby Shuffle". This animated character pops up on your desktop and follows whatever music you are playing.

Download Scooby-Doo Dancer LE in Softonic

LClock empowers Windows standard clock with a nicer look and an easier-to-use calendar that also features a basic alarm system.

Once installed, LClock enables you to change the clock's appearance with a high level of detail, besides replacing the old calendar system with a new calendar that you can check out with a single click on the clock. Calendar reminders show up in a pop-up window when triggered and can be scheduled to be repeated at different intervals.

The calendar can be also customized with skins, although the skin management system is poorly implemented: you simply unzip the skin archive to the program's folder, overwriting all previous files and therefore making it very uncomfortable to change from one skin to another.

With LClock you can have a better clock and calendar application in your Windows system.

Download LClock 1.62b in Softonic

Magentic enables you to download free wallpapers and screensavers from the Internet and use them to easily renew your desktop's appearance. In a way, it reminds me of the popular Webshots Desktop, as it works in a very similar way.

After installing Magentic you'll be presented with a sample collection of pictures with which you can use to familiarize yourself with the program's functions, namely browsing wallpapers and screensavers, besides downloading new ones from the Magentic website and adding your own pictures to the wallpaper gallery. During these first moments of usage the program tends to behave a bit obtrusively by displaying some message windows and notice pop-ups but both can be easily disabled.

Magentic displays a clear, fresh interface divided into two main sections, one for wallpapers and one for screensavers. You can freely expand your collection with new downloads but it would have been nice to have this download feature directly built-in into the program, instead of using your web browser.

Download Magentic 1310524 in Softonic

SmartBarXP is a bar that runs down the side of your screen, and can be configured to display interactive panels known as 'panes'. These panes include media players, slideshow and image viewing panes, a virtual desktop manager, and live news, weather and stock feeds, to mention but a few.

The panes can be repositioned on the bar, and scrolled if the bar becomes too full. The bar can also host extra sections, including a recycle bin, Explorer shortcuts, and taskbar replacement sections (start button, taskbar buttons and system tray sections).

SmartBarXP can be fully customizable in almost every aspect you can think of. Every pane has extensive options and can be tweaked to look and work just the way you want it to. The bar itself can be customized too, with options for positioning, auto hiding, pane scrolling, fading and translucency effects, and changing the language and regional settings.

You can also select the theme the bar takes on, to match your current Windows XP theme, the Classic Windows theme, or even use a third party SmartBarXP theme. This helps give you scope to transform the panel into anything you want it to be.

Download SmartBarXP 1.0.201 in Softonic

Windows XP supports transparency, which can be applied to your desktop to obtain attractive effects. One of them is having a transparent taskbar that almost blends with the desktop Wallpaper.

With Transbar you can easily apply this effect on your own computer. Simply launch the program and select the percentage of transparency you'd like to have. You can see the results in real time! Also, the program can be set to be run at Windows startup so that you don't have to manually change it every time you launch Windows.

Just one tip: be aware of the folder where you install Transbar. My copy decided to install itself in some really deeply hidden folder instead of the standard Program files and, as I didn't notice it, I spent some time looking for it.

Add a cool transparency effect to your XP taskbar in a couple of clicks!

Download Transbar 1.4.2 in Softonic

If you've ever thought there must be a better way to organise Windows, then you might find Desktop Sidebar the answer you’ve been waiting for. Desktop Sidebar is a simple but powerful toolbar that integrates with Windows main features, Outlook and offers a whole lot more. If you’ve not been impressed by Yahoo! Widget Engine or Google Toolbar, then it’s definitely worth a try.

One of Desktop Sidebar’s strongest features is its integration with Outlook. It provides instant shortcuts to email overviews, previews, notes and calendar entries. It also provides customisable news headline feeds, access to search engines and even Windows Media Player/Winamp controls. It’s particularly useful if you’ve got several email accounts, as you can set it up to check multiple IMAP and POP accounts including Hotmail. You may find yourself saving a lot of time with this feature alone although unfortunately, it does not seem to support integration with Thunderbird as yet.

Other pre-installed components include the stats bar which shows how much RAM and CPU throughput your PC is experiencing at any one time. This can however get increasingly annoying as the status bars shoot up and down but it can easily be deactivated in the ‘Settings’ tab. Desktop Toolbar need not be intrusive either - it can be displayed permanently on your desktop or set to auto-hide itself when not in use.

To install more components, you can visit the developer website where you’ll find one for just about everything. However, we found that it crashed on more than one occasion when trying to add some of these new components. Amongst the most popular and useful components are the ‘IP address’ plugin which displays a whole realm of connection statistics and ‘Virtual Desktop Panel’ which allows you to switch between 4 desktop backgrounds at any one time. For those who want to keep track of the latest headlines, the news component is a useful add-on although by default, it's aimed at a US audience. However, you can add RSS feeds from whichever news sources are more local to you.

On the downside, we found that Desktop Sidebar does tend to consume around 20% of your CPU resources which is quite a lot for such a small app. However, if you use it to check your mail accounts and news reports, you save memory by reducing the number of browser tabs you need open. There are lots of great skins, although it seems the components have peaked at around 70 with not many new recent additions.

In summary, Desktop Sidebar doesn’t offer that much more than the Google Toolbar in terms of ease-of-use and features. However, it certainly offers more email checking options than most similar utilities and has a pretty big choice of components to choose from. If you’re a real toolbar/widget junkie and especially if you use Outlook a lot, then you’ll probably find this app increases your productivity.

Download Desktop Sidebar 1.05.116 Beta in Softonic

We can customize our computer in many ways - by changing the screen, the colors of the windows, fonts, cursors etc. Now with Windowpaper XP, you can customize the bottom of your folders.

