Windows Explorer is not exactly the best file management system in the world but it does it's job and Windows users don't have many other options.

However, Emerge Desktop is an interface replacement for Windows Explorer that doesn't really change the fundamental structure but does change the shell. It works by providing a system tray called emergeTray which provides instant access to programs that are normally accessed with the Windows "Start" menu via a right-click on the desktop, As Microsoft have moved further towards opening up the code to Windows, Windows Explorer is one area that is undergoing improvement by various developers and Emerge Desktop takes advantage of this increased access to API calls.

Each part of Emerge Desktop (the tray and the taskbar) are individual executables called applets. These applets are all optional as part of Emerge Desktop and can be run individually on top of any other shell, including Explorer. Using the applets is a slightly slower experience than using Windows Explorer on its own but once you get used to it, it feels and looks a lot better. However, it can be annoying if you want to change back to Explorer because you have to reboot or log off to change back. To do this, just right click anywhere on the desktop and select "Settings" and "Change Desktop Shell".

Emerge Desktop has a lot of potential to advance Windows Explorer beyond that even available in Vista although if you find yourself switching between it and Explorer, it may be more hassle than it's worth.

Download Emerge Desktop 4.1.2 in Softonic

Sometimes it's easy to get confused between all the Windows components such as Start Menu, Taskbar and System Tray. Say System Tray and many users will say, "Uh?".

That's why you may find it more useful to tie all your components together under one umbrella such as NextSTART. NextSTART has been designed as a complete Start Menu, Taskbar and System Tray replacement that's more akin to the Mac or Linux style way of doing things. NextSTART provides you with a number of excellent options which keeps your operating system fully customisable while doing away with traditional Windows components. You have configurable menu structures which allows you to either drag and drop components or create your own menu using the built-in Menu Editor. You have a surprising number of ways to customise your menu and execute programs using what the program calls "hotspots" plus some extended taskbar and system tray management tools. It's also pretty handy at allowing you to browse your hard drive for files and it can even handle dual monitor usage - very useful if you're a video editor. It's also very light on resources so you won't find it slowing down your day to day usage. Note that NextSTART has been integrated into the Winstep Xtreme suite of applications but you can still download it individually here.

As an alternative to Windows traditional components, NextSTART is an innovative application but you're going to have a lot of patience to get used to it before you can say goodbye to your Taskbar and System Tray.

Download NextSTART 3.41 in Softonic

If you’ve had enough bad experiences upgrading your Microsoft products, you’re too poor to upgrade to Vista or you just refuse on principle, you can always customise Windows XP to make it look like Vista. The Windows Vista customisation pack gives you all the flashy features of Vista without having to shell-out a few hundred dollars for the original. It’s certainly proved a hit with Softonic users so far who have made this pack one of the site’s most popular downloads.

The pack includes a booty of Vista features including transparency of the windows, 3D Vista style icons, mouse cursors, boot screen, login screen, and a whole host of Vista themes to name a few. After installing the pack, you’ll be asked to restart, when you’ll find that your system has been through an impressive transformation although the fact that Windows Vista isn’t actually that radically different from XP, shouldn’t be held against this pack.

Amongst the major differences you will notice are some jazzy changes to your systems icons, skins and toolbars as well as new enhancements to your desktop such as a dock bar or if you prefer, a totally different system tray clock. Transfer file progress dialogs are transformed with swanky new 3D graphics and the sounds scheme has been beefed up to blow you out of your chair. Microsoft certainly spent lots of time designing these features. It was recently reported that they spent a year and a half just coming up with the start-up music alone.

Other changes include Windows Media Player which also receives a facelift although nothing worth getting excited about. The colours have been changed to a metallic-blue and the drop down menus have been replaced by an invisible menu which pops up when the mouse is waved over it. However, this feature actually becomes increasingly annoying with regular use and is best deactivated.

Whilst initially impressive, after a while these changes can cause problems. Users have reported that the new schemes not only slows down their PC’s but also cause it to crash randomly. It can also be a pain whenever there’s a problem with your PC. Since you are running a somewhat modified version of XP, normal troubleshooting guides may not work. You’ll subsequently have to uninstall the pack to make sure that it isn’t causing the problem. Fortunately however, the pack comes with an uninstaller that makes reverting back to XP simple although in time honoured Windows style, you’ll have to restart the computer.

For anyone who doesn’t add or remove programs regularly, we’d recommend this pack as it does an impressive job at emulating the $200+ Vista look. However, for those that make regular changes to their PC, the pack can end up being more hassle than its worth as the changes made can conflict with interfaces of other programs.

Download Vista Customization Pack 3.6 in Softonic

If you've been disillusioned by Vista and wish that you'd bought a Mac (since that's what Vista is trying to emulate anyway) then you might be impressed by Vista OS X V3.

