The opinionated ramblings and muses of a weary web victim.
A Quarter Of A Century
Published on March 1, 2026 By Jafo In WinCustomize News

March, 2001.  Wincustomize.com went live.

This week marks One Quarter Of A Century that Stardock has hosted the longest-lasting  Community-oriented skinning site and related Forums.

 

I remember getting the message while on Skinz.org to log into Wincustomize and create an account, so I did.

The first 20 User IDs were reserved for Stardock themselves so my User ID of '23' gives a good indicator I was day one.   Somewhere along the line I was 'assimilated' into the machine and am still here.

OS Graphic User Interface Skinning has evolved with the evolution of the Windows OS.  At the beginning it was relatively straight forward and 'simple' and attracted a huge following, however a dozen or so years into the life of skinning things became a little more difficult to achieve and the excitement waned somewhat.

I highly doubt that the concept of 'Customizing' will ever disappear, particularly as the Windows OS takes some odd detours of functionality.  Stardock's current successes with both Fences and Start 10/11 in particular, along with the original stalwarts like Windowblinds, and others demonstrates where there's a need there will always be a Better Solution.   

 

 

 

Wincustomize.com was [and still is] Frogboy's "baby".  Without his vision, seeing the need for a stable/reliable site for GUI Modding we all would not be here at all.

Thank you, Brad [and the crew with the spanners that keep it alive].  


Comments (Page 1)
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on Mar 01, 2026

Happy birthday and thanks for keeping it going.   

on Mar 01, 2026

Dave stole first reply from me only because I was replying elsewhere. That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it.

Dave is right about that

DaveRI

thanks for keeping it going.   

I've come to understand what that took since you (and others) were foolish enough to have put up with my nonsense for as long as you have. Thanks for that, too.   

Happy birthday, frogboy's WC. Thank you Brad, for sharing your dream.

And special thanks to the spanner crowd: T-Man and the team of real heroes who saved WC from oblivion.

We all owe you! 

on Mar 02, 2026

Happy Birthday, WC!!   

on Mar 02, 2026

Happy Happy WC!   

Long great trip. I've enjoyed every day (almost)

Thanks to all! Especially The Frogboy   


Member Number : 729077
Member Since      : 11/17/2003

on Mar 02, 2026

Happy birthday, WC!

Remember that day like it was yesterday... Quarter of a century has gone by... oh boy lol

Member Number:
261

 

on Mar 02, 2026

Happy Birthday and congratulations!

on Mar 02, 2026

Happy birthday, WinC.   

It's been well over a decade, but I thought this skinning dinosaur (user id 109) had to drop in and leave a lill' greating.   

on Mar 02, 2026

Snowman

It's been well over a decade, but I thought this skinning dinosaur (user id 109) had to drop in and leave a lill' greating.
Wow! Nice to see you're still around, Morten!

on Mar 02, 2026

Happy birthday, WC!

on Mar 02, 2026

JcRabbit

Member Number:
261

Newby. Lol.   

JanOscar


Quoting Snowman,

It's been well over a decade, but I thought this skinning dinosaur (user id 109) had to drop in and leave a lill' greating.

Wow! Nice to see you're still around, Morten!

Indeed it is. Hey Snowy...really good to see you here. 

*Special for the Jafosaurus:

"Beer O'clock at the Prehistoric Perch".

 

on Mar 02, 2026

Happy birthday, WC ! I didn't join until July 2001, and I got user number 18095. This community grew fast! Thank you forever Brad and Stardock! Cheers to all!

on Mar 02, 2026

MikeB314

Happy birthday, WC ! I didn't join until July 2001, and I got user number 18095. This community grew fast! Thank you forever Brad and Stardock! Cheers to all!

I joined in July 2002 and I'm User Number: 310050

Wow...  300,000 users in WC's first 16 months

 

on Mar 02, 2026

Happy Birthday Wincustomize.com   

on Mar 03, 2026

Snowman

Happy birthday, WinC.   

It's been well over a decade, but I thought this skinning dinosaur (user id 109) had to drop in and leave a lill' greating.   


MikeB314

Happy birthday, WC ! I didn't join until July 2001, and I got user number 18095. This community grew fast! Thank you forever Brad and Stardock! Cheers to all!

 

Frosty! Mike! It's great to see both of you are still alive. Jafo pokes his head in every now and then but not as often as he used to.

Happy B-day, WC!! 

on Mar 03, 2026

Definitely a Happy Birthday to WC!   

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