I have been getting quite a few messages lately from people wanting to know how to change their Vista cursors.  Many of them are still using CursorXP, and I guess maybe the CursorFX news just hasn’t reached everyone yet.  No big deal though, lets go through the steps on getting some custom cursors on your Windows desktop.

What is CursorFX?

CursorFX is the successor to the highly popular CursorXP application.  I think it’s safe to say CursorXP was the top choice when needing to apply custom created cursors to your desktop, and with millions of downloads from sites like Download.com, I think many would agree.

CursorXP was great, but it was showing some age and with Vista coming along, it was time to develop a suitable replacement.  In comes CursorFX.  CursorFX is not just an update to CursorXP, it’s a completely new application that works with both Windows Vista and XP. 

Changing Your Cursor Theme

If you downloaded the free version, you just install from the file that was downloaded.  If you purchased CursorFX Plus then you can also download through Stardock Central or Impulse.  So once it’s installed, start the application and you will see the main configuration screen.

CursorFX Main

In the center of the window you see the list of currently installed cursor themes.  CursorFX by default comes with several themes included, but I will also show you where to get more later in the article. You can simply browse the list of cursor themes by scrolling through the list, and when you find one you like, just double-click the selection or hit the Apply button.  That will automatically change your cursor to the selected one.

CursorFX Preview

By clicking the magnifying glass icon on the right of the selection, it will bring up the full preview of all the included cursor states.  It will even preview the animations so you can see exactly what the cursor looks like.

Getting More Themes

CursorFX includes several high quality cursors, but no need to limit yourself to those.  There are hundreds available on WinCustomize.com, and remember that CursorFX cursors are compatible with CursorFX.

There are some really great cursors available in the CursorFX gallery, so be sure to browse through and see all the great works.

Link: CursorFX gallery on WinCustomize

Download: Stardock’s CursorFX (free, Plus version $19.95)

If you spend any amount of time on the Internet then I would probably bet you have be subjected to some form of talk about social networks.  Heck, even here on WinCustomize and JoeUser I regularly talk about the usefulness of such networks.  We have a growing group on Facebook about desktop customization, and several of us use Twitter as well.

With all these current networks, and more popping up all the time, it can be difficult to keep track of them all.  I use quite a few of these networks for both personal and work use, and I wanted to share a few tips on how I manage some of the more popular ones.

• FriendFeed is one of the hottest new sites around, and it’s generating quite a buzz.  FriendFeed lets you keep update to date with the happening of all your subscribed friends, favorite bloggers, etc.  It will pull updates from services like Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, and a bunch more.  It also allows users to comment on your postings, and see updates posted from your friends as well.   You can see my feed here.
  
• Socialthing! is another website that does a similar function, but I think it has a much cleaner interface.  Socialting! is still an invite only service, and I do have a couple of invites to give away if anyone is interested.
  
• TweetScan is for you Twitter users out there.  It lets you search Twitter, and is a good way to find people with similar interests, or people that are just talking about you.
  
• Twhirl is an application powered by Adobe AIR.  It’s a Twitter client for your desktop, but the cool thing about this is it will also post to your Pownce and Jaiku accounts as well.  It’s also available for both PC and Mac, but my personal Twitter client of choice is Witty.
  
• Alert Thingy is another new application also powered by Adobe AIR.  Instead of Twitter, this app focuses on keeping you updated of your FriendFeed feeds, and it also allows you to post messages to Twitter.

So those are a few of my top choices on how to make managing your social networks a little bit easier.  If you have any tips or tricks, I would definitely like to hear how you manage yours.

The latest application bundle from MacUpdate is now up. They have 10 apps, some of which are locked, for $65. Total price of all the applications would normally be $475.

Some of the apps included are:

• Parallels (unlocked when a certain amount of bundles are sold)
  
• BannerZest
  
• Art Text
  
• Hazel
  
• Typinator
  
• MenuCalendarClock
  
• and more

The promo starts today and will run for two weeks ending on April 29th.

Link: MacUpdate Promo