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Nexus Dock v19.2 Released!
February 28, 2019
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The Winstep Nexus dock is a FREE dock for Windows. Every feature you’d expect from a dock, including widgets, mouse-over effects, skins, drag-and-drop, and many others not available in most other docks, such as live icon reflections, in-dock system tray, blur-behind effects, and much more. Completely customizable, with thousands of different backgrounds freely available online, Nexus is fully compatible with skins for all 3rd party docks.
Nexus runs on the 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8.x and 10.
Primarily a maintenance release, v19.2 fixes an issue with the weather module returning N/A for certain locations, adds support for HTTPS weather connections, allows setting fixed width and/or height for Grid Stacks, adds a new Light Mode to the User Interface to match the upcoming April update Windows 10 light mode, further improves handling of UWP apps (Sticky Notes), and offers many other stability improvements! 
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Nexus Ultimate 24.4
The Advanced Docking System for Windows
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Buy Now
$29.95
Thank you for your preference and for your help in making Nexus one of the best docks for Windows!- Fixed weather module displaying N/A for some locations.
- New Light Mode User Interface style.
- Ability to set the size of Grid Stacks (Nexus Ultimate).
- Improved handling of multi monitor profiles.
- Further improved handling of UWP apps.
- Bad activation date for annual alarms.
- Multiple User Interface tweaks.
- Fixed icon label text effect settings.
- Many other performance and stability improvements! Please see complete change log below...
- Under Windows 10 with Dark Mode enabled for the UI, the color of the section category text in Preferences is always kept bright even if the currently selected Windows accent color is darker.
- Current multi-monitor configuration/profile is now saved on exit.
- Folder items set to open as menus can now be double clicked to open in an Explorer window instead.
- All the weather feeds now support HTTPS connections.
- Added new 'Light Mode' to the User Interface to match the new Windows 10 Light mode.
- When adding an URL item a default replacement icon is now used if the system does not have a usable class icon defined for HTML documents.
- By default screen edge bump activations are limited to the width of the dock to help prevent accidental activations. Added new 'Activate along entire screen edge' option to the Edge Bump Settings dialog to disable this behavior.
- Updated Windows 10 style User Interface icons.
- Added new 'Say the Time' option to the action taken when clicking on the clock module.
- The 'Winstep Multi Media Player' helper application (WsMMPlay.exe) is now also shutdown when the application exits, just in case it needs to be updated or removed.
- Sticky Notes UWP app in Windows 10 is now handled properly in the list of running applications and when pinning it to the dock
- The routine responsible for peeking window thumbnails could be interrupted, which could potentially crash the application with an array locked error and leave most windows only partially visible or not visible at all, which could only be fixed by a Windows restart.
- Asus GPU Tweak II is no longer affected by AeroPeek emulation as it does not restore properly afterwards.
- The selected text effect for floating labels set in the Label Settings dialog was not being applied, the label always used the Outline effect.
- NOAA's weather feed had stopped working because the web site now enforced HTTPS access and no longer supported HTTP access.
- Fixed issue where METAR current weather conditions could show only a single 'Possible' word if no weather phenonema was present.
- Under Windows 10 the sndPlaySound Windows API call used to play event sounds was leaking memory and an handle every time it was called (for instance, every time the hide/show sound was played). Fixed by adding the SND_SYSTEM flag which makes the sound be played by the system instead of from inside the application's own process space.
- Kb, Mb and Gb units shown throughout the application are now properly displayed as KB, MB and GB to prevent them from being confused with Kbits, Mbits and Gigabits.
- In Windows 10 it is no longer possible to capture the content of layered windows which resulted in all black thumbnails for icons of running applications.
- The next activation date of alarms set to go off yearly was not being correctly calculated
- Under Windows 10 with Dark Mode enabled for the UI, the color of the section category text in Preferences is always kept bright even if the currently selected Windows accent color is darker.
- Current multi-monitor configuration/profile is now saved on exit.
- A dock set to always be behind other windows now remains above other windows while a sub-dock or grid stack is open.
- Folder items set to open as menus can now be double clicked to open in an Explorer window instead.
- All weather feeds now support HTTPS connections.
- Grid Stacks can now be optionally set to a fixed width and/or fixed height in the Appearance tab of the Grid Stack Properties panel.
