Desktop Architect - A Complete Customization Tool for Windows 9x (Overview & Demo)

Today we're checking out Desktop Architect - a customization tool for Windows from the late '90s!
Desktop Architect: archive.org/details/DesktopAr...
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#MichaelMJD #Windows98 #Microsoft

[@NoahClevinger]

Weekends are always better with a brand new Michael MJD video.

[@NicolARark]

True ;))

[@JessicaFEREM]

You could use Desktop Architect to make a dark and light theme for windows and use the scheduler to change it. that's something you couldn't really do until Auto Dark mode a few years ago, but this program was doing it back on windows 9x

[@KokoroKatsura]

HUGE ANIME BREASTS

[@The10021k-guy]

Gonna try that sometime, thanks

[@badcatalex]

@@The10021k-guy almost the same name as me lol

[@The10021k-guy]

@@badcatalex haha that's cool. I knew there were different spellings of the last name.

[@ceebee23]

MS really shutdown user themes ...control freaks really no need to do it

[@Tsaukpaetra]

This program enabled Windows' flat UI before Microsoft designers ever came up with the idea!

[@ainlLeek]

Crank that all the way to flat, you're looking at a modern smartphone from 25 years ago! Some things never change.

[@philtkaswahl2124]

That Mario desktop background made everything so much better.

[@KatJustice97]

Imagine using the scheduler to set your theme to change with the time of day to reflect the sun. Morning it's kind of a rose gold, mid-day it's a warm, friendly blue, late afternoon it's a bold orange, twilight it's a cool purple, and during the night it's a dark navy or black theme. UGH makes me wish I was cognizant during the early 2000s

[@tinfoil209]

Back in the 90's: "Ohh a file named Cool Theme.exe, I'm running THAT!" :) Awesome video.

[@usmansm]

Windows 95/98 and even XP were such fun times. I was a kid back then and had a blast with new themes, sounds, wallpapers etc. It seemed so surreal at that time, as if your PC was alive. Now OS have gone really basic/corporate style and its quite boring.

[@ChloeKenobi]

Omg the mario art wallpaper!!! My favorite MJD lore piece

[@alisharifian535]

I like the way icon designers have consensus on what a "Theme" icon should look like:a speaker,a palette and a capital "A".There are some other options,like a brush and a monitor. You can add salt and pepper to the recipe at will.

[@TimurTripp2]

That icon does a great job conveying the functionality of the app, unlike app icons today.

[@win_ini]

@@TimurTripp2 true. things like the settings app, the cog conveys the idea of setting stuff up, so that works. but, firefox ? GIMP ? if you had to guess the purpose of these programs by their icon and didn't know them before, you'd be stuck !

[@intel386DX]

I remember from the the late 90-s (98/99) That I so in my school one Windows 95 PC (486 ma by) with inverted 3D elements 11:05 I was so amazed how it was done, and all those years I was wondering, now I know :D

[@GBlastMan]

I think the BSOD was because you opened explorer while a Desktop Architect was kinda messing with the sys files in real time, and the system kinda freaked out because those files were being used at two exact points at the same time which is a no no for system files. Ok kinda searched about this error and its because "bad memory" but i think that also reffers to when windows tries to use something from memory but its attempting to use it from a place that cant be accesed or like when memory gets leaked and therefore causes a system halt, and i think here is because a program is calling sys files to be previewed somewhere else while you are accesing to explorer that also is trying to call said memory sector where the file for that particular thing is stored so it kinda "overlaps" on itself and causes the BSOD because you cant be having the same file being accesible by 2 different applications at the same time.

[@CoTeCiOtm]

Dude, I remember some years ago I was looking into the possibility of changing some of the 3D element colours in Win9x since I knew it was possible to change, since some of the high contrast themes do alter the 3D element colours, and you can't tweak them at all within Windows. I'm grabbing this straight away, it looks like such a fun program to mess around!

[@Aeduo]

I remember as a teenager finding the fields for this in the registry. I didn't know how to write windows software nor did I have tools for it, though, to make an editor for it.

[@prayagsuthar9856]

8:15 That bobblehead graphic looks like the sort of thing that would haunt my fever dreams...😳😳😳

[@rjsmith2007]

I miss the era of being able to customize windows.

[@BionicTenshi96]

Didn't know 3D settings could be customized like that, i used before a program called Hook99 that allowed having flat buttons in the taskbar but didn't know it could be done on the whole system. A feature that could've been cool is changing the colours used in the scheme to somewhat match the wallpaper, like Win8 did to some extent, but i guess that's too advanced.

[@deltasyn7434]

Some time ago, I had found the desktop theme for Windows Whistler which could be applied to XP. It was like the classic theme with some ornate pixelation applied to the top of the window borders. Unfortunately, I lost the file in a HDD crash some time ago and I haven't been able to find it since.

[@gymnasiast90]

Ah right, that would be the Watercolor/Professional theme. I’ve always liked it, along with the Windows 2000 icons, so I applied both when I still used XP.