Vista OS X is a transformation pack for the 32-bit editions of Windows Vista. The installation is very simple and gives you full control over what elements you want to install, change or modify in Vista. These include features such as the look and style of Vista, the folder and Explorer styles and skins for various applications. Often with these programs, there is a concern that it may change fundamental aspects of Windows Vista that can cause conflicts. We can't guarantee this won't be the case for you but the good thing is that the program creates a restoration point during installation so if you do suffer any problems, you can easily roll back. If you prefer, you can install Vista OS X V3 on a partition so that your original installation of Windows is not affected in any way.

This is a very impressive Vista-Mac transformation pack which gives a realistic Mac feel although there's no guarantee that it may not start to cause conflicts within Vista after prolonged use.

Download Vista OS X V3 in Softonic

Working with Windows all day every day I feel like I know the XP interface better than I do my own body. Although I don't want to upgrade to Vista just yet, I'm not averse to the idea of doing so in the near future, so I thought I'd give Vystal a try to escape the world of XP and experience what it might be like to work within a more modern desktop environment.

The application is designed to emulate the Vista desktop, taskbar, Start Menu, and Windows programs. When I came to run the program (which requires no installation, incidentally) at first nothing changed at all and I was beginning to wonder if the whole thing was just a big prank. However, gradually the appearance of the Windows apps was transformed as I opened them, and I was pretty impressed with the results. The window frames looked gorgeous, the transparencies were stunning and transitions smooth and seductive.

Despite the program's faithful reconstruction of the Vista interface, there were a couple of things that bugged me about Vystal. Firstly, it chews up a fair chunk of memory, occupying 10 Mb of RAM when even slightly customised. Secondly, it's pretty difficult to get rid of once it's running and I eventually needed to go into the Task Manager to shut it off. Putting these niggles aside, Vystal manages to provide a realistic simulation of the Windows Vista experience.

Download Vystal 2008 Beta in Softonic

There are many Vista packs out there now promising to convert XP into the World's newest Microsoft operating system and this one is definitely up there with the best of them.

Vistapack basically changes the Start menu, icons, toolbar, adds transparencies, changes sounds, cursors etc etc up to around 240 file changes according to the developers - not bad. The installation is easy taking you through the process gently and warning you about any changes it is about to make. They've also accounted for the fact that the program is wiped out in the case that you have to reinstall Windows. In which case the program comes pre installed with "Vistapack Reloader" which monitors and replaces deleted files and reinstalls them all again when you reboot. The pack also must be one of the first to support Windows 2000 as it comes with 32 bit support. The only problem however is that you'll invariably experience either slow downs due to the increased RAM consumption that some of the transparencies and graphics require or you'll find that occasionally, XP just freezes. However, the look is absolutely stunning and is enough to make any Vista users angry that they splashed out on the real thing.

A superb Vista emulator that every XP user with decent RAM should put through it's paces.

Download Vistapack XP 2.3 Beta in Softonic

Real Desktop is one of those PC applications that aren't really that useful, but have such an attractive effect on your system that you want to install them anyway.

This app turns your Windows desktop into a three-dimensional environment where all your shortcuts look like small pieces that have been dropped on the floor – and they actually behave like that. You can move them, rotate them, lift them a bit from the floor and mix them all around the desktop surface. The only icon that remains somewhat apart is the Recycle bin, probably to help you find it faster.

This precisely the main drawback in Real Desktop: finding icons. The 3D effect is really amazing, as well as the icon behavior almost as Lego pieces. But having them scattered all over the places doesn't exactly make your PC easier to use – especially if you're anything like me, who likes to have as few icons as possible, and always perfectly organized.

With Real Desktop you can apply an amazing 3D effect to your Windows desktop, although you'll lose a lot of icon usability on the way.

Download Real Desktop Light 1.30 in Softonic

Spice up your PC desktop with Visual Styler. Redesign some of the desktop icons or replace icons with one of the developer's icon packs.

You can replace about 80 system icons, including "Desktop", "My Computer" or even icons for WinZip, Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel files. The program contains a powerful Package Editor, where you can create your own icon collections and even distribute them over the Internet. You can change the icon of any file and any folder, including items in the Start menu and the Favorites

This program will awaken your inner designer with the inspiring range of Windows XP themes and welcome screens.

Download Visual Styler 3.0.10.131 in Softonic

Aston replaces the standard Windows Desktop and provides you with a host of new features, such as Sidebars, clock, weather monitor, animated buttons, transparency effects and much more.

Aston also supports Themes, which allow you to change its appearance and functionality according to your mood and needs. No matter what visual style you like: XP, Aqua or something else; you can always download hundreds of Themes, created by professional designers or amateurs from Aston's homepage or one of numerous other skin sites.