- Added new 'Light Mode' to the User Interface to match the new Windows 10 Light mode.
- When adding an URL item a default replacement icon is now used if the system does not have a usable class icon defined for HTML documents.
- By default screen edge bump activations are limited to the width of the dock to help prevent accidental activations. Added new 'Activate along entire screen edge' option to the Edge Bump Settings dialog to disable this behavior.
- Updated Windows 10 style User Interface icons.
- Added new 'Say the Time' option to the action taken when clicking on the clock module.
- The 'Winstep Multi Media Player' helper application (WsMMPlay.exe) is now also shutdown when the application exits, just in case it needs to be updated or removed.
- Sticky Notes UWP app in Windows 10 is now handled properly in the list of running applications and when pinning it to the dock
- Left clicking on a UWP app in a Shelf, Drawer or Grid Stack would always launch a new instance regardless of the current 'Do not launch multiple sessions' setting.
- Under Windows 10 the sndPlaySound Windows API call used to play event sounds was leaking memory and an handle every time it was called (for instance, every time the hide/show sound was played). Fixed by adding the SND_SYSTEM flag which makes the sound be played by the system instead of from inside the application's own process space.
- Changing the Ascending/Descending order in the 'Sort By' field in the Content tab of a Shelf, Drawer or Grid Stack Properties panel had no effect.
- Setting the position of a Shelf or a Drawer by selecting the monitor in the UI (instead of a context menu or by dragging) was not working properly on multi-monitor systems.
- The routine responsible for peeking window thumbnails could be interrupted, which could potentially crash the application with an array locked error and leave most windows only partially visible or not visible at all, which could only be fixed by a Windows restart.
- Asus GPU Tweak II is no longer affected by AeroPeek emulation as it does not restore properly afterwards.
- The selected text effect for floating labels set in the Label Settings dialog was not being applied, the label always used the Outline effect.
- NOAA's weather feed had stopped working because the web site now enforced HTTPS access and no longer supported HTTP access.
- Fixed issue where METAR current weather conditions could show only a single 'Possible' word if no weather phenonema was present.
- Clicking Apply or Ok in the Properties panel of a Grid Stack opened before opening the Grid Stack itself was reseting the position of the Grid Stack to the top left screen corner.
- Fixed Access Violation crash that could still happen when rendering the icons of a UWP Apps Drawer, Grid Stack or Shelf tab on a Windows 10 system.
- Kb, Mb and Gb units shown throughout the application are now properly displayed as KB, MB and GB to prevent them from being confused with Kbits, Mbits and Gigabits.
- Icons in Shelves, Grid Stacks and Drawers were not being properly refreshed after editing the item in the Item Properties dialog.
- In Windows 10 it is no longer possible to capture the content of layered windows which resulted in all black thumbnails for icons of running applications.
- The Battery Settings and the Power Events dialogs could take a long time to open for large power event logs.
- The next activation date of alarms set to go off yearly was not being correctly calculated.
What's New? Highlighted Features:
Some locations close to airports use a METAR code to obtain current weather conditions. METAR information is reported directly to NOAA by airports around the world and is thus updated more frequently as well as being more detailed.
Recently NOOA's website started enforcing HTTPS connections instead of regular HTTP connections, which caused the connection to the NOAA server to fail, but in such a way that it did not trigger the fail safe mechanism designed to automatically retrieve current weather conditions from another weather provider such as Weather.com.
This release fixes this issue and also adds HTTPS support to all the other backup weather feeds (Weather.com, MSN and Yahoo).
Microsoft is adding a new light mode in the upcoming April Windows 10 update. We've proactively added a new matching 'Light Mode' to Winstep applications, which affects not only the User Interface panels but also context menus, balloon tooltips and thumbnail/live preview backgrounds.
The size of a Grid Stack is automatically determined by default based on content and screen space available. Added new options to the Appearance tab of Grid Stack Property panels to set a fixed width and/or height.
The current multi monitor profile is now saved automatically when the application exits, which should prevent wrong settings from being applied after a display change.
Multi monitor profiles are especially useful for users with laptops and a second monitor, who need two different profiles for when at home or on the road.
Winstep applications are unique in their category because they're able to handle UWP apps in Windows 10 like normal Win32 applications. This is never-the-less made more difficult by Microsoft's propensity to break their own rules when it comes to UWP apps.
