Got sick of the Windows XP default themes? There is 3 of them and after you have used windows for more than a week you have probably got bored with them. This also applies to Vista it has like 2 or 3 themes doesn’t it? I miss good old windows 95/98 when you could change the colours so that they hurt everyone’s eyes :P.
Well there is two ways to change your theme's in XP/Vista. There are 10000s of themes out there to choose from and I’m sure you can find one you like. I’ve had a range of them over the year and finally settled on a nice simple clean on that seems to remind people of Linux never thought of it myself. (Here's a picture)
The way I’m going to cover involves installing a small patch that removes the protection in Windows that stops custom themes from showing up. Although if that’s to scary and you like to have more programs on your pc that slow down its boot time there are plenty of programs to also do the job (eg StyleXP).
(This guide is for Windows XP Home/Pro although i think you can do the same thing on Vista using vista (not xp) patch).
Step 1: Download UxTheme Multi-patcher: here or here. (make sure you get the theme appropriate to your service pack if you haven’t got SP3 (the latest for XP) download it here.
Step 2: Run the UxTheme patcher and follow the steps.
Step 3: It will restart but you won’t notice any real change, Until you go to your Display Property/Appearance. Although you won’t notice any change yet as I haven’t told you how to get custom theme's.
Step 4: Download the custom themes you like. Here a few sites:
If you don’t find what you’re looking for Google it and you will find plenty. Although if they distribute the theme in a .exe its possibly a virus/spyware/adware so be careful id avoid this site http://www.themexp.org/
Step 5: Download the file and extract it. It will most likely be in the form of a rar or zip file. You can open them using winrar.
Step 6: Now copy the contents of the file (or extract it) to the following folder: C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes
Step 7: Now if you have done it right when you go to the Appearance tab of Display properties your custom theme should be listed there simple select it, apply it, and off you go.
Hope this helps any problems please get in touch with me or if there’s anything I’ve missed let me know. Also sorry i cant help with Windows Vista although think it would be about the same process.
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