Thousands of skins are available, ranging from Star Trek-themed ones, to OS X-themed ones and even to superhero-inspired ones! Whilst changing the appearance of Windows has little functunional benefit, it makes a computer feel less impersonal and companies can use skins to reinforce their identity.

WindowsBlinds works on all versions of Windows since 98, although only older ‘Classsic’ versions of WindowsBlinds work on 98, ME and 2000.

The software does have its disadvantages. Firstly, it takes up system resources (Stardock claims that the system it runs on must have 256MB RAM at minimum), secondly, some skins are terribly buggy and thirdly, it is not free.

The software’s most basic package costs $19.95 (about £11 or €14) but Object Desktop Ultimate, a complete solution which also includes several other tools and free upgrades for a year costs $69.95 (about £30 or €50).