Windows Vista Ultimate Themes Question

[william.hooper]

I bought Windows Vista Home Premuim and was gutted to find only two
themes... Windows Classic and Aero. The classic theme is very old,
it's not even the Win XP theme and is basically for head in the sand
types only. But the Aero theme doesn;t really move me... especically
the ugly folder icons and tree expansion icons in Windows Explorer.

Does Ultimate edition come with more themes? If so how many are are
any of them any good.

I can't believe I upgraded to get a new look and don't in fact like
the Aero in Home Permuim after all.

Help Help thanks, William

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

I bought Windows Vista Home Premuim and was gutted to find only two
themes... Windows Classic and Aero. The classic theme is very old,
it's not even the Win XP theme and is basically for head in the sand
types only. But the Aero theme doesn;t really move me... especically
the ugly folder icons and tree expansion icons in Windows Explorer.

Does Ultimate edition come with more themes? If so how many are are
any of them any good.

I can't believe I upgraded to get a new look and don't in fact like
the Aero in Home Permuim after all.

While the term 'Themes' can usually encompasses everything (icons, mouse
pointers, wallpaper, visual styles, sounds, etc), I'm not sure what you do
and don't like, as the same icons appear with the Classic theme.

There are no more additional theme in the Ultimate edition. So you want to
change the Visual Styles, icons, or everything? Just changing the folder
icons is relatively simple, and replacing the shell icon .dll files is the
neatest way.

ss.

 

[william.hooper]

Ok what I would ideally like is a WinXP theme which I can then
customize a bit and maybe make the borders translucent.

The Windows Classic theme is far far too old ... but at the same time
in Aero I don't like:

(a) the maximize and minimize buttons in Aero

(b) the way that you can not easily see the difference between the
active and the background windows in the title bar colour etc

(c) the way all maximized applications go grey no matter what colour
choices i make.

 

[william.hooper]

But sorry tell me how I can change those shell icons... Do I select
classic, copy the dll, go back to aero and then copy the classic dll
over the current one? That sounds great... which dll exactly should i
do that to?

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Ok what I would ideally like is a WinXP theme which I can then
customize a bit and maybe make the borders translucent.

The Windows Classic theme is far far too old ... but at the same time
in Aero I don't like:

(a) the maximize and minimize buttons in Aero

(b) the way that you can not easily see the difference between the
active and the background windows in the title bar colour etc

(c) the way all maximized applications go grey no matter what colour
choices i make.

There are new Visual Styles beginning to appear, and soon there will be
many, like for XP. They require a hacked uxtheme.dll file that allows the
use of unsigned .msstyles files.

The is the only Visual Style for Vista that I am aware of so far:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/45118492/

There is also a new version of WindowBlinds coming out for Vista, but I do
not have any interest in that and do not know much about it.

ss.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

But sorry tell me how I can change those shell icons... Do I select
classic, copy the dll, go back to aero and then copy the classic dll
over the current one? That sounds great... which dll exactly should i
do that to?

I don't understand what you mean. The same icons appear with the Classic
theme. I'm sure that replacement icon packs will be appearing on
deviantart.com by now. Make sure they are proper Vista .dll files though.

I think the Vista Visual Style and icons to be fine.

ss.

 

[Guest]

The simplest and safest way (not hacking your system files) to change your
desktop theme is to use ObjectDesktop and/or Windowblinds. Windowblinds 5.5
will be released soon and it will include support for Vista.

I wrote an article about changing your desktop theme, it was written using
XP, but it's basically the same for Vista.

http://www.wincustomize.com/Articles.aspx?AID=136315

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

The simplest and safest way (not hacking your system files) to change your
desktop theme is to use ObjectDesktop and/or Windowblinds. Windowblinds
5.5
will be released soon and it will include support for Vista.

I wrote an article about changing your desktop theme, it was written using
XP, but it's basically the same for Vista.

http://www.wincustomize.com/Articles.aspx?AID=136315

Do you know of any other visual styles (.msstyles) other than the one that I
mentioned?

ss.

 

[Guest]

That is the only one I am aware of.

Making .msstyles for hacked .dll are harder with Vista. Microsoft has
hard-coded some things and what limited flexibility it had before, is now a
bit worse. So all you will see is themes like that which are just basic
image replacements.

 

[Guest]

William, like you, I am stunned by the lack of themes bundles with Vista.
You had more options to change the appearance in XP.

While you can change the transparent border color in Aero, you can't easily
alter the inner border color in applications such as Word, etc.

Worse, if you go looking around for Vista themes to install, most site are
actually offering themes for XP to try and make it look like Vista.