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Duly noted. It's hidden since the xpize package is the only one embedded in the installer. If you download the tools there's a copy of the Installer that doesn't hide it. It's only meant for people testing their packages. Package = *.anop file that contains all the files and the package definition XML file. This requires a separate installer program to install. Distribution = *.exe file that is the installer with an embedded package That's right. TBH I haven't really tested the effiacy of System Restore, but it's preferable to use Anolis' built-in uninstaller rather than use System Restore. It's meant as a safety net if something really bad happens such that you can't use the uninstaller. I've since made some modifications to the de.resx file you sent to me, so I'll re-upload all of them later today. It isn't a problem on English, German, or Spanish versions of Windows. I've heard it happens on the Russian version. I have no further intelligence. It already selects the right folder, it just needs the user to confirm to uninstall. I'll make this more clear in future. That's a problem with the current strings. It says it'll restart but it doesn't. I've fixed this in my private builds. I'll release xpize 5 Release 5 later, maybe in a month's time since the only changes would be in the installer code rather than the xpize package. If xpize 5 Release 4 works for you then there's no need to use Release 5.

What's New? New since XPize 4.xFull x64 and XP SP3 support (including XPx64 winbrand image) Internet Explorer 8 support More visual styles and wallpapers More bitmap styles (including Luna Element and XPize 3.x's own Energy Blue style) Includes xpize Darkside (courtesy of Antonio King) XP 7-Zip skin and icons Numerous little things Full MMC3.0 support Intelligent icon patcher replaces icon subimages, rather than deleting them [*]New since the last release (Beta 3) Numerous bug fixes Better I386 support, including AMD64 support Brings back the clock face bitmap (English only) And fixes the System Performance control panel (English only) And other little things Known Issues There's only a few known issues with this release which, I think, can be safely ignored: Users of non-English Windows may find their shell32.dll and other files go over some undefined size limit which causes incompatibilities with some programs. If anyone has this issue it's important you let us know. LocalisationSwedish and Simplified Chinese aren't full translations, they're missing a few strings There are a few English strings that aren't localised. You will only see these under error conditions or at the end of uninstallation [*]Uninstallation Uninstallation has been tested, but not to the same extent as installation. During my testing on x64 it seemed to go by okay, except cursors aren't restored and your window title font won't be reset. This is easily corrected by just flipping your visual style selection on-and-off. Font antialiasing settings are not restored by uninstalling. You can manually change this via the Display control panel [*]Boot.ini My Boot.ini classes haven't been tested on a dual-boot system. They apply the bootlogo to the default OS and assume boot.ini takes the format of the Windows XP version. If you are running a dual-boot system, report any difficulties. Requirements As always, it requires the .NET Framework 2.0 (Click here if you're on x86, or here if you're on x64) otherwise you'll get errors about the application not starting right. Download Link Download xpize 5 Release 4 from the downloads page. Let's see how many terabytes a month I'll burn through by self-hosting the file.

It's 0135h UTC+1 and you seem to be stalking me. Good news is that all the bugs relating to installation have now been fixed. All that's left are bugs relating to uninstallation. Joy. I've decided not to do anything about the 20MB shell32.dll problem until more people give me precise reproduction instructions. This does mean that xpize 5 Release 4 won't be the final version though, but if only 1 person out of a thousand complain of the issue they can always uncheck shell32.dll from within the installer.

I've fixed the LZMA Tarball issue and just thinking how to proceed on the Shell32.dll problem. I'm also working on a screencast showing how to do the CD Image ("I386") thing since xpize no-longer makes the ISO for you (sorry about that).

Status Update: There's a minor bug that's been irritating me for a while now: it's basically where it doesn't give accurate reporting about the extraction of files from an LZMA-compressed Tarball (*.tar.lzma files, the current format of *.anop files). I don't expect it'll take me long to fix. The problem with patching Shell32.dll on non-English versions of Windows where you get errors if it goes over 20MB, so I'll modify it so it doesn't do 128x128 icons if the final size is over 20MB. This will take longer to implement, but it's better to be safe than sorry. The latest batch of testing on XPx86 and XPx64 show everything to be in order. I really think I can release it tonight.

