XP themes, without using windowblinds etc

G18241 · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:03

i know it can be done but cant find anything, just got a laptop and odnt want window blinds to be slowing it down, but want a nice theme

TheVoice · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:19

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=140707

That'll do what you want.

Larnica · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:23

Can this change icons etc?

G18241 · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:23

thats the thing cheers mate

Larnica · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:26

Hate to be the noob that I am, but is this legal? :confused:

I guess it is, you can replace any files with what you want?

TheVoice · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:40

Legal, yes. Can't change incos though - only changes a system file to allow third-party visual styles to be applied.

james.miller · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:44

if you want a system overhaul, i recommed xpize, Styler v1.401 , then install this icon set (thanks to mrk for for discovering these) and the CodeOpus 3.0 theme. makes an amazing difference

Larnica · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:58

Is there any free things like UXtheme for icons then? login screens etc?

james.miller · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:00

for icons you can jsut install icon sets like the ones i posted above. for the login screen its the same, though it can bit a bit more involved if you want to do it manually rather than use an installer

Larnica · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:02

Gotcha!

Although its software :eek:

james.miller · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:03

only styler is software, but that does things like allow you to fine tune theme colours on the fly, dock all windows to the screen, use custom toolbars in the explorer windows ect...

Larnica · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:05

It seems Xpizer is installing like software?

james.miller · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:08

no, it doesnt. it installes a theme patcher and replaces a lot of system bmp's and icons, but the icons from the tango set are better. which is why i install the tango icons over the top. there's nothing bad to worry about. its all on the xpize page

http://xpero.msfn.org/?page=about

Larnica · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:18

james.miller said:
no, it doesnt. it installes a theme patcher and replaces a lot of system bmp's and icons, but the icons from the tango set are better. which is why i install the tango icons over the top. there's nothing bad to worry about. its all on the xpize page

http://xpero.msfn.org/?page=about

Wow the tango icons are amazing!

james.miller · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:19

i know

Larnica · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:19

Does the patcher include the "Extras"?

james.miller · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:21

no, the extras aren't included in the patcher

i didnt bother installing them

G18241 · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:22

how much system requirements does windowblinds use anyway?

how many different themes can you get for this xpise thing then?

james.miller · 23 Aug 2006 at 17:28

windowsblinds - it varies. not a lot, but some peopel are anal about system usage. Im not but the way i see it is that if you can do it using no system resources then why not? xpizse just uses a ux patcher like the uxtheme multipatch, so you should be able to use virtually any theme you want and it wont waste any resources.

The bonus with uses xpise is that like i said, it patchs 100's of the windows bmps and other obscure little things and just makes them look so much better.

click me: old windows Vs xpize windows

G18241 · 23 Aug 2006 at 18:19

installed that xpise thing and the styler thing and everything looks good, i want a black theme i think, where can i get the themes?

got any decent websites, and which file format do they have to be?