Customising Windows

mahdoum

Do any of you customise windows, or do you use a built in theme that comes with xp?

Below is an image of my windows customised, I only have a different theme and a new icon set.

PS: Yes my screen is widescreen :mrgreen:

rolf

Ok, how much do you want for telling me how you did that?

mahdoum

lol :P i'll write about it later on in the day ;)

mahdoum

There are several ways to change your windows themes, and use non-standard themes. These can be put into 2 categories, programs you have to download and pay for, and hacking the themeing engine of windows xp. I've used the second method as it uses as little system resources as possible, doesn't cost me anything, and is the easiest to implement.

UXtheme.dll is what allows themeing in windows xp, but the regular dll doesn't allow you to add themes, so what you have to do is replace it with a hacked/changed version so that it allows extra themes. Each person has to replace the current dll with one that fits their system. eg. for me I need the uxtheme.dll that works with windows xp & sp2 (it's the only one I have, I can try to find others if you really need them). There are two things you need to download themodified uxtheme.dll and replacer (a program that replaces important system files correctly, it compiles and decomplies it etc. etc.).

Once you have both programs extract the contents of replacer.zip into its own folder and open the program. Now make your way to C:/windows/system32/ and drag uxtheme.dll into the replacer program. When that's done press enter and drag the modified version (which you downloaded) and press enter, then y to confirm the replacment. When the program prompts you to restarts, restart **Warning I won't be held responsible if the dll doesn't work, always make a backup first Warning**

Now you can start adding themes. Go to deviantart.com and go to it's skinning section, or click here. You can download any of these themes, to install them all you have to do is copy the theme to C:/windows/resources/themes/ folder. Most of the time it's just copy and paste keeping folder structure intact. Sometimes you may get themes whereby you have to create the directory. If you have a qwe.msstyle then create a folder called qwe and put qwe.msstyle in it and then within that folder create a folder called shell, and put the shellstyle.dll in there.

Once you've installed your themes all you have to do is right click on your desktop and go to properties -> the apperance tab and choose your theme from the drop down menu.

At the beginning of the tutorial, I mentioned another way is to use programs, wincustomize has many programs for themeing windows in different ways, windowblinds is the program that you need to change themes. Another program by a different company is stylexp, but it costs money and I didn't like it that much. UXtheme method is by far the best.

PS: Wincustomize has lots of themes, wallpapers and other stuff for you to choose from.

Icons

Changing icons in windows is very easy, or very hard. Both ways use one program. Iconpackager. The easy way to use this program, is to download an icon pack (ie a pack that has most icons used in windows) and then use the program and it will change them for you automatically for every instance. This is recommended as icon packs often have all icons looking the same for everything. The hard way is when you download individual icons, which means you need to change each type of icon one by one (eg folders, hard disks, cd drives etc.)

Some icons sites

OS X Icons for Windows
FOOOD's Icons
Sony Clie Icons

You can use deviantart and wincustomise.com as well.

Btw if anyone finds a crack for the current iconpackager message me, because I can't seem to find one :S.

Rolf, to edit current visual styles/themes use stylebuilder which can be downloaded here

Parabola

Use Style Xp wthat's it..

mahdoum

I hated style xp, I dunno why but I don't like having too many unnessecary programs running in the background.

Ragnar78

windows blind does it as well...
Stardock products are better...
Try the ObjectDock its free

Charly

This is my theme, apple-style

rolf

Thanks a lot for the instructions mahdoum

... and replacer (a program that replaces important system files correctly, it compiles and decomplies it etc. etc.).

I dont think that there is such a thing as recompile in windows. I guess the primary task of this program is to override the "windows file protection" which protects system file and the "file in use lock" (probably by scheduling the file replace at system startup).

samer

I use styleXP.

mahdoum

charly if only the scroll bars were apple style too

samer

I used to have the apple skin. I'm now using one even simplier.

rolf

my desktop (resized):

classy, huh? The name of the skin is "luna". The clock is "LClock".

and mozilla:

mahdoum

nice nice, so what did you do to get your final effect?

rolf

What final effect, ya mahdoum?
You mean how? I used your method (modified uxtheme.dll)
I still definitely need to change the icons.
I want to modify the scrollbars and the drop-down menu buttons in the skin that I'm using. I have been working on them in photoshop, but I need a software to modify the skin. Any idea?
BTW mahdoum, nice skin you have.

mahdoum

I'll post about the icons later on today, as for the program i'll post that as well. Yeah I like minimalistic themes and small start bars :P the theme I use is called classic 10k or something like that, check out the theme codeopus as well it's nice

mahdoum

Thanks a lot for the instructions mahdoum

... and replacer (a program that replaces important system files correctly, it compiles and decomplies it etc. etc.).
I dont think that there is such a thing as recompile in windows. I guess the primary task of this program is to override the "windows file protection" which protects system file and the "file in use lock" (probably by scheduling the file replace at system startup).

Basically, Replacer works by using a combination of tools to successfully replace a protected system file, without disturbing the user. First, three files are extracted from the data file into a temporary folder: db.csv, Clear_WFP_Message.vbs, and zap.exe.

The CSV file contains a list of replaceable system files, along with their paths and attributes.

Clear_WFP_Message clears the Windows File Protection message that may pop up after replacing a file. Some anti-virus programs may incorrectly detect this as a malicious cript. Access to this file is not required, but it is recommended. After replacing, the script will continue to run for about 15 seconds, to ensure that it doesn't miss any late messages.

Zap.exe, a tool from Microsoft, forcefully deletes the system file. This may leave temporary files on the root of the drive (named _@??.tmp), which will be automatically deleted after rebooting.

Second, after the user inputs the files, a backup is created. It is stored in the same folder as the system file, with a "backup" extension (such as "notepad.backup"). Then, the replacement is copied to up to five directories which contain backups of the system file.

Finally, the VBScript is executed to clear any messages, and the system file is replaced. If Replacer is closed properly (following the on-screen instructions), the temp folder that it uses will be automatically deleted. Otherwise, manually delete the folder called ".ReplacerTemp" in Replacer's folder.

If you are experiencing constant errors, or are running Windows 2000, you may need to download the components package. In most cases, this is not required.

Tested, but use at your own risk.

The website can be found here

Btw I've updated my original tutorial post to include information about icons

rolf

mahdoum have you tried ......................... for the crack?

mahdoum

la2 :P I always use google, any way i'll try it later thanks. btw next pm the link, don't think we should point to crack sites.

battikh

You can also change the logon screens (the screen that shows the users, u click on teh user, put ur password, and log in :P), that's what i like the best. I have an FBI login screen, kind of fun...