Best Themes/Visual Styles?

[Ultimate Predator]

What are yours? Mine are listed below, just post a link with the name, and description if you want:

 

Official Royale - http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhan...for-WinXP.shtml

 

Luna Element 5 - http://lunaelement.net

(I prefer 4 and 4A, but you can't get those anymore, though 5 is pretty good)

 

Energy Blue - http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=420605

 

Reluna - http://www.deviantart.com/view/25635225/

 

Thallos - http://www.getskinned.org/modules.php?modn...bid=4669&type=1

 

Royal Inspirat Mod - http://interfacelift.com/themes-win/details.php?id=130

[mps69_1999]

Good topic

Here's mine, I been using this for a little while now, and for me that something

Dreamland http://www.wincustomize.com/Preview.aspx?S...ing/wb/5364.jpg.

 

The only thing I've changed is the wallpaper which is this one

Grassy Canvas http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/28766864/

[Mike Rochip]

I like crystalXP. I guess it's now called crystal dlb. The colors are nice and it takes up less room on my display than any other theme I've tried.

 

crystalXP.net download page

[-Luigi-]

I use XPize, check it out:

 

http://xpero.msfn.org/

[Ultimate Predator]

So do I, but that isn't a proper theme, it has Royale included though, but that is great for appearance.

[JDPower]

Wow, I can't believe I've gone so long without changing my default theme. That Royale one is brilliant, though I've noticed a couple of slight glitches with it - The details line in disk defrag (volume, session status, file system etc) and in CCleaners issues section (Problem, Data, registry key etc) are no longer shaded, they are plain white. And the words at the top of notepad (File, edit, format etc) have a plain white background whilst the rest of the bar is correctly shaded. Is this normal? (and is there any way to correct it?)

 

Also really like the look of the Vista style one, Energy Blue, but gonna wait till that one is finished before downloading it.

 

As I'm new to the whole theme thing can someone tell me how to uninstall any themes I try but don't like as I can't find any way of doing this?

[JDPower]

Also can anyone tell me how to change the boring black XP boot screen and recommend a trustworthy site for new themes?

 

Cheers

[mps69_1999]

JD

I use bootskin from Stardock

BootSkin

I've never had a problem with it yet.

You can also get some really cool boot screens Here

[Ultimate Predator]

Get http://xpero.msfn.org/, though go through the extra's when downloding it, you may not want some. This will allow you to install any type of theme onto your PC, and replace old idefault windows images with new ones.

[JDPower]

JD

I use bootskin from Stardock

BootSkin

I've never had a problem with it yet.

You can also get some really cool boot screens Here

 

Cheers, that's just the job (Just got to trawl through the hundreds of boot screens on the site to find the perfect match for the Royale theme )

 

Get http://xpero.msfn.org/, though go through the extra's when downloding it, you may not want some. This will allow you to install any type of theme onto your PC, and replace old idefault windows images with new ones.

 

I tried XPize briefly but it was a bit too bloated with more options than I understood so didn't keep it. Also it didn't reset all the icons to their originals when reverting to backup before uninstalling, had to system restore to fix the remainder. So wasn't impressed

 

Anyone able to answer my question about how to uninstall unwanted themes???

[rridgely]

To find your themes go to:

 

Start>My Computer>C Drive>Windows>Resources>Themes

 

Then delete the ones you dont want.

[JDPower]

To find your themes go to:

 

Start>My Computer>C Drive>Windows>Resources>Themes

 

Then delete the ones you dont want.

 

Thanks RRidgely, much appreciated.

 

You can all get back to posting favourite themes now

[Krak]

here is brico pack that im using:

http://crystalxp.net/dl/en.gal.117.htm

[shainemelvin]

THERE ARE LOTS OF GOOD THEME STYLE PROGRAMS BUT I THINK THE BEST IS stylexp you can download the free trail and here is a serial for it you get for ever. if you want and themes go to www.themexp.org

here is the web site for stylexp http://www.tucows.com/preview/395306

Edited February 14, 2006 by rridgely

[JohnDemolition]

i don't think that you're supposed to talk about piracy

[shainemelvin]

oh didnt sorry! lol thenx for telling me

[Ultimate Predator]

Yeah, you'll end being kicked out. I personaloly aren't mad on these styling programs, I just think thee are plently god enough themes out there already, and thats what this thread is here for.

[JDPower]

Energy Blue - http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=420605

 

How do I get the above theme to work? Its a rar file and I can't work out what to do with it (probably being dense )

[JohnDemolition]

you need a program to unzip it. WinRAR is the program from the company that made RAR. it can compress and unpack that format but there are also alternatives like WinZip or 7-Zip(the one i use)

[Eldmannen]

I prefer to run without any visual styles, just the good old classical look.

[JDPower]

you need a program to unzip it. WinRAR is the program from the company that made RAR. it can compress and unpack that format but there are also alternatives like WinZip or 7-Zip(the one i use)

 

Thanks for that, I've now got the file extracted but can't for the life of me get the theme to work. I put the file in the Windows>resources>themes but when I go to display properties in control panel the theme isn't listed. I'm new to the whole theme thing and don't know any other way to select a new one. I'm guessing the problem is that there isn't actually a "Windows Theme File" in the folder.

 

Can anyone tell me how to make this theme work as I really like it and really want to use it

[JohnDemolition]

after you extracted it, it should be in something like this. C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\sometheme

 

if you want to use it, just to go the Appearance tab and select it there. but if you want to select it from the first tab named "Themes", then after you apply it, click the "Themes" tab, and click save as. make sure that it's in the Themes folder and save it as th filename that you wish.

 

btw:i don't like this theme a lot. it's a bit too bright and the Start button looks weird.

[JDPower]

after you extracted it, it should be in something like this. C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\sometheme

 

if you want to use it, just to go the Appearance tab and select it there. but if you want to select it from the first tab named "Themes", then after you apply it, click the "Themes" tab, and click save as. make sure that it's in the Themes folder and save it as th filename that you wish.

 

btw:i don't like this theme a lot. it's a bit too bright and the Start button looks weird.

 

Ok, I've got the energy blue folder in C:>Windows>Resources>Themes but it isn't listed under the appearance tab. If I click on the visual style file in the energy blue folder it brings up the appearance tab which just shows my current theme (Royale) and when I click ok nothing changes.

 

Under the appearances tab I've only got the default Windows styles and Royale (my current, and only, other theme).

 

I must be missing something really obvious here

[JDPower]

Ok, I've got the energy blue folder in C:>Windows>Resources>Themes but it isn't listed under the appearance tab. If I click on the visual style file in the energy blue folder it brings up the appearance tab which just shows my current theme (Royale) and when I click ok nothing changes.

 

Under the appearances tab I've only got the default Windows styles and Royale (my current, and only, other theme).

 

I must be missing something really obvious here

 

Never mind, got it sorted. Didn't realise I needed to replace the uxtheme.dll to allow non MS visual styles to be used