An example of this is Sticky Notes, which is owned by a Win32 Explorer window despite being a UWP app. This was causing Sticky Notes not to be handled properly by the Winstep application (especially if you tried pinning it to the dock) until we fixed it in this release.
Also fixed in v19.2 is the fact that left clicking a UWP app in a Shelf, Drawer or Grid Stack (Nexus Ultimate) would always launch a new instance regardless of the current 'Do not launch multiple sessions' setting.
A bug calculating the next activation date for annual alarms could cause them to skip one year. This has been fixed, but if you have any anual alarms set you might want to double-check their current activation dates - to fix it just edit the alarm and press OK.
Changed some of the icons used in the User Interface to better match the overal style of Windows 10 and made sure section headers in the User Interface are always bright enough to be seen against Dark Mode panel backgrounds even if the currently system Accent color isn't.
The text effect setting (Normal, Outline, Shadow, Sharp, Emboss) used for dock icon labels in the new Icon Label Settings dialog was not being properly applied.
Nexus v19.2 complete change log:
Nexus Ultimate v19.2 complete change log:
Archived News
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Winstep Xtreme v23.11 Released!
December 8, 2023
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v23.11 adds per monitor taskbars and tasklists and mitigates Windows 11 22H2 changes and bugs, plus many new features and stability improvements!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v23.11 Released!
December 8, 2023
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v23.11 adds per monitor tasklists for docks and mitigates Windows 11 22H2 changes and bugs, plus many new features and stability improvements!
Read more -
Cyber Monday!
November 27, 2023
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Cyber Monday 2023 is here and Winstep Xtreme is 50% off for the next 24 hours. So, will you take the final chance to bag a deal?
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Happy Holidays!
December 20, 2022
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Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v22.7 Released!
July 27, 2022
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v22.7 brings FULL compatibility with Windows 11 plus many new features and stability improvements!
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Nexus Dock v22.7 Released!
July 27, 2022
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v22.7 brings FULL compatibility with Windows 11 plus many new features and stability improvements!
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Happy Holidays 2021!
December 22, 2021
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Once again and still in difficult times, wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Stay safe!
Read more -
Happy Holidays!
December 20, 2020
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In this difficult times, wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Stay safe!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v20.10 Released!
October 28, 2020
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v20.10 brings many new features and stability improvements, increased compatibility with Windows 10 and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v20.10 Released!
October 28, 2020
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v20.10 brings many new features and stability improvements, increased compatibility with Windows 10 and much more!
Read more -
Happy Holidays!
December 18, 2019
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Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Read more -
Winstep 20th Annniversary!
February 28, 2019
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Winstep is celebrating 20 years in business with a fantastic, time-limited, price reduction all across the board! Enjoy it while it lasts!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v19.2 Released!
February 28, 2019
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v19.2 is mainly a maintenance release with a few goodies thrown in such as a matching Windows 10 Light Mode and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v19.2 Released!
February 28, 2019
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v19.2 is mostly a maintenance release with a few goodies thrown in such as a matching Windows 10 Light Mode and much more!
Read more -
Happy Holidays!
December 17, 2018
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Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v18.12 Released!
December 17, 2018
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Just in time for Christmas, v18.12 is a massive release featuring the new Grid Stacks, Search Filters, multi monitor profiles and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v18.12 Released!
December 17, 2018
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Just in time for Christmas, v18.12 is a massive release featuring the new Grid Stacks and Search Filters (Nexus Ultimate), multi monitor profiles and much more!
Read more -
Cyber Monday!
November 26, 2018
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Cyber Monday 2018 is here and Winstep Xtreme is 50% off for the next 24 hours. So, will you take the final chance to bag a deal?
Read more -
Black Friday!
November 23, 2018
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Black Friday 2018 is upon us and Nexus Ultimate is 40% off.
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v18.10 Released!
October 9, 2018
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Icon colorization, center icons in Shelves, Drawer resizing, improved handling of hybrid Win32/UWP apps, menu scaling and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v18.10 Released!
October 9, 2018
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Icon colorization, improved handling of hybrid Win32/UWP apps, context menu scaling and much more!
