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Apologies if this has been posted before, but I thought I would just post a short guide to customising your theme (windows and menus appearance) in Windows XP.
Although there are third-party applications that you can use to change the appearance of Windows, they tend to hog valuable system resources.
This method is simple but does involve patching a windows system file (uxtheme.dll) so anybody wishing to try this does so at their own risk.
I have used this patched system file on many XP installations in the past and never had any trouble.
1. Download and install this file.
Windows installer will ask you to insert the XP cd but just cancel this and follow the on-screen instructions.2. Once you have successfully patched the file, choose a visual style. You can search for “visual style” or “.msstyle” (the file extension used for visual styles). Alternatively, have a look at the great selection on DeviantART.
3. Once downloaded, to apply the theme simply extract the archive and double click the file with the .msstyle extension. The XP “Display Properties” window should appear where you can preview your new visual style.
Depending on how the creator of the visual style has done things, you may find a variety of colours or an option to have a compact start menu (which is ideal on the NC10) selectable from the colour scheme drop-down box.
The font-size drop-down box may change the font style rather than size. Again, this depends on the creator of the visual style.
Some of the visual styles come packed with wallpapers or shellstyles that compliment the theme.
Be aware that if you delete the folder containing the visual style file or move it to a different folder, Windows will revert back to “Windows Classic” theme so you will need to re-download or re-apply the style. It’s usually best to keep all the extracted folders together. C:WINDOWSResourcesThemes is where I keep mine.
Enjoy!
I’m currently using Alduin Visual Style by lassekonge83. Available here
Nice one. Feel free to paste it in here (your login here should work!):
[Wiki]How To:Customise your Windows theme[/Wiki]
Thanks for writing that up. I’ve only ever stuck with the retro Windows theme, you know the one from ’98. Need to pimp my desktop some time 😀
The good thing about the theme patching method too is that it’s minimal impact on the system. I’ve tried commercial products before like Stardock but they add stuff I don’t need and I’ve had issues with them conflicting with other apps.
One thing though, that link for the patcher only mentions support up to SP2 on XP.
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