[@deltasyn7434]

@@gymnasiast90 That's what it was called. I was trying to remember the name and it wasn't coming to me. The main thing I remember about it was how hard it was to find back then. I'd imagine it's next to impossible these days.

[@RetroGamerOG_]

I just noticed the new camera quality!

[@pianokeyjoe]

Amazing how much I loved to customize Windows with Litestep and Windowblinds back in the day when I could not use LINUX for everything, but wanted Windows to Look like Unix or Linux graphical environments but still use my favorite music and photo manipulation apps that only worked in Windows. Ahh, memories 😀. I never actually heard of or saw this app in my almost daily searches for shells, and icon changers, and so on back in 2000-2001. Now that I see this in 2023 I see it is far more powerful than just using Stardock on top of Windows. But.. Now I have Linux that does everything Windows does and more.. so why use this anymore than for purely nostalgic reasons? Then again, is not nostalgia, a good enough reason? Questions to ponder I reckon.

[@LovelyAlanna]

There was some software that tuned windows 98 like windows blinds, it was called chroma desktop or chrome desktop, I'm not really sure, but it became impossible to find after google released their browser, I kinda miss it, it was very good

[@whirr11WasStolen]

google is the company in the word jk

[@aytowastaken]

That program looks pretty awesome, might mess around with it in a VM someday!

[@EBTheOriginalMaster]

7:52 That will sure give all the kiddies nightmares. 😂

[@kaitlyn__L]

That compass theme is actually weirdly really nice, even tho I think it’s designed to be generic

[@JeffreyPiatt]

I remember downloading Windows desktop Themes made with this program promoteimg it. I never downloaded it. And it's sharing feature is now part of the windows control panel.

[@robwebnoid5763]

Either I forgot about Desktop Architect or have never come across it. But the main changer I've used is/was Revolutions Pack. Win 98SE is my favorite version of all time & installed that on several PC's back in the day, even as recent as a decade ago. I've also used KernelEx at one point, also 98SE2ME & also used Calmira to make 3.1 look like 9x.

[@CesareVesdani]

That's a very interesting desktop application.

[@beto86]

love seeing nortons autoprotect and mcafee vscan running at the same time in the tray haha

[@blainepalmerza]

Awesome video, Michael!

[@Huskerswrld]

Always good to have an mjd vid!!!

[@NARbluebear]

That Mario background got me.

[@MichaelEKaz]

I like the image used in File Explorer when you installed the later version. That’s a neat way to enhance a theme.

[@ste666666666]

Very cool, Wish windows came with options like that and all grouped together

[@hafuketo9458]

Does this program work on XP? Or is there something similar for XP? Would love to be able to cycle through all the themes every time I reboot, set up an automatic Christmas theme, Halloween theme etc

[@MildManneredBen]

Thanks for another great video!

[@BushFan647]

The help docs mention that it supports WinNT and 2K; that makes me think, does it work at all on newer versions? It'd be fun to see if it does anything interesting!

[@Lostcontroller]

Won't it cause problems/not work from Vista onwards?

[@gabrielv.4358]

So true!

[@AlyxxTheRat]

I installed this from various shareware CDs back in the day. Was a fun program to mess around with.

[@exyvt]

Cool topic! Cool video! Keep it up, Michael!

[@BrigedMccarthy]

always a good day when there’s a mjd upload

[@AddiJay2397]

Love the Mario wallpaper.

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

I will now proceed to architect my desktop with MJD themes.

[@DonkeKongy]

That mario 64 wallpaper is sick af

[@otero1]

Wow, this brings memories back.

[@gabrielv.4358]

Very cool!

[@gabrielv.4358]

AWESOME!

[@MangaTDZone]

That's remind me Desktop Themes from Jonathan Potter / Left Side Software, but Desktop Architect look like more complet (in all case than the 1997 version I knew when I was kid.

[@Speedy4you10]

Nice video. Did you get a new camera? Looks nice.

[@Twintania]

6:30 wouldn't be a windows 9x related video without it bluescreening

[@SwissestCheese]

Nice Mario wallpaper

[@MrTechsi]

I remember this, this was cool back in the day.

[@houfino]

I will ask...What is the "screen recording" program in Windows 98??? Thank you I remembered I had Desktop Architect..It was beautiful...The best 🙂

[@epicnote1337]

That is a really cool mario 64 wallpaper btw

[@alekspapiez2648]

Thank you Michael for this awsome Video! You made my day

[@walkerpierce5446]

I really want that custom boot screen image.

[@markusTegelane]

6:22 that must be why we’re not shipping Windows 98 yet

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

Wait... WindowBlinds was on Win9x??? Can we get a video on that, or does Michael already have a video on it? That sounds dope as heck.

[@agar322]

Thought the same. It's amazing to think it's that old. I used it back in 2009/10 to make my XP look like Vista, and I use it now to make my W10 look like W7 (I love Aero)

[@robwebnoid5763]

I remember it too, I think it was around the time of Y2k when I was reading about it. There was even something called 3DTop to make it 3-dimensional.

[@BilisNegra]

Funny enough, I only tried WindowBlinds with Windows 98 back in the day, so it's the opposite case for me: I'm not familiar with more modern versions of WindowBlinds...

