Gaming Shell Replacements for windows

[ChuckBartowski]

So im using rainmeter on my desktop, and i love how my desktop looks now. Its really slick. But now, i want to replace Explorer with a nicer looking shell that works well with rainmeter. Im using this theme with rainmeter.
EDIT: On windows 7 if that matters.

 

[fgghjjkll]

Have you tried Cairo? Although it's discontinued, the beta still works if you don't care about the bugs.

 

[ChuckBartowski]

Have you tried Cairo? Although it's discontinued, the beta still works if you don't care about the bugs.

I saw that and was thinking about it. How buggy is it?

 

[Urza]

http://www.gpsoft.com.au/

 

[ChuckBartowski]

http://www.gpsoft.com.au/

That looks really cool, but im really looking for something where the changes are more aesthetic that actual function. But also more than just a new skin.

 

[ChuckBartowski]

So i just played around with Cairo for a while, and i must say that the concept is interesting, but it simply does not work right now. It is really not feasible to use it as a permanent replacement right now. It has too many bugs and is lacking a bit. When it is finished however, i could see this working really well. So, any other suggestions?

 

[KDH]

Well, there's a list of them here, you could try them out for yourself. From what I can tell, most of the proprietary ones are for Windows 3.1 though. As for suggestions, well, KDE is pretty nice, but I've never tried it under Windows.

 

[Urza]

As for suggestions, well, KDE is pretty nice, but I've never tried it under Windows.

KDE is awful.