Aston features a powerful and user friendly interface, which lets you change your new desktop's appearance and behavior in few seconds. No need to learn complicated configuration files, everything can be configured in a simple graphical interface.

Download Aston 1.9.5 in Softonic

ObjectDock™ is a program that enables users to organize their shortcuts, programs and running tasks into an attractive and fun animated Dock. By allowing users to have more control over how they organize their desktop, users can take control of their desktop icons and shortcuts to have them be available when where and how they need them. This, all with the unique style and top-rate performance that ObjectDock is known to deliver!

Take a look at what ObjectDock has to offer:

• Easy to use shortcut organizer
• Simple drag & drop operation
• Convenient autohide and "keep in background" modes
• The most popular program of its kind - 3.5 million users to date
• Fully customizable - tons of backgrounds and images freely available
• Low system resource usage
• Smooth animations
• Designed to run smoothly even on older computers
• Weather flyout showing your current conditions & 5-day forecast
• The universal standard for Docklet extensions
• Helpful support team and message boards
• Consistent updates - will continue to be updated and improved for years and years to come
• We listen to customer feedback - new features and abilities added to each revision
• Running programs show up on dock, can minimize to it
• Super-smooth minimize animations in Vista

Download ObjectDock 1.9.536 in Softonic

QuickPin is a very simple program that can make your desktop looking like your real desk. For sure you have some pictures in the PC. Some of them are really good, and you enjoy looking at them. You can either print them out and put them in the frame OR install QuickPin. With this program you can simply pin them to the desktop of your PC, and every time you look at your PC you will see it.

Download QuickPin 1 in Softonic

If you have Vista on your computer, you’ll be enjoying all those cool sidebar gadgets. But if you haven't made the switch to Vista yet, you can always make do with software like Thoosje Vista Sidebar. This application allows you to have a gadget sidebar on your desktop, very similar to the one displayed in Windows Vista and also completely customizable. It looks very promising, but don't let yourself be fooled by all the program's bells and whistles.

The first few minutes after installing the program are quite confusing, because it takes quite a while to load. We just kept on clicking on the shortcut icon and almost ended up thinking that it simply didn’t work, only to find afterwards that we had started several sessions. This may also be the reason why we got some error messages during these first minutes of usage.

The sidebar starts as a darkened empty area on the right side of your desktop. To begin adding gadgets, click on the little cross button on the top. Be patient, because the gadget menu window also takes a while to show up. There aren't many to choose from, but at least they're quite varied and cover different needs: from the PC resources meter to the photo slideshow, from the RSS mini-reader to the weather gadget. Installing them is just a matter of dragging them onto the sidebar, but be aware that uninstalling may not be that easy. Some gadgets have the characteristic cross button to close, but others, like the Recycle bin or the Google search, don't. We struggled with these two until we finally discovered that, if you want to make them disappear, you have to click on their icon again in the gadgets menu window. You can widen your gadget choice by visiting the author's website and browsing around the gadget gallery. During our test we downloaded one to check our Gmail account but didn't manage to install it in the sidebar, as the help provided in the author's website is not really that accurate.

Once ready and customized with all your chosen gadgets, Thoosje Vista Sidebar looks really beautiful on your desktop. Plus, it includes some background skins to make it fit perfectly with the image you have as wallpaper. The downside to its graphical beauty is the constant instability and the annoying slowness we noticed during the test. Configuration windows take some irritating seconds to appear on screen and sometimes the sidebar just disappears from sight.

As for the gadgets, there's a bit of everything. Some of them come in very handy, like the Google search bar or the audio player, whilst some others are rather useless, like the PC uptime recorder or the analog clock. Other points we didn't like refer to certain gadgets in particular: for example, the RSS reader lacks the ability to take you to the whole article when you click on the headline and the photo slideshow gadget preferences are wickedly hidden in a transparent tiny icon on the gadget's top right corner.

Thoosje Vista Sidebar seems very promising when looking at the program's screenshots, but using it is a totally different thing. We definitely hope this app improves in its future versions. As for now, we must say it left a bad taste in our PC.

Download Thoosje Vista Sidebar 1.7.8 in Softonic

Using Talisman, you can build any interface for your computer. Talisman hides the standard Windows Desktop. In the Talisman work space, you can place any number of buttons or pictures. These objects can have any form or dimension, and all can run external programs or internal shell commands.

The number of forms (screens) can range from 1 to 1,000. Any screen object can be set to switch from one form to another. All settings and pictures are stored in a theme file. You can make many Talisman themes and use objects with links to go from one theme to another. You also can add HTML pages (with JavaScript, Flash movies, and VRML worlds) to the desktop and add sounds to events.

