Dress Up Your PC Tennessee

Tired of Windows' looks? No problem--you can dress it up just about any way you want, and these downloads will help. Want to turn your desktop into a virtual 3D space? Go right ahead. Want to give your PC the Mac OS X Dock feature? You can. In fact, you'll be able to tweak how Windows appears and works, with these 15 great downloads.

If you're eager to try the files right now, see our complete collection of the downloads described in this story.

To make your desktop look completely different, give this program a try. It turns your desktop into a three-dimensional space and transforms your icons into virtual objects that you can move around and even throw. You can rotate them in any way, and when you throw them against one another, they clink as they crash. You can even lift up your icons and twirl them around. The Recycle Bin becomes a three-dimensional trash can, too.

Will this change the way you compute? No--but it's plenty of fun, and it's worth trying just for that. (Note that when you use the program, you won't be able to use wallpaper in combination with it.)

Download Real Desktop Lite (Free)

One of Mac OS X's best features is its Dock, an easily customizable bar of icons at the bottom or side of the screen that lets you run frequently used programs. Inexplicably, a comparable feature is missing from Windows, absent even in Vista.

Until now, that is. RocketDock lets you place a dock at the top, bottom, or side of your screen for quick access to your favorite apps and features. By default it has icons for several Windows features, including My Computer, Recycle Bin, Control Panel, and others, but you can quickly add new icons by dragging and dropping them. The extremely customizable program allows you to change the graphic quality and opacity of the icons, and offers a number of different styles. It's simple to use, it's free, and it makes running oft-used programs and features easier. Given that, it's hard to pass up.

Download RocketDoc (Free)