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Price Increase Announcement
October 7, 2018
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After nearly 20 years providing the best products at competitive prices, Winstep is increasing the prices of all its applications for the first time - just to make up (barely) for inflation.
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Winstep Xtreme v18.8 Released!
August 30, 2018
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Major release featuring the new Drawers, support for multiple and vertical Shelves and much more!
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Nexus Dock v18.8 Released!
August 30, 2018
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Major release featuring new colorization options, new Drawers and support for multiple and vertical Shelves (Nexus Ultimate) and much more!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v18.5 Released!
June 1, 2018
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Major release featuring the ability to access docks directly from NextSTART, new Delete Effect with 22 different animations, alarm overlays and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v18.5 Released!
June 1, 2018
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Major release featuring new Delete Effect with many different animations, enhanced Media Player functionality and playlist handling, alarm overlays and much more!
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Winstep and the EU GDPR
May 25, 2018
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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information of individuals within the European Union (EU).
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v18.3 Released!
March 31, 2018
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Major release with new alarm options, power saving modes and media player internal command, plus many other performance and stability improvements!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v18.3 Released!
March 31, 2018
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New alarm options, full dock keyboard support, power saving modes and media player internal command, plus many other performance and stability improvements!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v18.1 Released!
January 20, 2018
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New optional Dark Mode for the User Interface, new Windows 10 icons, many other performance and stability improvements!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v18.1 Released!
January 20, 2018
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New optional Dark Mode for the User Interface, new Windows 10 icons, many other performance and stability improvements!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v17.12 Released!
December 28, 2017
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A bit late for Christmas but still not too late, v17.2 is here. Many Windows 10 related additions and fixes and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v17.12 Released!
December 28, 2017
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A bit late for Christmas but still not too late, v17.2 is here. Many Windows 10 related additions and fixes and much more!
Read more -
Happy Holidays!
December 22, 2017
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Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Read more -
Cyber Monday!
November 27, 2017
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Cyber Monday 2017 is upon us and Winstep Xtreme is 50% off.
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v17.1 Released!
January 27, 2017
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New moon module, new sub-dock options, smooth Shelf scrolling and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v17.1 Released!
January 27, 2017
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Wallpaper hot-track smooth colorization transitions, new moon module and pop-up calendar (Nexus Ultimate), and much more!
Read more -
Happy Holidays!
December 23, 2016
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Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v16.12 Released!
December 8, 2016
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New calendar module, high-quality voice packs in multiple languages, and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v16.12 Released!
December 8, 2016
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High-quality voice packs in multiple languages, Email Checker module now displays number of unread messages on the icon itself, and much more!
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Winstep Xtreme v16.9 Released!
September 30, 2016
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v16.9 is is mostly a maintenance release, fixing some issues in the previous version and restoring the NOOA/METAR Weather feed.
Read more -
Nexus Dock v16.9 Released!
September 30, 2016
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v16.9 is is mostly a maintenance release, fixing some issues in the previous version and restoring the NOOA/METAR Weather feed..
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v16.6 Released!
June 27, 2016
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New Fast Boot option, running Universal Windows Apps in Windows 10 now display the proper icon and can be pinned to docks and the taskbar, and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v16.6 Released!
June 27, 2016
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New Fast Boot option, running Universal Windows Apps in Windows 10 now display the proper icon and can be pinned to the dock, and much more!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v16.5 Released!
May 28, 2016
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NextSTART taskbar high-DPI support, new colorization options and much more in this new release!
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Nexus Dock v16.5 Released!
May 28, 2016
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New colorization options, fixed 3D dock backgrounds distortion at certain icon sizes, and much more!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v16.3 Released!
March 10, 2016
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Maintenance release fixing all the issues we know of in v16.2.
Read more -
Nexus Dock v16.3 Released!
March 10, 2016
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Maintenance release fixing all the issues we know of in v16.2.
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v16.2 Released!
February 11, 2016
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New battery module, clock alarms, 10 amazing new mouse-over, launch and attention effects and much more in this new release!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v16.2 Released!
February 11, 2016
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Minimize windows to the dock, new internal commands, performance improvements and much more in this release!
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Winstep Xtreme v15.9 Released!
September 29, 2015
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High DPI compatibility, Language Bar, Weather module Geo location, better Windows 10 integration and much more in this new release!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v15.9 Released!
