is there a easy way to change the colour of xp?

Archangel

Archangel

VIP Member
well... in the normal options you can change the colour from blue to grey or olive... frankly both of those options look like crap =]
so i was wondering, is it possible to change the color of the exsisting skin?
or is it possible to download other skin's (legally for free ofcourse) and just install them or so?

It doesnt have much priority.. But im just getting bored of the looks of my window's.. ^^
 
windowblinds is very cheap and there's thousands of themes you can d/l
 
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here's a free one. follow these steps:

1. Download the free tool UXTheme Multi-Patcher, and the theme Longhorn 5203. Note that you can use the tool WindowsBlinds to do this more easily, but it is not free.

2. Make sure to backup your uxtheme.dll file in your \WINDOWS\system32 directory.

3. Run UXTheme Multipatcher and follow the prompts. Your uxtheme.dll file will have its Windows File Protection removed and will be patched to allow custom themes, then you should reboot as required.

4. Extract the contents of the 'Longhorn 5203' archive to sit directly under your \WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\ directory.

5. Go to Control Panel>Display and select the Appearance tab. Under the 'Windows and Buttons' scroll box, select the new Longhorn theme. Then under 'Color Scheme' select one of the variations of the theme which suits you, and click the Apply button to see how it looks on your Desktop.

6. If you want to change the font used select a new font under the 'Font Size' box, and to further refine the colors, border sizes etc. used click the Advanced button and go through the options for each screen element.

7. Your icons will not change using the UXTheme Multipatcher method. Also, if you want to use the new wallpaper which comes with the theme, it can be found under the \WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\Longhorn\Wallpapers directory.

tweakguides.com
 
Try Vista Inspirat, Its by far my favorite. Free too.
http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.id.130.htm

th2130oz6.jpg
 
hmm... Im not sure weither im able to do that tbh... but i'll have a look at it when im back home. ( poking around in stuff you dont know can backfire as you pretty fast you know.. ^^ )
 
is it possbiel to change the location of the close minimize and maxmize button from the right side to the left?
i mean like mac.
is it possible from the regedit?
 
alexandergre said:
is it possbiel to change the location of the close minimize and maxmize button from the right side to the left?
i mean like mac.
is it possible from the regedit?
Click to expand...

I know its possible because I've seen it done on a OS-X theme for windows.
I think Fly-A-Kite OS will do it.
 
alexandergre said:
is it possbiel to change the location of the close minimize and maxmize button from the right side to the left?
i mean like mac.
is it possible from the regedit?
Click to expand...
If you want that, you might need to get a new explorer.

For skins, there are plenty. The easiest is to use the Themepatcher above then just download windows visual styles. Next would probably be packs that you find all over the net such as crystalxp.net. Some windowblinds skin packs can do that, but you would need windowblinds.

Then, there are also windowblinds over at www.wincustomize.com www.skinbase.org, etc. So there are many options to choose and do.
 
Archangel said:
bah.. :( couldnt get it to work yesterday... I think I'll try again when I'm home today tough :)
Click to expand...

I recommend using the patch as described in this thread. Windowblinds has always given me problems - on occassions pretty serious problems - so I gave up on it. Granted, if you want to try it, it is the easiest way to go and cost at least 20 dollars.

If you use the patch, you can find a lot of styles to download for free, for example here:
http://browse.deviantart.com/customization/skins/windows/visualstyle/?order=9&alltime=yes

or here, but CAUTION - read the following that I found regarding the following webpage. (I assume it still applies today)
http://www.themexp.org/
When downloading msstyles from themexp.org, you actually download an exe full of spyware. You have to do this in order to extract only the msstyles files.

run this from the windows Run menu. c:\a.exe /x c:\a
where a.exe is the file you want to open and c:\a is the folder. Personally I d/l alot of files there use this method after I'm finished d/ling them all. I rename the one I want to extract first to a.exe. use that run command to extract the file I need and move it elsewhere. Then delete a.exe. Rename the next one to a.exe and do the same. That way I don't have to type the run command over and over for each file.
After running this, you will find a file called %EXENAME%. Give it a rar or zip extension and then open with winrar. Here are the files you actually want.

 
Does anything think they could figure out how to modify these themes?

More precisely: does anyone know how to take the start menu from one theme and patch it to all of the of the other visuals of another theme?
 
i got that vista thing it looks real good, i was wondering if theres any setting i can change to always open up windows not maximized, but rather just filling some of the screen so the vista bar can still be displayed

thx
 
That vista theme looks really cool, but does it take away performance?
I tried windowsblinds and themexp before and it really messed my computer up and slowed it down.
 
Archangel said:
well... in the normal options you can change the colour from blue to grey or olive... frankly both of those options look like crap =]
so i was wondering, is it possible to change the color of the exsisting skin?
or is it possible to download other skin's (legally for free ofcourse) and just install them or so?

It doesnt have much priority.. But im just getting bored of the looks of my window's.. ^^
Click to expand...

but the themes Service will take lots of system space..that's the reason I don't like this...
 
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