Aston Shell. New experience.

A couple of days ago Gladiators Software has released the version 1.9.1 of their excellent application, Aston.
Aston shell is a powerful and flexible shell replacement application... Well, OK, you can read this description on their site without any help from my side, so we better stop on the program itself, not its declared features.

Aston is a Windows shell replacement. So What is a shell? Basicly shell gives you basic interface elements you're already familiar with: Desktop, System Tray, Taskbar, Start menu and so on. Natively Windows is configured to operate with its default shell, Explorer (yes, right, the same Explorer you may use to browse files on your home PC). Most Windows users simply cannot imagine, that one could work with a completely different Desktop, which can be done by one of two ways:

• Install a Desktop decoration tool, like Windows Blinds. What you get: the look of your Desktop can be changed by applying skins, but still this approach is not too much flexible. You can change the look of your Desktop, but its functionality remains unchainged. You may like this or not, but you can do nothing with it. Besides, Desktop decoration tools usually consume a considerable amount of additional system resources. Don't believe anyone saying, that Windows Blinds or MSStyles has no memory footprint or consumes no CPU power. This is just a blatant lie (and developers know about that).
• Replace your shell and get a completely new Desktop. This way you can get a brand new Desktop environment (not just a skin above Explorer) without a need to waste more resources of your system. Why? That's simple: Windows Explorer is a known resource hog and replacing it with a "lighter" application could save you up to tens megabytes of RAM. Besides, most shell replacement applications support skins by nature, so you don't have to sacrifice your computing power twice.

Aston Shell belongs to the second kind of applications. By installing it you get numerous advantages over the default Windows shell, which are not often obvious, but could be more, than useful.

By its nature Aston is designed to work fast even on out of date PCs. For example, it excellently works on Celeron 300 Mhz with 64 Mb RAM and works fast even on Pentium 100 Mhz/32 Mb RAM. Can you imagine Windows Blinds run smoothly on the same PC? No? Me too. Surely, the amount of RAM needed depends on a certain configuration, but default Aston themes (by applying themes you can change the program's appearance) require as small as 2 Mb RAM. By applying more animations and transparent objects you may need up to 10 Mb RAM (GUI applications memory usage worths another article), but that's still much lower, than Explorer in Windows XP.

Aston is a user friendly shell. Unlike some free alternatives (e.g. Litestep) it does not require you to learn compilcated configuration scripts or dig the depths of Windows registry. Every setting can be set by using quite a simple GUI.

Aston provides you the same GUI elements, as Explorer, adding even more. For example, it has the same Taskbar, Desktop, Tray Area and Start Menu, but each element is usually more flexible, than its precursor. Here are few examples: by default Aston Main Menu (Start button) can be either placed on its normal position (Left bottom corner) or floating, so you can access it by clicking any free space on the Desktop. Quick launch menu can be as small as a single button: click it and the whole menu appears. Aston Taskbar buttons fill th whole Taskbar space, utilizing it more efficiently. Aston Tray (just like Windows XP Explorer tray) can show and hide needful icons, no matter what Windows version you use. Aston Recycle Bin can have as many intermediate states as you need, not just filled and empty. I could continue this list long enough...

Nevertheless there are other useful GUI elements worth mentioning. For example, Toolbars. Toolbars (or side bars/panels), appearing on the right and left sides of your screen are used to store links to the elements you use frequently. For example, you can put there links to the web sites, shortcuts to your favorite office applications and whatever else you need. Aston even allow you to place some plugin elements on Toolbars. For example, you can use Toolbars to access a simple notepad, CPU usage meter or screen Zoom. Panel, introduced in Aston 1.9.1 and previously known as a Toppanel is another way to keep shortcuts to the programs, documents or URLs you use frequently. Panel elements are easier to sort and access, than groups of shortcuts, which are usually placed on one's Desktop.

Plugins I already mentioned can greatly increase your new Desktop's functionality. You can use them to add analog or digital clocks, weather forecast, shortcut panels, Winamp controls and much more.

It also worths mentioning, that Aston has a good build-in shortcut manager. For example, you can create shortcuts to access needful elements (buttons, links, panel items, plugins), close and restore windows, run screensaver, close/restore tray icons and more... It's powerful enough, so you won't need another keyboard shortcut manager.

So, what for may you need a to replace your shell?

• Stability: intensively tested on thousands of computers, Aston is more stable than Windows 9Xsacrat default shell and much more stable, than most competing applications;
• Speed: in order to run Aston you need at least Pentium one (sic!) or compatible processor plus 16 Mb of RAM, most competing products require much faster machines;
• Efficiency: Aston has numerous features missing in Explorer, which make work on your computer more efficient;
• Eye-candy: Try one of those excellent themes you see on the shots or get even more on Aston homepage;

So, "what are you waiting for? Christmas?" © Duke Nukem.
Check all this yourself...