[@BabyTommyDL]

At this point, it may be an idea to see if you can contact Stardock to see if you can get ahold of some of their software to do a bit of a retospective

[@TtEL]

6:20 Wait a minute, you still have Toilet Mario?

[@Raid_io]

Eddy is always watching

[@Mr.TheOld]

I really just want to use this theme if you could put it in the description or comment section that would be great!

[@lulu-belle1203]

Michaelsoft Binbows 69 is my favorite operating system.

[@Hadisabetghadam]

Hi Michael Do you remember installing Windows 11 on unofficial hardware (HP Compaq)? Make a video for installing Windows 11 for netbooks (Intel Atom laptops) And Intel Cetrino (Motion Computer Tablet) Because it would be so cool (sort of)

[@AerianTelevision]

michael got that sm64 wallpaper tho

[@Sonic21Rus]

Desktop Architect can change logon and shutdown screens? In which systems that's also possible?

[@midixiewrecked7011]

Did you share the theme??

[@szr8]

10:57 So just like Metro apps..

[@fsdfgasgfisd]

It is a shame that Microsoft basically gutted personalization, and with their changes makes 3rd party apps obsolete in win10/11.

[@rockpie]

Oh that wallpaper.

[@UltimatePerfection]

How do you even make animated 98 boot screen?

[@airfixer9461]

Great test..thx for doing this Michael..great video....fantastic buggy freeware...remind me NOT to install this in my old Windows virtual machines 🙂

[@obseletechannel]

Try to run a raw version of 3D movie maker! That would be interesting.

[@NarjaraSMagalhaes]

everything bad about this video is that it ends lol

[@Finix.W]

win11 theme on 98?

[@kylekartgaming]

How much of this works on Windows 2000? I'd like to use this tool on my Windows 2000 PC.

[@jody5661]

That background tho

[@Fishy47_]

Is there a recording apps on windows 9X?

[@k1ttydxll]

Hey! Can you do a video on printshop studio deluxe? (Windows 95, may not be the exact name)

[@tengkusulaiman]

Helo mjd. Can u make a video about uninstaller. Very useful utility software back then, when disk space were small. Few like CleanSweep, Revo. Thanks.

[@firstrobotlegacy1289]

I wonder if you can make Windows 95 Dark mode

[@happyatheists9361]

Windowblind 11 is out please make a video about that 🙏

[@macecail]

8:10 ah yes my favorite os MICHAELSOFT BINBOWS 69!!!

[@andresbravo2003]

Changing Graphic Boot can be legit.

[@WindowsSeven7601]

I wish I had Windows 98. Look how cool it is.

[@Ton4i]

Michale can you do a review of the intel classmate pc the original one

[@Ton4i]

i used one in school second to fifth grade

[@LoweAntonyBalean]

why is there’s the Sims 1 installed in your Windows 98 PC? 😍

[@srmrs]

This Windows 98 is first or second edition? Blue screen normally occur in the first edition.

[@iannicolson]

I know from experience that it could be either. 95, 98, 98 SE, ME - they were all unstable. I've seen the least blue screen crashes on 98 SE, the most on 95. Windows ME is always stable to begin with, but falls apart after you use it for a while.

[@Aeduo]

Turn the 3D all the way down and you get a windows 11 theme.

[@matrixgamesrodrigo]

I would like to translate some of your videos into Brazilian Portuguese and repost them on my channel. Would you authorize?

[@LeoStaley]

God I miss apps like this.

[@pb-doslegacy2020]

can you run this program on Windows 11?

[@pb-doslegacy2020]

I tried, it is extremely broken

[@gamepunk7963]

7 min ago!!!! im early!!!!

[@classictails3055]

Mario in Nintendo power

[@aniwindows5403]

hey michael , why didnt they make it for NT

[@iannicolson]

Probably because people usually ran Windows NT on workstations back then (for graphics, scientific research, video production, etc.) as opposed to on their gaming/casual machine, which usually ran Windows 9x. Reason for this was that while Windows NT was fully 32-bit and had memory protection - making it ideal for workstations - Windows 9x still had better support for DOS programs, sound, and graphics - making it better for gaming.

[@wartortlerulestheworld]

I wish Microsoft let us heavily Customize Modern Windows like Windows 10/11. I don't know why why they are anti-Customization!?!

[@MikeFromDownUnder]

#sendmebacksaturday ❤️

[@FubarMike]

I'm curious as to how badly this would break windows 10

[@bolo12345]

dude im begging for that mario wallpaper😔

[@WndSks]

The 3d border colors have always been in the registry. The Windows color settings just calculate the light/dark shadows instead of letting you choose. Programs get the color value by calling GetSysColor.

[@PTMC2008]

Typical 9X experience right there. 1. Downloading some crappy freeware 2. Computer starts to throw blue screens. I bet after uninstalling the software, the system will still be unstable.

[@carlos_did_a_thing]

m a r i o

[@manikarbasi2157]

how about you try use it on win10?

[@Doggie544]

Early