Myths & Facts about WindowBlinds

Because WindowBlinds has been out now for half a decade and it has changed so dramatically over the years, there are a lot of misconceptions about how WindowBlinds works.

MYTH: WindowBlinds is a memory hog.

FACT:  No. WindowBlinds not only uses very little memory but it actually uses LESS memory than the bundled themes do. That's because WindowBlinds visual styles are designed to use less memory since its skin format was designed during the days when users had fewer resources.

The Wbload.exe process in the Windows task list.

MYTH: WindowBlinds will slow down your computer.

FACT: To a certain extent, anything you load onto your machine will slow it down by some amount. The question is, will a given program slow down your computer noticeably. In WindowBlinds' case, it shouldn't slow down your computer. Thanks to hardware acceleration and using extra video RAM on most new cards, WindowBlinds should be noticeably faster than using the bundled themes in Windows XP.

MYTH: WindowBlinds isn't as compatible or will crash my programs

FACT: WindowBlinds, because it's a commercial product, has to provide additional value over the included themes in Windows XP. One of the ways it does this is by defaulting to skinning non-theme aware programs. Of course, some programs just don't like being skinned. Those apps can be added to the exclusion list. Most existing software is excluded by Microsoft's theme engine. But you can do the same thing with WindowBlinds if you are concerned about compatibility over consistency:

You can tell WindowBlinds to only skin theme aware programs and have identical compatibility to Windows XP's bundled themes.

MYTH: All the WindowBlinds visual styles are big and ugly.

FACT: There are thousands of WindowBlinds visual styles on the net. And it can also import in .msstyles files if you have SkinStudio installed. Because WindowBlinds is very flexible, skinners tend to make skins that they want to make with little limitation. So that creates more variety. But sites such as WinCustomize.com do have ways of filtering visual styles so you can find the ones you want.

For example, if you want to see the Admin picks of WindowBlinds visual styles, you can go here. That doesn't mean you'll like what they picked but they are skins that other people have liked.