first of all: LiteStep is a shell replacent. it is meant to run instead of explorer.exe and not on top of it. that´s a totally different approach than the Stardock software you mentioned. and yes, there will be trouble if you got DesktopX and/or ObjectBar installed. those two apps use the nasty trayserver.exe that interferes with the system tray and writes some strange settings into your registry. sorry i can´t explain more about this trayserver.exe thing. i tried ObjectBar and DesktopX a long time ago and due to this and other problems it got deleted from my system on the next day.

switching between shells (LiteStep and your normal explorer desktop) can be done with a shell swapper. the most common one is ShellOn.

Well...LiteSTEP and shell alternatives in general are not for everyone.....but as I post in my Themes' ReadMeFirst.txt....
"LiteSTEP doesn't kill computers, people kill computers."....

brazil...there's nothing 'looney tunes' about LiteSTEP....it's the most popular and longest existing alternative shell out there, and also essentially infinitely customizable.

It's noteworthy to be aware that in a non-NT style OS it does absolutely nothing to the system....no freak coding anomalies, no registry hacks [unlike styleXP]...just one line in a text-editable ini file....a 5 year old could probably handle that these days...
With 200 and XP, use ShellON and you don't even have to know where your registry is or was.....it's so simple.

Just remember that a Shell REPLACEMENT is not a 'proggy' to enhance your desktop but a whole new and customizable way of interfacing with the OS kernel.

Horses for courses and each one to his own, but I gave up on 'Dangerous Creatures' and 'Microsoft Plus' desktop 'themes' years ago....

i tend to look what a program does and how it works BEFORE i install it. that helps. maybe that "Wincustomizer Browser" should have a built in IQ test, so it doesn´t allow to download LiteStep themes if you fail that test.

I duuno Luke,Litestep froze my system on every reboot.I did do alot of reading before and after install.I also went to the Litestep website and joined a couple of forums to try and figure it out.I posted some very simple questions both there and here but only got responses to the effect that I'm an IDIOT and should'nt be trying to use something I don't understand.Please forgive my frustration because I really like the Litestep look and interface.I thought it was a double click kind of thing like most everything else here on the Wincustomizer browser,but my skin IQ is too low for this I guess.I have used with succsess Aston,DesktopX,Hoverdesk,but I guess those are all low skin IQ formats.The shellon app. that was suggested here did not work for me either.Please take no offense Litestepers.You know I'm an idiot with a low shell IQ.

brazil...it's not a matter of 'being an idiot', or not......LiteSTEP 'should' be easier for people to 'install' these days....with ShellON, OTS andmuch more 'stable' build releases...it's much like Linux....getting a little more 'main-stream'.
In its early days you were in for a rough ride...every theme required quite a bit of 'tweaking' to get them to work on your machine...even though their functionality was so much more basic and primitive.
These days things are easier, though if you are in the midst of coding your own theme and make a mistake, seeing that the Litestep.exe process is using 780 meg of rame and 92% of your CPU can be a bit of 'fun'....

But, the learning curve can be a little 'steep' in resolving 'errors' such as these, and reading all you can really helps...I've had 5 years of reading and still manage to get enjoyment out of odd LS behaviour.

It's a 'beta'...'open-source', and has managed to get from b23 to [almost] 0.24.7 in 5 years....but it's still the 'best' shell for Windows...

Just 'RTFM', and give it another go...

Thanks for your detailed response Jafo,I'm not giving up on it yet!!Just gonna give it a rest fer a while.I do indeed think i will get it.It does appear that LS is the bleeding cutting edge and poses quite a challenge.The themes and interface really do intrest me!I wonder if there will ever be a day when Litestep will download with a click and apply with a double click like much of what is available on the Browser??Thanks again for trying to help.

Or, what you can do, Brazil, is get a computer with Win98 and install it there. It's SO easy installing and configuring LiteStep for Win98. I've had no problems with it yet (except for the stupid systray only showing the Task Manager icon...grrrr!)