With the help of "Talisman" you can create your own interface or use one of the hundreds ready themes that are available in our collections and in the internet. Interface (theme) is a set of screens, forms, "rooms" and objects. All these objects are interactive and respond to movements or clicks of the mouse.

Download Talisman Desktop 2.99 in Softonic

Screen Calendar software creates custom desktop wallpapers with built in active calendar. You can set up pleasant working atmosphere by changing desktop view (background image, calendar arrangement, fonts, colors etc.) and adding a full-functional PIM like a calendar which can be small or large, transparent or, even, hidden on your desktop.

Screen Calendar really allows you to put a calendar on your desktop wallpaper choosing calendar size and transparency. Double-click the calendar to schedule your business day. To read your records fully, just move your mouse over the date cell. So, your PIM is always at hand (it runs in system tray), but it doesn't require much space, especially if you use the hide/show calendar commands.

Download Screen Calendar for Outlook 7.2 in Softonic

Bring Rembrandt art to your desktop! Rembrandt is known as a painter of light and shade and as an artist who favoured an uncompromising realism. The core of Rembrandt's creative work consists of biblical, historical, mythological, and allegorical paintings. Get this high-quality wallpaper art collection to excite, inspire, and educate yourself!

Download Rembrandt's Art Collection 1.0 in Softonic

The SphereXP is a 3D desktop replacement for Microsoft Windows. Taking the known concept of three-dimensional desktops to its own level. It offers a new way to organize objects on the desktop such as icons and applications. It has been tried out by millions worldwide.

Download SphereXP 1.1.626 in Softonic

DesktopX is a revolutionary program that makes it possible for users to add new types of content to their Windows desktop. By default, Microsoft Windows supports having icons on the desktop. With DesktopX, users can add desktop objects, widgets or even build entirely new desktops.

DesktopX 3.0 includes dozens of high quality widgets and desktop objects to enable casual users begin enhancing their Windows desktop immediately. DesktopX widgets can be shown or hidden with a user-defined hot key to ensure the desktop stays uncluttered.

Download DesktopX 3.2 in Softonic

Unless you’ve been living in a hut in the Gobi desert for the last few months, you’ll know that Microsoft Windows XP is no more, having being replaced by Vista. The new Operating System brings about a bevy of changes, including a revamped desktop environment, designed not only to look good, but also to improve your productivity. One of the key new features is the Sidebar, which replicates the Dashboard in OS X and allows you easy access to certain tools, such as news, web searching and your digital photos.

If you haven’t got the money (or indeed, the inclination) to upgrade to Vista, then you can recreate the Sidebar with this popular application. Despite a rather strange installation process, which fails to provide an auto-run function, the app can be set up and configured pretty quickly and comes with four useful preset ‘widgets’. The tools are a search function, image preview window, RSS feed and a rather elegant analogue clock.

Visually, all these widgets are pretty faithful to the Vista sidebar, although they lack they customisation options that you get with the new OS. For instance, the image tool doesn’t allow you to set the folder from which to display pictures, merely picking photos at random from your hard drive . All the tools are locked within a transparent bar that runs down the right-hand side of your desktop, which gets annoying after a while as there’s no way to minimize it and it ends up squashing any application window you open. Nevertheless, it represents an accurate taste of the instant-access functions you can expect in Vista.

Download Vista Sidebar XP 1.0 in Softonic

WinPenguins is a Win32 rewrite of the X-Windows application XPenguins. It creates cute little penguins that wander around your Windows desktop. The penguin images were taken from Pingus, a lemmings clone for GNU/Linux. WinPenguins is an entertaining and original way to animate your desktop. Observer all the little creatures and see their various reactions as they wander around. WinPenguins has no proven use but is certainly an amusing application.

Download WinPenguins 0.5 in Softonic

DIManager is a small practical tool for the retention of the position of desktop icons, in order to restore these if required quickly.

A change of the screen resolution has often an automatic positioning of the icons through Windows for the result that must be arrangedarranged again manually then according to the own wishes. The DIManager getsgets reliefrelief here. Only with a click the initial order is restored.

The service of the tool is completely simple. In order to store the current Postition of the icons, the menu items suit to the customer "Quickly store..." and "Save on profile..." availably. DIManager facilitates also the creating of sections suitably with that for every screen resolution that can be selected quickly by mouse click and loaded. Optional aboutabout the menu item attitudes can be activated an entry in the context menu of the waste-paper basket. Icons are let so to arrangearrange still more quickly. A right click onto the waste-paper basket and the selection of the corresponding menu item suffices. In addition the order can occur also automatically at a change of the screen resolution.

Download DIManager 6.5.1.192 in Softonic