XP Themes and Your Desktop
- Thread starter Stevenpfo
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PeteAtoms
FormulaRandom
This is my desktop as of this morning. This is my first time really trying out a program launcher, besides the taskbar (and my assorted toolbars on it)
Rocketlaunch seems to be nothing more than eye candy. Everything I can do with is, can be done just as easy with a taskbar toolbar (without needing more of my memory)
I'm going to give this a couple more days before I ditch it or keep it, than maybe I'll give Launchy or AutoHotKey another go.
Rocketlaunch seems to be nothing more than eye candy. Everything I can do with is, can be done just as easy with a taskbar toolbar (without needing more of my memory)
I'm going to give this a couple more days before I ditch it or keep it, than maybe I'll give Launchy or AutoHotKey another go.
Spoiler :
Aramazd
Deity
Royale Noir, FTW. Although Aero looks much better.
Maniacal
the green Napoleon
I use classic mode, I got sick of the XP style three years ago. I used stylesxp for a while but it didn't always start (although it still seems to think it's in use as I have gotten a message saying it can't start despite not being used).
You can have stylesXP set to not using any system resources.
I wouldn't mind finding a way to just simply replace/add a new and use it toolbar & startmenu skin though without having to use a program such as windowblnids or stylesxp etc.
You can have stylesXP set to not using any system resources.
I wouldn't mind finding a way to just simply replace/add a new and use it toolbar & startmenu skin though without having to use a program such as windowblnids or stylesxp etc.
GenMarshall
High Elven ISB Capt & Ghost Agent
That's something I am going to do with my Vista Desktop. It may be nice to see the Aero Vista theme, but I rather keep every drop of RAM memory as much as I can (eventhough I have 3Gigs). Eventhough I have Vista Home Premium, I'm mainly used to the XP interface without the extra eyecandy that Vista has.
Genocidicbunny
Bug squasher
You can completely replace the windows shell and make Windows look drastically different. I havent had much luck doing so though, and I always end up going back to the default Windows shell.
Genocidicbunny
Bug squasher
Afaik, not using Aero wont affect your RAM usage. All it will do is reduce the work your video card is doing, which, unless its a gpu with power saving features, wont actually make a difference, besides maybe make the fan run a little slower.
El Koeno
Emperor
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I downloaded some Zune theme, that made XP look nice and black, and decided to give Launchy a try.
I've also completely removed all desktop icons, using the registry. I'm not yet sure if I'm happy with that setting as it also removed the desktop itself....
I've also completely removed all desktop icons, using the registry. I'm not yet sure if I'm happy with that setting as it also removed the desktop itself....
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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After using my old Windows 98 for 10 years, the XP style on my current computer was a nice change. I remember in Windows 98, I always made the taskbar purple. I don't know why. 
Genocidicbunny
Bug squasher
Probably cus it was one of the more reasonable dark colors. I hate the default colors for Windows themes, they're way too garish.
El Koeno
Emperor
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All I get for your image is a little blue question mark El Koeno.
I haven't been in XP for a while, but I pretty much just stick with the Vista themes at this point.
I didn't get anything myself.
Should be fixed now...
PeteAtoms
FormulaRandom
I downloaded some Zune theme, that made XP look nice and black, and decided to give Launchy a try.
I've also completely removed all desktop icons, using the registry. I'm not yet sure if I'm happy with that setting as it also removed the desktop itself....
I use the zune theme also. It exponentially easier on the eyes than the default blue. I've tried launchy before too, but I couldn't get into it because I had to keep moving from my mouse to the keyboard. Im so used to just clicking on my Rocketdock, that it feels like so much more work to bring up launch, type in a couple letters and open the file.
Instead of launchy however, I recommend autohotkey. it takes a little bit of scripting, but its worth it. Instead of pulling up launchy and typing in a program, you just assign a hot key to it. For example, I had thunderbird (my email client) hotkeyed to (ctrl+t), its much easier.
El Koeno
Emperor
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I was going to use launchy to make bringing up documents, excel spreadsheets, STATA datafiles, PDFs etc. for my research a bit easier.
The whole "no desktop" thing is a bit of an experiment. As is the grey/black theme. I'll probably move to something colourful come spring.
Are there freeware alternatives to windows blinds and style xp?
Is there some sort of "manual" way to use .theme files or alter the appearance of the taskbar? Everything online wants you to use one of the above two programs.
Is there some sort of "manual" way to use .theme files or alter the appearance of the taskbar? Everything online wants you to use one of the above two programs.
El Koeno
Emperor
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I found this:
http://cybernetnews.com/2007/01/04/cybernotes-how-to-install-unsigned-themes-in-windows-xp/
It's for windows XP SP2, but there should be something for SP3 too.
Thanks! Your google-fu is clearly superior to mine. I will have to give this a try sometime.
edit: found the sp3 version of the file mentioned in that article, actually this is an auto-updater that just does the rename and patch for you.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/SP3-UxTheme-Patcher.shtml
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