To run MyColors, locate and click on the "Stardock
MyColors" icon on your desktop or on the Start menu under All Programs >
Stardock > MyColors.
When the MyColors Theme Manager opens, it will be on the
tab of a menu running across the top of the window.
The
tab includes: a link to the Stardock website (logo in upper-left), a listing of
the installed themes on the left, a preview of the themes installed on the right, the
button
on the lower-left, and the
on the bottom.
To add a newly purchased theme, click on the
button. A small box will open requesting the email address you used to buy
the theme and the serial number you received via email.
Clicking on "Click for Help?" will
display the
Stardock.com MyColors FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) in your web browser. After typing in your email address, copy the serial number
from the email you received from Stardock into the "Serial Number" field by
clicking
.
(You can type it in by hand, but copying & pasting will avoid typo's.) If
you make an error in typing in any of the information, after clicking
you
will see the following message.
Click or
to close it, then verify your email and serial number and try again. (If
you keep having trouble, contact Stardock Support at:
www.stardock.com/support/ .)
After typing in the correct information, click on
to
submit it. Click
or
to abort. After submitting your information, you will see the
following confirmation:
Click
to
start the download of the theme. On the left side you will see the status
of the download in an icon with the name of the theme and status.
As the theme is being downloaded, the preview will change to that theme.
After the download completes, the status icon will notify you
that MyColors is installing the necessary files.
The status icon will change to the name of your new theme and
a graphic reminder of it.
MyColors will ask if you would like to apply the theme now, click
.
Otherwise, if you want to apply it later, either click
or
click the
icon.
Applying the theme, you will see the wallpaper change
quickly. Then the screen will lose color as it changes the rest of the
graphic elements (skin) of your desktop. Once the MyColors Theme Manager
completes applying the chosen theme, it is safe to close the MyColors Theme Manager
by clicking the close
icon (upper, right-hand corner).
To change from a different theme on the
tab, you can either click on the desired theme in the menu to the left (seen
below):
Or you can click on the left arrow
& right arrow
buttons on either side of the
button. This will step you through each installed theme, changing the
preview each time. When you find the theme you want to change to, click on
Apply. MyColors will change the wallpaper first, then the rest of the
desktop.
You can also right-click anywhere on the list of themes
(left-side) and a small menu will open:
If a theme has an update available, the first option on the
menu will be "Update". Clicking Update will download & install the updated
theme. Normally, the first menu option is "Apply" which will apply the
selected theme to your desktop. If you select "Delete", it will ask
you to confirm the decision to delete the selected theme. Click
to
delete or
to cancel click
or
. (The hot key to delete a theme is the <Del> (or Delete) key.)
If you selected the theme your desktop is currently using,
you will get a message stating you can't delete it. Click
or
to close the message box.
After you've deleted a theme, you will see the following menu
item in place of the theme, stating that a download is available.
The Apply button changes to a 
button when a deleted theme is selected. Clicking it re-downloads the
theme and restores it to your list of installed themes. While the theme is
being downloaded, the Download button changes to a
button in case you need to pause the file transfer. The button will change
to a
button, click it when your ready to resume the file transfer.
The third option on the right-click menu is "Edit
Registration...", which displays the Registration Information window with the
email address and Serial Number for the selected them.
The fourth option is "Check for Updates", which will check
the Stardock MyColors internet site for updates to the MyColors Theme Manager
and any installed themes. If there is an update for MyColors Theme
Manager, you will see the following message:
You should keep your software up to date by selecting "Yes"
(radio button) and clicking
as
this may fix potential problems in your software. However, if you choose,
you can select "No" and click
.
If you don't want to be bothered until the next new update, check the box for
"Don't ask me this again until there is a new update" and click
.
(To abort, either click
or the close
icon.) After choosing to apply an update, you will see the following as it
downloads and updates your software. If MyColors Theme Manager was open,
it will be closed for the update and re-open afterwards.
If there are no updates, MyColors will inform you with the following message.
If an update is released for any of your installed themes, on the
tab you will see the theme's icon notify you of an update to download. Click the
button to download the update.
The 5th and last option on the menu is "Refresh" (<F5> is the
hot key), which will refresh the list of installed themes.
Action
|
Do this...
|
|
Register a new theme. |
- Click on the
button in the lower left corner.
- If your email address isn't already in the email
field, type it in now.
- Copy & paste the Serial Number (from the
Stardock email) using the
button or carefully type it in. (An alternate method, instead
of Step 1, first copy the serial number from the email. Then
click
and the serial number should appear in the Serial Number field
automatically, saving you a step.)
- Click
to submit your registration to Stardock. You will receive a
confirmation message stating it was validated. Then the theme
will be downloaded and installed.
- After installation you will be asked if you want
to apply the theme now, click
to apply. To apply it later, either click
or
If applying now, your screen will change to the new theme.
|
|
Preview installed themes. |
- Click on the left
arrow to move up the list or right
arrow to move down it. As you change themes, each one will be
displayed in the center preview window.
- Alternately, you can scroll up or down the list
of installed themes and click on a theme. It will then be
visible in the preview window
|
|
Apply a different theme. |
- Click on the desired theme in the list of themes
(or use the left
and right
arrow keys next to the
button to locate the desired theme).
- Click on the
button and your desktop will change to that theme.
- After the theme is applied, click the close
icon
(upper right-hand corner of MyColors) to close MyColors Theme
Manager.
|
| Delete a theme. |
- Right-click on the theme you wish to delete.
(If the theme is in use, you must first change to a different
theme.)
- Select "Delete" (or press your <Del> (Delete)
key).
- You will be asked to confirm your decision,
click
to delete. To cancel, click
or
.
Once a theme is deleted, an icon will remain where the theme was,
stating "Download Available". This way you can re-download the
theme if you desired.
|
|
| Re-download a deleted theme. |
- Click on the deleted theme you wish to restore
and the Apply button will change to a Download button.
- Click on the
button and the theme will be downloaded and installed.
- Click on
to change your desktop to that theme.
|
Edit registration for an
existing theme. |
- Right-click on theme (list on left side) you
wish to edit and a small menu will appear.
- Click on "Edit Registration..." and the
"Registration Information" box will appear with your email address
and Serial Number for that theme.
- When you done editing the information, click
to accept
any changes. Or to cancel (don't save changes), click on
or
.
|
| Check for updates. |
- Right-click anywhere on the list of themes
(left-side) and a small menu will appear.
- Select "Check for Updates" and MyColors Theme
Manager will check with the Stardock site to see if there are any
updates to the Theme Manager or themes and download them.
Normally, MyColors will do this automatically, but this method
forces it to check. If there are no updates, you will see a
message to that effect.
|
|
| Refresh the themes list. |
- Right-click anywhere on the list of themes
(left-side) and a small menu will appear.
- Select "Refresh" (or press <F5>) and the list of
themes will be refreshed.
|
| Visit the MyColors website. |
- Locate the
on the upper, right-hand corner of the window and click on it.
- Your web browser will automatically load and display the MyColors website:
www.stardock.com/products/mycolors/
|
| Visit the Stardock website. |
- Locate the
in the upper, right-hand corner of the window and click on it.
- Your web browser will automatically load and display the Stardock website:
www.stardock.com
|