In Windows 98, this was a standard function although in Windows XP onwards, Microsoft seem to have mysteriously removed it. There, these developers have designed a tool which uses any picture of your choice as the background for a particular folder. It is very easy to use - simply select the folder you want to customize, choose the photo you want to place in it and you're done. You can undo any changes within the main program so you can experiment o your heart's content. You can use photos in the most common formats (BMP, JPG, GIF) and preview the results in real time on the program interface. Be warned however that it's best to use small resolution images and big ones can take ages to render and can actually slow your folders down. You can also modify all the folders within a folder by checking the "include subfolders" option so that you don't need to go through every single one separately.

A very nice little utility that performs a function that still should come as standard in Windows anyway. it's not essential but it makes your folders look much cooler.

Download Windowpaper XP 1.01 in Softonic

If you just can't get enough of Facebook then the Facebook Toolbar for Firefox is a free extension that gives you enhanced access to Facebook from Firefox.

Facebook Toolbar sits quietly at the top of your browser and provides twelve essential shortcuts to different sections of Facebook i.e. profile, friends, photos and groups. It also
features several icons to show you how many friend requests you have, messages you've received and invitations to events and groups.

One of the handiest features of Facebook Toolbar is an alert system similar to an IM client that tells you if there has been any activity on your profile since you last logged on. The problem with this, if you've got lots of friends, is that it's constantly alerting you and can be a real distraction while you are working. You can even have a sidebar of your friends faces staring at you as you work although that's taking it a bit far in my book.

Facebook Toolbar a seriously addictive toolbar that can easily distract you from your work but if you can't get enough Facebook in your life, then you'll love it.

Download Facebook Toolbar 1.2.1 (Firefox) in Softonic

Riding on the back of the popularity of the Dashboard widgets in Apple's OS, Yahoo! Widgets have become a popular way for people to bring Internet functionality to their desktop, whether it's checking sports scores, forecasting the weather or simply finding out what's on TV tonight. As you'd imagine, there are plenty of developers who want a piece of this action, and Widget Maker is designed to make the process of creating these handy little apps a little easier.

I say "a little easier" because you still need to know what you're doing. The app will help you to generate the XML by responding to a series of questions in a form, but you'll still need to take care of image placement and produce the necessary JavaScript yourself. These means that the program isn't suitable for any old numpty who wants to make a cool widget, although with a bit of practice you can learn to develop widgets.

Download Widget Maker 2.3 in Softonic

The WinCustomize browser allows you to instantly access thousands of skins, icons, themes, wallpapers and more right from an easy to use program. Not only can you access them, but the browser can directly apply them to your computer without having to interact with the underlying software. Apply your wallpapers and Windows media player skins and WindowBlinds skins directly from the WinCustomize skin browser.

Download WinCustomize Browser 2.01 in Softonic

Drempels makes colorful, swirling, hallucinogenic patterns that resemble a hurricane or tornado. It normally runs in your Windows background or "desktop", replacing your old still-image wallpaper with gently-animating visuals.

Meanwhile, you can use your computer just like you normally would. It uses very little CPU overhead - so little that it even runs smoothly on a 233 MHz system!

Drempels can also be used as a screensaver; in this mode, it goes fullscreen (like a normal screensaver) instead of rendering to the desktop/background.

Drempels works on Windows 9x, ME, NT, and 2000. It requires DirectX 5.0 or later and an MMX-capable processor.

Download Drempels 1.5 in Softonic

Desktop Graffitist is a small program that enables you to spray paint your desktop, and anything else that might appear on screen. DG is designed for recreation and creativity, and can be used to relieve office stress and boredom.

Aside from the added bonus of allowing you to vent on that stupid monthly report or the latest homework assignment, the program is also good for leaving messages on other people's computers that they can't miss (love notes, hate notes, grocery lists and art/graffiti/vandalism, ...).

Simply run it and use your mouse to paint all over the desktop. The right button changes color, the ESC key wipes off the screen. It's simple, relaxing, addictive, free, and totally fun!

Download Desktop Graffitist 1.0.0.6 in Softonic

If you have a large collection of wallpapers but can't be bothered to change it, Craig's Random Wallpaper Changer is the tool you need.

Craig's Random Wallpaper Changer has no complicated options or configuration settings. In fact, it doesn't even have a graphical interface. To use it, all you have to do is copy the Craig's Random Wallpaper Changer EXE file into your photo directory and double click on it. The desktop wallpaper will be immediately updated with one of the images in that folder.

Having no configuration menu, you'll be wondering how you can set Craig's Random Wallpaper Changer to run automatically and change the wallpaper every time you start Windows. In that case, simply create a shortcut to the EXE file and place it in the Startup menu and you'll get a new paper every time Windows launches.

Craig's Random Wallpaper Changer is probably the easiest way to load a new wallpaper automatically, though in my opinion it lacks some basic functions like the possibility to schedule wallpaper changing according to a certain period of time.

If you're searching for a dead simple wallpaper changing tool, look no further: Craig's Random Wallpaper Changer is your app.

Download Craig's Random Wallpaper Changer 1.0.0 in Softonic

In today's busy net culture, forums are playing a more and more important role, email is used by everyone and MSN is a must have. Expressing yourself and 'getting the message across' can be hard at times and using built in Smileys is far from ideal. The problem is now solved with SmileyPad. SmileyPad is a small, fast and free program to help express yourself. Post Smileys to Forums, Email, MSN and have a whole bunch of fun at the same time.

Seamlessly add new Smileys you find into its already extensive database to build your very own Smiley library. Unlike all other Smiley programs on the net today we offer nothing else but Smileys for you to have fun with. No spyware, adverts, popups, malware and best of all no cost. Free software should be enjoyed by everyone.

Download SmileyPad 2.28 in Softonic