Here is some of my favorites :
BBClean- Explorer windows shell replacement, makes windows like Black box/ Fluxbox in linux....Lets me have a volume control in my context menu's and lots of cool looking desktop widgets to choose from.
http://www.lostinthebox.com/viewtopic.php?t=2286
there are a bunch more Black box windows mods out there, I know of 8... you can find out more about them here:
http://www.bb4win.org/news.php
they make your desktop look like this:
http://browse.deviantart.com/customi...hemes/fluxbox/
They style files are cross platform, and compatible with blackbox, or fluxbox in linux.
SOme of the cool features:
Windows "shade" and roll up
Windows have an "always on top" feature, so other windows do not cover it... great for calculator, or notpad.
Multiple desktops, somewhat like TweakUI's virtual desktops but much faster
thousands of styles to choose from.
Loads from login almost instantly... no waiting for services to start.
Lots of plugins, so you can make your desktop as minimal, or as comlpex as you want...
anyways, have fun! the linux style of windows manager, is really much more advanced than windows or mac OSX. It definately is much more productive for me