Ok, here is a basic tutorial on Winstep Xtreme modularity, for your benefit as well as others:
Xtreme is essentially divided into two major applications: NextSTART (Nextstart.exe) and WorkShelf (WorkShelf.exe).
NextSTART deals with everything related to menus, hotspots and the taskbar. It is able to optionally replace the Windows taskbar with it's own, skinnable and much more flexible, version.
WorkShelf in turn manages the docks (Nexus), the Shelf (tabbed dock) and the Desktop modules (widgets).
The whole suite is skinnable with hundreds of freely available themes. A big part of the theme experience is not only the new look in docks, shelves, menus, taskbar and widgets, as well as the current wallpaper - so, when Winstep Xtreme first runs, and when you apply a new theme, it changes your current wallpaper as well.
Under 10.1 and above, you can prevent Winstep Xtreme from changing your current wallpaper when switching to another theme by opening the Preferences of either program (NextSTART or WorkShelf) and setting the 'Prevent themes from changing your current wallpaper' option in the General tab.
If you want, you can still manually change the wallpaper to that of a specific theme by going to the Themes tab in Preferences and changing the combo box from 'Themes' (or 'WorkShelf (All Items)') to 'Wallpapers'.
To prevent NextSTART from replacing your Windows taskbar, open NextSTART Preferences and, in the Taskbar tab, unselect the 'Allow NextSTART to replace the Windows taskbar' and press Ok. This will bring your Windows 7 taskbar back.
Alternativelly, you can prevent NextSTART from running altogether by exiting it and clearing the 'Run NextSTART on startup' checkbox in the confirmation prompt.
Some people prefer working with docks only and don't like the Shelf (tabbed dock). Others prefer the Shelf and want nothing to do with docks. Both can have their way by opening WorkShelf Preferences and going to the Docks & Shelves configuration tab. In their they will find settings to disable the Shelf (i.e. prevent it from showing) and individual docks.
Finally, if you don't like Desktop widgets like the Clock, Weather, etc..., you can disable them all by right-clicking on *any* of the desktop modules -> Desktop Modules -> Close All Modules.
Alternatively you can make the currently open desktop modules temporarily disappear by clicking on the 'Show/Hide Desktop Modules' icon that should be on your dock by default. Clicking that icon again makes the desktop widgets appear again on demand (a bit like Apple's Dashboard but without the eye-candy
).
Performing any or all of the above actions (especially the disabling the NextSTART taskbar bit) should get your default Windows 7 look back. You will still have to re-apply the default Windows 7 wallpaper, of course, which was changed when Winstep Xtreme run for the first time.
Anyway, as a registered Winstep user, you should follow the instructions on the Announcements part of the forum to join the Beta Discussions forum. There's a new private beta of Winstep Xtreme currently being tested there (lots of new goodies) as well as a new theme that mostly emulates the look and feel of Windows 7 (with an amazing wallpaper!).