WindowBlinds...deffinately! I would say if you could choose only one application from that list, your best bet would be windowblinds.

NextStart compliments WB very well. it's a little odd to get used to at first, but that phase doesn't last long, and soon you'll feel odd without it..*s*

As for the rest of the apps, I don't use them myself, but I have heard rave reviews for all of them.

Ive ran all of these programs at one time or another, but with the exception of nextstart, the versions I used were VERY early versions, so I was just wondering what people find to work well now. I had to remove litestep today since I was having some problems with it, I loved it when it worked, but Im afraid I just dont know enough about tweaking this type of stuff to be able to use litestep to its full potential-I kept getting wharf errors and I dont even know what a wharf is
Thanks for your help guys!
-proxyoh, one last question-does Desktop X integrate well w/ other programs like NS and WS?

If you're willing to spend some time with it there's nothing like Litestep... at least in my own humble opinion. You can run WB and DX on top of it too

I don't know about the others.

Windowblinds in my opinion is a must.
Then to customize the actual desktop it all depends what you want to do:
- have animations and really cool icons, shortcuts, and other nice objects on your desktop, the Desktop X is the way to go.
- To have right-click on desktop customizable start menu, NextStart is the way to go.
- To have a customizable Start/Task bar, Objectbar is the best
- To have a really flexible program launcher/starbar replacement then go for Hoverdesk
- If you want to have all of the above (or almost - it can't really replace DesktopX, but it can do everything the other 3 can), but are willing to spend a lot of time learning, then go for Litestep. Also, Litestep is the only one of the above that is free.

Of course, the description of what the programs above do is simplified, pretty much can do more than that but these are what they are strong at. For example, Desktop X can also be use to create launch bars and retractable menus/submenus, but it's then slow and bulky, for that purpose I suggest more Hoverdesk.
Anyway, I recommend you decide what it is you want, then read up a bit on the applications, and even download an evaluation copy and try for yourself.

Hope this helps.

Get windowblinds, it is the best. And a fancy wallpaper and some fancy skins. Or even better, create the fancy skins and wallpaper yourself.