Super Awesome Blog

I’m one of those people who is never quite satisfied with things, especially when it comes to the interface on my computer.  The Windows desktop environment has always been a somewhat chaotic environment, especially if you use the desktop as a “sort bin” like I usually do.  Luckily the folks over at Stardock have created some wonderful freeware (for now) software called Fences.

1. Download Fences from Stardock.

2. After installing Fences, right click and drag on the desktop. When you let go a box will come up saying “Create New Fence Here”.

2. Select “Create New Fence Here”.  A box will come up asking you to name the fence.  I’m organizing some of my roleplaying files in this example, so I’ll name the Fence “Roleplaying Files”

3. Click “OK” or hit enter, and you’ve made your fence!

4. Just drag the icons you want to add into the fence and they’ll be organized inside!

Fences is very customizable, you can change the color, opacity, show/hide label options, and you can even hide all the icons on the desktop with a double-click if you like.  The program is free and very lightweight so you don’t need to worry about it slowing your system down.  The program claims to be compatible with Vista and XP, however I have only tried it on Vista.

To try it yourself go to the Stardock Fences Site.

I love customizing my computer, and recently I had the urge to change the folder icon I use for my Super Awesome Blog files to have a “Super Awesome” Icon!  After a little research I discovered that it’s suprisingly easy.  Here’s what you need:

The Easy Way:

1. Get a .PNG file that’s already to go. If you use PhotoShop like I do, you might find the Free Icon Plugin by Sibcode helpful, it lets you edit Icons in PhotoShop (pretty handy!)

2. Point Your Web Browser to ConvertICO.com, a free site where you can upload your image file and convert it to a high quality .ico file!

How I Made Mine!

1. Get your source files ready.  I simply used my Print Screen button on my keyboard, pasted it into photoshop and cropped out the window I wanted.  I found an empty Vista Folder Icon on Deviant Art.

2. I used the Skew to create a 3D effect, and sized it to what I wanted.

3. Then I made a duplicate layer. I changed the Opacity to 50% on the duplicate layer, and cropped out the original screen cap (the area that looks like it’s inside the folder. Once I was all done, I saved the file as a PNG.

4. Then I simply went to ConvertICO.com, uploaded the PNG, and voila!  You can test it by converting the PNG in this article.

Happy Icon Creating!