I only update the sites like twice a month so it really isn't worth it. Also, the news is actually just an SSI include, there's no real CMS which means I'd have to manually update the RSS too. I did consider switching to Wordpress, but it's overkill.

It was... Yep. Though that's compensated by me consistently waking up at midday thesedays. xpize 5 Release 4, aka xpize 5 Final Release (unless there's a showstopper bug someone finds) will support the following operating systems for local installation and CD Image "I386/AMD64" patching: Windows XP (all editions) x86 SP3 Windows XP Professional x64 SP2 Windows Server 2003 (all editions, incl R2) x86 SP2 Windows Server 2003 (all editions, incl R2) x64 SP2 ...which is basically the entire NT5.1 and NT5.2 operating system family (spare the very rare IA64 editions of Windows XP and Server 2003 which no-one uses; and don't confuse IA64 with AMD64 (aka "x64") as the two are very different animals). There is feature parity accross all platforms when installed locally: your UxTheme.dll file will be patched regardless of operating system. However patching a CD image does not give you everything you'd get by installing locally (although uxtheme is still patched and custom visual styles installed along with the new wallpapers and screensavers). Things that wouldn't be installed is TaskswitchXP, the new bootscreen, file type icons, and the ability to uninstall. ok...i asked because "xpize 5 Release 4 Tomorrow" topic has no download link... is the final version coming today or the release 4? Release 4 will be the final version. And I apologize for not keeping to the deadline I set myself, I'm terrible at things like that (so God help me when it comes to my degree course's final year project). Here's a little status report: It's pretty much complete as it is. I could release it right now and you'd all be very happy with it. But I'm not going to release it because there's still a few issues that need solving before it's polished enough. These are things like the program not properly validating user input in a few areas, and the program not unlocking certain files when it should. These are all minor issues, and they all add up to a period of time needed to fix it. Right now most of the issues left to fix actually apply to Windows Vista. Y'see... when you run xpize 5 on Vista it will still allow you to patch a CD, just not to install it locally. So I have to get the UI right on Vista too (which has different human interface guidelines too). So I'm sorry for letting you down with my earlier promises, but just bear with me and we'll see this through. If you'd like a date that I can certainly keep by (and so you'll be pleasently surprised when I release it before then) I'll give you this Friday as an uppper-bound deadline, but in reality I'm aiming for Wednesday, but I don't want to promise it. Oh, and xpize 5 Release 4 weighs in at just under 17MB (which is a good megabyte smaller than xpize 5 Beta 3) yet contains more features and stuff.

Arrrghhh! I was so close to releasing it by now. I've discovered a few more bugs in the framework that really need to fix before I can release this as a polished final product. They're not big bugs, but it's 3am already so I must go to bed now (or face waking up at 4pm again). Just give me 12-14 more hours!

I'm just running another CD image "slipstreaming" test and seem to have hit a problem with a program not being installed right, otherwise it's looking good. Screenshot proof:

You'll never see its release. Ever! Muwhahahahaha!

I've been busy with fixing some minor bugs in the software (such as adding right-to-left support for Arabic and Persian) and helping some people move their stuff across servers which meant I couldn't hit the deadline today. So you'll have to wait another day. I'll be unavailable for most of tomorrow too, I won't be back until mid-evening but I can certainly aim/hope for a Saturday evening release. This does, of course, give you time to think up some more suggestions for fixes to Windows in the meanwhile. Oh, in other news Zedox finally got back online and gave xpize 5 his full backing (since it includes his XPize Darkside resources). He'll now refer to xpize 5 on his site when he gets it back online. UPDATE: Just to say I've completed a quick test of my I386 (now renamed "CD Image Patch") system and that seems to be going just fine. I haven't actually installed a patched CD image just yet, I'll do that tomorrow. You'll be pleased to know the system supports both I386 and AMD64 directories on any Windows NT 5.x CD image. I haven't figured out the CD image format for NT6.x CDs (Vista and Windows 7), this will be done in time for a Vize 2 release next week. Technical things for those in-the-know: my resource patching engine automatically corrects the PE checksum for both x64 and x86 executables so you don't need to worry about modifype.exe and its ilk. I'll be consulting with Zedox to get the Vista CD image format working. It is technically possible, but it won't be easy.

