Lets face it. The cause of all evil today is Microsoft. They invade our privacy. They exploit, degrade, and frustrate our digital lives. They promote computer illiteracy by hiding everything far beyond the reach of an average computer user. This section of the page is dedicated to instructing you in eliminating this vampiric monopoly from your computer.
The most obvious way to escape M$ is to switch to a different operating system. It is completely effective: M$ has little hold over anything but their own OSes. Be warned: this route is not for the faint of heart and will be difficult for a newbie.
UNIX - sweet, sweet unix... with this OS, YOU are god, not Bill Gates and his .dlls.
Red Hat - The current most popular distributor of Linux, which itself is currently the most popular version of UNIX.
Slackware - The previous Linux king. Still regarded by many as the best distribution. It is smaller, for sure.
FreeBSD - FreeBSD is a different version of UNIX (Linux and others like it are System V, this is BSD, a System V update that adds some new functionality to the traditional kernel). It is amazingly nice, but if you dont know what you're doing, expect to get lost quickly. The installation isn's as user friendly as Red Hat, and a poorly set up UNIX computer is hell. FreeBSD is a godsend for computer users who deplore huge OSes like Win9x/NT or the Linuxes: it can be run minimalistically but happily on an 80MB hard drive.
There are many others that you could choose, but if you have a hope in hell of being able to use them, you'll be able to find them. ;)
For the slightly less confident M$ refugee, you can almost completely eliminate all traces of windows without actually eliminating it. There are shell replacements (DIE, EXPLORER! DIE!) and programs that eliminate that oh so bland Winbloze GUI style. Lots of them are here.
Of course, I'm too lazy to update these things with any reliable frequency, so make the following sites a regular part of your digital breakfast:
floach.pimpin.net - one of the premier sites on the net for finding these lovely programs.
Customize.org - an intimidatingly large collection of programs to make windows not be windows.
Now on with the programs:
Litestep 0.24 is to Windows as Afterstep is to XWindows. If you still dont know, download it and find out (BY READING THE README FILE)
Litestep 0.24.4 - the newest version, requires the version above to be already installed.
EVWM - Absolutely minimalist. If you're sick of all the damn clutter of toolbars, desktop icons, and general shit, this is for you.
Reveal - If you're lazy, it will suck. You actually have to design your GUI. But when its done... DAMN it is beautiful. Not for the faint of heart.
WindowBlinds - No more goddamn windows GUI. This program lets you choose the configuration for your window controls and borders, or build your own. Its slow, its buggy. Its getting better. Keep your eye on it.
Utilities for all of these programs.