I have seen quite a lot of desktop backgrounds over the years from all manner of friends and family. Heck, I remember as far back as one of my family’s first PCs, a Packard Bell, that we excitedly bought a screensaver and background software for so that we could have aquarium fishes swimming around when we idled. I mention the above mostly to point out a pretty obvious fact: everyone has different tastes. There’s no right or wrong way to customize your desktop - and, whether yo...

We make a lot of software here at Stardock, and while all of it is wonderful and useful in their own ways, there are just a couple of programs that I consider my “ride or dies” for my PC experience. Fences is absolutely at the top of that list (followed very closely by Groupy ). The basic functionality of organizing my icons, folders, and programs into fenced in areas on my PC desktop is great enough on its own, but the more I explored Fences I began to realize that ...

Back at the beginning of quarantine, I talked a little bit about how Groupy helped me work from home . It saves me the desk space of having to juggle around too many monitors by letting me use my two-monitor setup more efficiently.  It’s about more than just saving space, though. Groupy allows me to sort my work into categories, making it easier for me to compartmentalize what I’m working on, especially when I have several tasks working all at the same time. To b...

Happy spooky season, everyone! Here at Stardock, we love two things: Halloween, and desktop customization. Stardock Halloween 2019! Actually, we love quite a lot more than just those two things, but stick with me here! Halloween is on Saturday, and unfortunately this year won't be filled with the usual trick-or-treating hullabaloo (normally I get 400+ kids in my neighborhood!). That doesn't stop me from decorating for the holiday anyway! I'll be turning my porch light off this year, savin...

Before coming to Stardock, I never really had a deep appreciation for Windows customization. I remember downloading the occasional Windows background and all sorts of skins (and frankly, probably viruses - sorry mom and dad!) for WinAmp back in my teen years, but that was about the extent of it.  Since being here though, I've garnered an entirely new appreciation for being able to make my desktop look fun and unique - both my PC desktop AND my workspace desktop, too. My work de...

I’ve said this before, but I struggle with heavy strategy video games like Galactic Civilizations III and Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. For 4X games, it’s usually that I suffer from decision paralysis because there are just too many options. For RTS games, too much happens too quickly and my brain’s swiss-cheese processing power just can’t keep up. That said, I find that if I am playing a strategy board game, I have an easier time of it....

I don’t know about you, but I’m a little stir-crazy at this point. The days are starting to blend together so much that I can scarcely keep track of what day it even is anymore, which becomes especially difficult during the work week since I’ve lost the routine of leaving my house and getting in my car to drive there every day. One of the cool things I’ve seen come out of this quarantine period, however, are the numerous people and companies who have come up w...

I have been gaming online for a long time - since I was a teenager and Battle.net (I played a lot of Diablo II and Starcraft) was first a thing, in fact. Back then, the biggest thing I remember my parents being concerned about were mostly safety things: don’t give out your name or address, don’t share pictures, and for the love of all that is holy, don’t EVER agree to meet someone you’ve only met online. They’re not bad rules - they’re good rules, ...

Everyone has preferences in gaming.   Some people prefer to play a game for some heart-pounding, fast-paced action. Others might enjoy something a little more serene, like a nice puzzle or “find it” game. Some play for the mechanics of the game itself, and others might play a game primarily for the story.   There are lots of reasons that I play games, but one of the things that compels me the most about them is the story. The gameplay could be incredible, an...

A couple of months ago, I talked a little about the fun virtual trivia night that I held with my coworkers via Discord. Now that vaccinations are rolling out and things are starting to open up again, we’re hoping to hold the next one in a Family Feud style, and in person - but that’s another discussion. Over the last year, I - like many millions of others - have had to find ways to stay connected with friends and family without being able to hang out in the same room. To ...

I don’t worry too much about constantly tidying and organizing my PC - until it gets annoying, anyway. By then it’s too late, and I spend all sorts of time sorting icons and renaming folders. I’ll admit that I am pretty much the same way with my house - the idea of ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ has never really resonated with me. This creates a special sort of chaos, which is fine - until it isn’t. I know that if I had a syst...

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel! Vaccinations are rolling out and we’re all one step closer to being back together in person at the office. I know I don’t just speak for myself when I say that we’ve missed each other so much.  We’re still not quite ready to gather in person yet, so we’ve been taking our game nights online for the last year or so. A couple Fridays ago, we hosted an online trivia night using Discord. We offered a $20 Am...

I absolutely love a good joke. As long as the joke doesn’t hurt or disparage someone, I’m 100% for April Fools' pranks. While some corners of the internet are to be avoided on April 1st, I personally always look forward to some of the funny prank products that game and tech companies come up with for that day.  I got curious about the origins of April Fools' Day, so I did a bit of searching online and found a few different accounts. The most credible explanation of it...

I normally don’t mind change. Change means progress, new and exciting experiences, interesting people, and so on. Change is good! Unless it’s your Start menu. Look, I spent a lot of time on Windows 7. I skipped Windows 8 entirely. So when Windows 10 came around and handed me a brand new Start menu (not to mention a bunch of other new stuff that I wasn’t used to), I wasn’t a huge fan. Like it or not, though, I’m a Windows user and I’m pretty mu...

One of the most common questions I think I get about the Multiplicity software is: why are there 3 versions and what the heck is the difference between them? It’s a fair question - one that I also had personally when I started learning about our software - and I’m here to help answer it. A while back, I wrote up a guide to setting up Multiplicity KM . Multiplicity KM is the version that is included in Object Desktop, and lets you control 2 PCs with a single keyboard and mo...