Customizing the appearance of your Windows installation can be frustrating, because both Windows XP and Vista are limited to the Microsoft's default themes out of the box. However, with a bit of tweaking under the hood, your Windows setup can try on a wider range of looks than come pre-installed. Let's take a look at how to patch your Windows installation to allow customized styles, and a few places to find new and interesting styles online. Vocabulary and Methods When talking about the physical appearance of Windows there are two terms that are distinct but often used incorrectly in place of each other. Visual styles, which have the file extension, are the files which supply all the information about how the interfaces within Windows should look. The toolbar skin, start button skin, borders, buttons, etc. are all stored in the visual style. Themes contain a visual style along with additional settings such as icons, wallpaper, etc. Later, when browsing for goodies, keep in mind that a theme pack will have further customization than a visual style pack. Throughout the tutorial you'll need to be able to access the menu within Windows where you can change your themes and visual styles. The following screenshots are from Windows XP but the essential menus are nearly identical in function in Vista, too. For reference, here is how to access both: Right-click Desktop -> Properties -> Themes Tab (or Appearance Tab for Styles) Right-click Desktop - > Personalize -> Themes Although you'll most likely find a new style that you really enjoy, on the off chance that you don't, make a backup of your current theme for you to restore later if necessary. Backing up only takes a moment and will allow you put things back exactly as they were before you started customizing, right down to the wallpaper. From within the Themes tab click Save As and name your theme whatever you'd like. Save it in a safe place. Although the probability of something going catastrophically wrong is slim, it wouldn't hurt to create a system restore point to undo the carnage if need be. Press WINKEY-R to bring up the run dialogue box and type in the following: to launch System Restore. Give the restore point an easy to remember name like "Pre-Style Patch", Windows will append the name with the current date. Patching your system for themes allows you to use non-Microsoft approved visual styles. At the very root you're simply replacing the with a modified version that doesn't verify if the style has been signed by Microsoft. It used to be that patching your Windows installation was a hassle, a small one, but a hassle nonetheless. Now both Windows XP and Vista have patching programs available that make it no more hassle than clicking a button and rebooting. There are various programs that can do what the free patches do with some additional functionality thrown in, but they are hardly worth the $20 and up fees they command. For Windows XP, download the . Run the file, click through the prompts and reboot. For Windows Vista, download . Run the file, click through the prompts and reboot. Both patching programs will allow you to reverse the process should anything go wrong by simply running the program again. (However, I've been patching Windows installs for years without a hitch.) The best way to verify if your patch job has been successful is to browse some of the great repositories of visual styles and select a few to try out. Below are some samples of the most popular styles at DeviantArt.com. Before you begin downloading through, a quick overview of where the files go is in order. If a style pack is zipped up properly then installing it is as simple as unzipping the files into the directory. Check when you open the zip file if the files have nested directories. If you install a visual style or theme and something is amiss, check the following list to ensure the files ended up in the right place: Now let's take a look at some popular third-party visual styles in action. For more visual styles, check out the following resources: If you have a little bit more time and would like to grab a theme hot off the press, check out the active forums where style designers throw up their newest work: What's your favorite Windows theme? Tell us about it in the comments—or show off your customized Windows in the .
Tags: Step by Step, How To, Windows, Customization, Desktop, Theme, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Downloads, Top, Lifehacker