September 29, 2015
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High DPI compatibility, combined dock shortcuts with running applications, Weather module Geo location, better Windows 10 integration and much more in this release!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v15.7 Released!
July 27, 2015
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Winstep Xtreme is now 100% compatible with Windows 10 and much more in this new release!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v15.7 Released!
July 27, 2015
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Nexus is now 100% compatible with Windows 10 and much more in this new release!
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Windows 10 and Winstep applications
June 27, 2015
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With Windows 10 just around the corner, many users have been wondering if Winstep applications (Nexus, Nexus Ultimate and Winstep Xtreme) will work correctly with it.
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v14.11 Released!
November 7, 2014
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Restored weather feed for weather forecast and more in this maintenance release!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v14.11 Released!
November 7, 2014
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Restored weather feed for weather forecast and more in this maintenance release!
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Take back what is yours!
March 23, 2012
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In an effort to force you into using Metro, Microsoft stripped the familiar Start Menu out of Windows 8. In the process it also stripped your ability to chose for yourself what is best for you.
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v12.2 Released!
March 22, 2012
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This is a monster release, click the Read More link below for a guided tour on what's new!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v12.2 Released!
March 22, 2012
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This is a monster release, click the Read More link below for a guided tour on what's new!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v11.10 Released!
November 18, 2011
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Weather module working again, new Launch and Attention effects, new Tray tab in Preferences, and more...
Read more -
Nexus Dock v11.10 Released!
November 18, 2011
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Weather module working again, new Launch and Attention effects, and more...
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Weather feed down!
November 6, 2011
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Weather module not working? Find out why and what is being done about it.
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v11.6 Released!
July 6, 2011
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Maintenance release of Winstep Xtreme.
Read more -
Nexus Dock v11.6 Released!
July 6, 2011
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Maintenance release of Nexus and Nexus Ultimate.
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New Winstep Theme: DarkTech
June 24, 2011
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Brought to you by the Winstep design team - more in-house themes currently in the pipeline.
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v11.5 Released!
June 23, 2011
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System tray icon customization, ability to mix mouseover effects, support for animated icons, and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v11.5 Released!
June 20, 2011
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Dock mouseover effects can now be combined with magnify effect, support for animated icons, and much more!
Read more -
Winstep Xtreme v11.2 Released!
March 14, 2011
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New release featuring increased support for Microsoft's High DPI virtualization technology, and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v11.2 Released!
March 14, 2011
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New release featuring increased support for backgrounds of 3rd party docks, preserving aspect ratio of image thumbnails, and much more!
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Start Menu Organizer v1.5 Released!
March 14, 2011
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New release adding more languages and increasing compatibility with 64 bit versions of Windows!
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Winstep Xtreme v10.9 Released!
October 14, 2010
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Major release featuring nine new incredible dock mouseover effects, five new menu opening animations, Windows 7 "Superbar" ability with window previews and aeropeek capability on docks, horizontal sub-docks, and much more!
Read more -
Nexus Dock v10.9 Released!
October 8, 2010
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Major release featuring nine new incredible dock mouseover effects, Windows 7 "Superbar" ability with window previews and aeropeek capability, and much more!
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Nexus featured at Download.com!
October 8, 2010
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Nexus featured on the front page of Cnet's Download.com!
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Start Menu Organizer v1.4 Released!
August 9, 2010
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Version 1.4 fixes an issue in which the Pro version of the program could stop when expanding the Administrative Tools group and adds support for 23 languages.
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Winstep Xtreme featured at Download.com!
July 18, 2010
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Winstep Xtreme has been featured on the front page of Cnet's Download.com, not once, but twice!
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Winstep Xtreme v10.6 Final Released!
July 13, 2010
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Roughly 1 year in the making, the official upgrade to Winstep Xtreme v9.5 is finally here!
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Nexus Dock v10.6 Released!
July 13, 2010
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Maintenance release of our free popular Winstep Nexus dock.
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Winstep announces strategic alliance with Proxma AG!
July 13, 2010
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Proxma AG will market Winstep products in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
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Start Menu Organizer v1.3 Released!
July 2, 2010
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New version of the Winstep Start Menu Organizer featuring support for even more languages.
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Welcome to our new web site!
June 15, 2010
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The Winstep web site gets a brand new face to match the quality of our products.
Read more