Customise your Windows XP for free.

manas

Many of us would like to customise the appearance of their system but they do not know how to do it.Some use Style XP but it's not free.Here I will tell you

how to do it without using any paid software.

1.First download the uxtheme file patcher from

www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=140707

Run it and follow the instructions.This patches your uxtheme.dll file so that you can use .msstyles visual styles without any resources.You can download

visual styles from the net for free from www.belchfire.net

2.Next download Logon Loader from

logonloader.danielmilner.com/download.php

This changes your login screen.You can download some great login screens from www.belchfire.net

3.This will have completely changed your system appearance.Next come the simple steps.Download some wallpapers of your choice from any site.

4.Change some of the common icons with Registry edits.Proceed as follows.

---Start Regedit
---Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ explorer \ Shell Icons
---The default icons are numbered in the right panel from 0-40
---Double click on the number of the particular icon you want to change. See the chart below.
---Enter the name of the icon file you want to use followed by the number of the icon in that file.
---Note: The numbering starts with zero.
If you use a single .ICO file, it should be followed by a 0.
e.g. - filename.dll,4 - This would actually be the 5th icon since it starts with 0.
Make sure you delete the hidden file C:\WINDOWS\SHELLICONCACHE

Below is a reference for the icons I've been able to figure out:

0 - Default Icon
1 - Default Document
2 - Application
3 - Closed Folder
4 - Open Folder
5 - 5 1/4 Drive
6 - 3 1/4 Drive
7 - Removable Drive
8 - Hard Drive
9 - Network Folder
10 - Network Offline
11 - CD
12 - RAM Drive
13 - Entire Nertwork
15 - My Computer
16 - Printer
17 - Network Neighborhood
18 - Network Workgroup
19-27 are the Start Menu icons
19 - Programs
20 - Desktop
21 - Settings
22 - Find
23 - Help
24 - Run
25 - Suspend
27 - Shutdown

28 - Share
29 - Shortcut
31 - Recycle Bin (Empty)
32 - Recycle Bin (Full)
33 - Folder, Dial-Up Networking
34 - Desktop
36 - Program Group
40 - Audio Card

In addition, you can change:
My Computer - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Network Neighborhood - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
InBox - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\{00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Recycle Bin - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

5.Next comes customising your mouse pointers.Go and download CursorXP from www.cursorxp.com .This will completely change your mouse pointer scheme.

6.Next download YzToolbar from www.windowsstartup.com/wso/detail.php?id=4674 .This will change the toolbar appearance which appears on top of every Window.

7.Want to add a cool Mac Like dock to your XP.Go download MobyDock from www.mobydock.com/.

TheSun

really good one. thanks

sprk3

I am using windows xp i am getting lot of spyware how to control spyware

THE11thROCK™

I have tried many of those apps as you listed. However, many of them may give you bugs and headaches later than comfort. Mobydock is a better choice. It doesn't need to replace anything in your XP environment but adds more flexibility and eye-candy in your desktop. With some amount of tweaking of the ini files of your mobydock installation folder, you can fully customize it the way you want it to work for your system. Just make a back-up first of you original installation. All you would ever need is notepad. Very Happy

lineagetoday

their are lots of other free solutions that wont' give headaches!! my personal favorite is flyakite !! it skins ur Windows XP to the look and feel of Tiger osX

you can get it at http://www.aqua-soft.org/

shashi_bhusan9

it's so long list of customization Very Happy

doing each slowly
it took long time while donloading

very soon i too wil be fully customized
Laughing

thanks for such useful and free distribution Rolling Eyes

thnn

There is a program called windowsblinds which is really good. They even have some Windows XP Vista themes so you can make Windows XP look like the soon to be released Windows Vista.

Marston

I'm pretty sure that the only way to make windows look better is to use a Macintosh OSX emulator Razz

.

raver

Well i think you should have emphasized the fact that you should ALWAYS back-up your configuration before trying to edit anything in either your registry or any other settings...i know because i had to reinstall my windows partition trying to change my start-up spalsh screen..so ALWAYS MAKE BACKUPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

toughtrio

I was looking for a login editor from soooo long. Thanks alot.
Just a question, does this slow up XP a little bit.

Thanx nyways

Kind Regards,