I don't know about you, but I love to collect cool downloads off
the internet. I've got thousands of stationary files, desktop
themes and ICQ skins, as well as more thousands of screen savers
and wallpaper files. Most of these special files are stashed in
obscure locations which makes them difficult to back up and a
pain to restore.
However, if you know where the various applications store their
data files, you can make copies of those to your hearts content.
Programs such as Second Copy and InSync are perfect for this
job, although in a pinch you can simply drag the files to your
writeable CD drive.
Outlook Stationary Files
Something that I love is outlook stationary. I think it great to
receive a cool email with a nice background, perhaps a graphic
of some kind and some cool sound. I know my wife likes to get an
"Love" email from me with, say, a gigantic heart and some gentle
romantic music.
In fact, it's very simple to build up a huge collection of
stationary files. There are tens of thousands of them available
for installation all over the internet. The problem is: where
the heck are these things installed?
The answer is simple:
C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft SharedStationery
Stationary files are always in this location (I have searched
very hard and have never found a way to change this directory).
I guess that the drive letter could change if you installed the
operating system somewhere other than the C partition, but I
have not tried that out myself.
Each piece of stationary consists of one standard HTML file and
a number of additional graphic and sound files. By far most
themes consist of the single HTML file, one graphic and perhaps
one sound file.
Desktop themes
Beginning with the "Plus" pack that was an optional add-on to
Windows 95, Microsoft introduced the concept of desktop themes.
These are very cool in that they allow you to change your
wallpaper, sounds, icons, cursors and a host of other things
using a simple text file.
Themes are very easy to create, and they have become extremely
popular. There are hundreds of sites totally dedicated to them,
and there are tends of thousand of individual themes available
on every conceivable subject.
Normally, themes are stored in the following location:
C:Program FilesPlus!Themes
Note that the location is stored in the system registry file (if
you don't know what that is, then you probably don't need to
worry about it). This allows you to modify, if you are very
daring, the disk and directory where the theme files are stashed.
Each theme consists of a single text file with a file type of
".theme", and a number of associated icon, graphic, cursor and
sound files.
ICQ Skins
The most popular instant messaging platform is called ICQ
(I-Seek-You). Someone very creative decided the ICQ interface
was very boring and created ICQ-plus. This add on allows you to
change the look and feel of the ICQ interface. Virtually
everything can change - the buttons, colors, graphics, fonts and
text. These changes are called skins.
ICQ skins are stashed here:
C:Program FilesICQPlusSkins
Each skin is self-contained in a zip file (which can be unpacked
using Winzip if you so desire)
About the author:
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets.
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