Author: Wayne Ihamäki Date: August 28, 2008 Manufacturer: The Skins Factory

Page 1: Introduction

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Bored with your original Windows desktop? Well The Skins Factory lets you change all that with their Hyperdesk hypersuites. Using a system that doesn't modify any system files, it promises to dramatically change your desktop with ease. The gang at The Skins Factory let us download their DarkMatter: Subspace hypersuite. We're going to see how easy it was to install, use, and decide whether we liked it or not.

Installation:


The installation of the Hyperdesk from The Skins Factory was a standard affair.


You will be asked to shut down programs that are currently running.


On the first installation attempt, there was an error in install.


A reboot adds a service called Hyperdesk Theme Enabler.

The Program and Setup


Once the program is up and running, it's easy to navigate. One doesn't have to install every component. Just uncheck the option and it'll go away. One good suggestion would be to add one option at a time.


You're given three different Hypertheme options . Dark, Dark-Alloy, and Alloy.

The same options are available for icons. One might want to mix and match to find a combination they like.


There's only one wallpaper included. Although it's very nice, there's plenty of free options on the internet equally nice. For novice computer users, it would have been nice if this program would of let them change to their own wallpapers here instead of hunting for 'Display Properties'.


The Hyperdesk Darkmatter theme also covers Yahoo Widgets. There's a direct link which will take your there. Of course you don't need Hyperdesk to do this, anyone can go to the Yahoo site themselves.


The next component to this team is the Windows Media Player Skin.


Things didn't always go smooth. For some reason it was crashing when I included the icon set.


Here's the desktop, minus the icon set.


Here's an example of how it changed the look of a program window.


The update to Windows Media Player was awesome. The animated player was sight to behold. It would be nice to see other applications work like this.


For whatever reason, I didn't have a problem with the icon set once the other components were installed. Here's some examples of how they looked. The level of detail on the icons is really good. However at stock size, the detail was too small to see. My solution was to go to Display Properties / Appearance / Advanced/ Item and change Icon size and spacing. It might look like safemode, but it brought out the detail and made spotting folders easier. Hyperdesk think the 32 x 32 icons are rather small themselves. They suggest changing icons from anywhere to 48 to 64 pixels. (Source: http://hyperdesk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14)


Slightly annoying was trying to play spot the Scroll bar. Sometimes there would be a blue dot. But when the bar is too short, there's nothing but black on black. It makes it very hard to spot. Thankfully I have 20/20 vision.


I haven't been able to replicate this, but at one time it messed up my Quick Launch icons.


The program notified me there was an update patch. Perhaps this solves all the small quirks? There hasn't been an issue since.


After awhile, the included wallpaper got boring. But the new DarkMatter taskbar sure does frame this wallpaper allot nicer then the default options ever did. It's nice that you can pick and choose which parts of the Hyperdesk to use and make your desktop your own.

Conclusion.

Testing a product like the DarkMatter: Subspace hypersuite can be a bit of a challenge. Much of it has to do with personal preference. For only $10.00, there is actually quite a few features, some you may or may not be interested in. Personally, I don't care for widgets or Windows Media Player, and got tired of the single wallpaper that is included. And that's okay because for the price, it was worthwhile just to get rid of the boring default Windows taskbar and icon set. I've noticed no performance impact and despite some issues at first, it's been rock steady ever since. One might also want to check out their other offerings. Besides a couple similar to what you see here, they also have a 'Disney's It's a Magical World' and a 'Disney/Pixar's WALL-E' Hypersuite. The folks over at The Skins Factory obviously have some artistic talent. If you were looking for stunning graphics for your desktop, look no further.

Pros

• Easy installation and set-up.
• No noticeable performance hit.
• Taskbar looks terrific.
• Graphics are quite awesome.
• Major visual improvement over stock.

Cons

• Lack of color selections. (Some options available, but for a price.)
• Short scrollbars end up being black on black and hard to see.
• Minor installation hassles that couldn't be replicated.
• Folder icons don't look like folders.

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