Hopefully tomorrow's Release 4 will be the final release. But before I actually release it I was wondering if anyone had any requests for any new resources to be given the xpize treatment. Remote Desktop Connection 5 and 6, Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8, and Windows Defender are all covered, but if there's anything that you feel needs doing, let me know. If there's enough stuff you feel should be changed then I can hold back on releasing it until next week.

I've left a few strings off from the "final" string table I published last week. Fortunately it's only a eight strings: A_DisableAVBefore continuing, please disable Windows Defender and any anti-virus software as they slow down the installation process. [*] C_A_notFileExists The file "{0}" does not exist [*]C_A_selectEmbeddedPackageFirst Select an embedded package before continuing [*]C_B_conditionError There was an error whilst attempting to evaluate the package's suitability for your computer. Contact the package's author. [*]E_A_notValidDirectory The specified directory does not contain a valid uninstallation package [*]G_Title Please Wait... [*]G_WaitMessage Now restarting your computer [*]Wiz_CancelConfirm Are you sure you want to cancel installation? Just post your translations in this thread. I'll need translations of these in the languages we've got done so far: Arabic Danish Farsi German Italian Russian Greek Spanish Welsh French Dutch Polish Thai Traditional Chinese I hope it isn't too much trouble. Thanks!

I've uploaded a preliminary build of the tools I used to make xpize to the Anolis website. The tools are unfinished, unreliable, and largely unusable unless you use 'em right. Still, give them a go: http://anol.is/misc/tools.7z (approx 3MB) (they're in 7-Zip format, it includes a Readme file in the root). Please don't make anything serious with it since I'll be making changes until everything is finalised, but if you start work on something now you should be able to finish it with the final tools. I've already got Tpenfound (creator of Tango and Tiize) using the tools, so let's see what you guys think.

This is a known issue, fixed in my internal builds. Wait a few days.

It took me all of 15 minutes to write and you can disassemble it with Reflector. It's nothing special, really.

Sorry about that. But I posted it after you gave me your translation, I should have done it earlier.

Is that sarcasm? I honestly can't tell. I'm thinking about it. I think I may have found a way to implement it, but there's no way I can get it done for the next (and hopefully final) xpize release. It's just that my "package" system is modelled on the idea of an "install and forget" paradigm, rather than the "theme chooser" system that others have gone down (e.g. StyleXP, Icon Packager, CandyBar). Whilst my engine can be re-used in a "theme chooser"-type software, it remains to be seen if there's a case for it. Windows Server 2003 (both x86 and x64) is supported in the next release by virtue of supporting Windows XP x64 (as they're all Windows NT5.2). You can install it on WS2003 right now by adding the /ignorePackageCondition switch when launching from the command-line. The Embedded theme is already included in the latest Beta, it's installed by default but isn't set as the default style because it really isn't that attractive (it's just a hue-shifted version of Royale).

I've got a friend from SK who I asked, but he's non-technical and said he couldn't do it, he said he'd be better off translating prose rather than software UI strings.

So here's the list of translations completed for the upcoming final release: ar - Arabic cy - Welsh de - German en - English es - Spanish fa - Persian it - Italian pl - Polish ru - Russian zh - Chinese Here's a list of translations that people are currently working on: da - Danish nl - Dutch si - Slovenia And these are the languages I'd like to see done: fr - French ja - Japanese pt - Portuguese (two people have offered to do Portuguese, see below) Is there much difference between Brazilian Portuguese and Portugal's Portuguese?

Wow guys, thanks for the diverse set of translations I'm in the process of getting set-up back here at home, so give me a few days to get myself back in gear.

The original website isn't gone, it's still up: http://www.vizeos.net

Thanks So German, Spanish, and Arabic are now at a completed stage. A friend of mine should be doing Dutch this weekend which leaves Italian and Russian from the original language set. I'll hold off the release until all the languages are done.

I've decided to make use of some of the Qute artwork, this is allowed under the CC terms used by Arvid Axelsson (author of Qute). http://arvidaxelsson.se/qute/ Still, if anyone has made 32x32 sized IE6 buttons, let me know and I'll still include it.

I've got some minor good news to report: It looks like I'll be able to bring my main computer with me back home, so the development process won't be stunted by me using my older computer. I might make some money too, by shifting my two old 22" LaCie ElectronBlue IV monitors on eBay, they fetch a pretty penny.