I've registered WinStep Xtreme this weekend and I am waiting for the license. It will come I am sure. I've downloaded the software and played with it for a while. I even read the help files.

There are three things I would love to be able to, but I couldn't figure out how to do them. So, they may be already implemented, but you know noobs - they either ask the obvious or the impossible.

1). I am using Vista x64 and I use this machine for development and gaming. In Vista x64 Ultimate there is a Games folder. This is a virtual folder (I think) which contains games that support that folder. I couldn't find a way to open that folder from within WinStep. Please tell me how to create a shortcut to it or please implement a way to do this. The only solution I have now is to close xTreme and select it from the default Start Menu. Of course some older games are accessible because they create the old fashion default Start Menu entries.

2) Games should run with as much resources and CPU time as possible. I would love to see an option that allows me to automatically switch off all the eye candy, start the game and when it has been terminated switch on the eye candy again.

3) It seems that items in things like shelves are more or less skinned extensions to shell and explorer features. And they have the same limitations as their shell and explorer counterparts. But... I want to be able to order them as I see fit. It seems that only docks allow that and shelves (like Quick Start) don't. Dragging an item from one place to another makes a copy or a shortcut. That is counter-intuitive. I can imagine a list in the background that contains the items and is used just to organize them. Ideally by default it would be sorted by name and when the user drags and drops the item to another position it should respect that. By using the shift and control keys you may be able to do a "move" (i.c.w. Shift to drop into and move the item or drop onto an item and execute with the item as parameter) or "copy" (i.c.w. Ctrl to copy the item).

Thanks for the great software.

Here is a workaround I've found to get a shortcut to the Vista's special Games folder on the workshelf...

1. Close Xtreme.
2. Open the Start Menu and drag "Games" from there onto the desktop.
3. Move that shortcut to another folder to make it disappear from the desktop.
4. Start Xtreme.
5. Drag the moved shortcut onto a "Regular Shelf".

That is a bit too complicated, because you cannot create real shortcuts on a shelf directly, but using the method above you can make a shelf contain something that points to a shortcut. Not very intuitive.

I'll be running some tests soon on Win7 64 bit to check these issues out. If I remember correctly, the Games folder is special for some reason (i.e. it's not a 'real' folder and enumerating its contents doesn't work as it should).

Ah. Thanks. That would be great.

It is a virtual folder, but it can also be found on disk. It shows up as a bunch of folders each having a GUID as its name. Each folder contains one or more regular shortcuts. The Games Explorer shows an icon for each game and one of the shortcuts acts as the default (Play) shortcut. It is activated by double clicking the icon. The other shortcuts are available when right clicking the icon. By default there is only one shortcut, but games and the user can define more. The Games Explorer allows each shortcut to be edited by the end user.

End users can also add games (or regular apps) to the virtual Games folder by dragging an executable or shortcut onto the Game Explorer. All shortcuts connected to a game can be deleted by deleting the game's icon in the Games Explorer.

The interface you may be looking for is IKnownFolder. There is an identifier which can be used by that interface to return the path used by the Games Explorer (FOLDERID_GameTask) or return an ITEMIDLIST. It looks like this system is more generic than the CSIDL system, but is only available in Vista and Windows 7.

The links above point to their MSDN information.

Not sure if this helps.

BTW: Numbers 2 and 3 in my original post are not related to that Games folder.