You dont have to settle for the default Microsoft Desktop Themes that come with Windows XP. There are a few unofficial Microsoft released desktop themes that you can add to your collection for free. Here they are:
Microsoft Zune Theme description
A special Windows XP Theme from Microsoft designed to look like its new Zune portable media player
Microsoft Zune Theme is a special Windows XP Theme from Microsoft designed to look like its new Zune
portable media player. This is an official skin for Windows XP that has a dark grey style and orange Start menu.
Download it here directly.
Royale Theme for WinXP description
A new theme, potentially destined for Windows XP. Freeware
Royale Theme is a new theme, potentially destined for
Windows XP, that has leaked out of Microsoft and onto the web. The theme appears to have come out of a beta version of Media Center 2005 that was in testing.
The theme is not a substantially different incarnation of the existing of Luna, the current default theme for
Windows XP. You can see the main changes in the screenshots below; one could describe it as being a 'glass mod' of Luna.
Download it here directly.
Royale Noir
Is a welcomed alternative to the extremely small collection of verified-by-Microsoft XP themes, similar to the Royale blue.
Download it form here directly.
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Written by PCWizKid on April 20th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Windows XP and desktop themes and pcwizkid.
ClocX is analog clock application for Microsoft Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista. It is programmed in C++ language, which ensures small executable binary, optimal speed and low memory usage.
If you want the features of Windows Vista's sidebar, get it now at no cost!
Download it from here directlyThese are cool looking clocks with many features such as:
- 256 levels of transparency with special mouse-over transparency function
- changable and configurable styles (24 PNGs and 7 BMPs in standard installation, additional 98 PNGs and 69 BMPs available in full instalation or in PNG/BMP packs)
- per-pixel alphablending for PNG backgrounds
- advanced window options (unmovable, always on top, pin to desktop, click through, ...)
- priority settings
- configurable alarms with ability to show alarm window, play sound, execute application and shutdown computer
- simple calendar
- automatic start with Windows (for all users) or with user login (only for your user)
- language support (Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and more)
- absolutely free software - it contains no ads, no spyware, no adware and no toolbars
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Written by PCWizKid on April 18th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Customization and Microsoft Windows Vista and Sidebar and Windows XP and desktop themes and gadgets and widgets.
In my
previous article I showed how to
customize your Windows XP to look like Vista, if your looking for a different feel, perhaps Mac's new OS X Leopard is for you (without having to buy a Mac). Here is how you can do it for free.
The first and easiest part of customization is getting icons and wallpaper themes. I have found a free standalone package here that works with Windows Blinds.
Download package here.If you dont have windows blinds, you can still take the wallpaper and images included in the package and separately
download a leopard icon package from here.
So now that you have the wallpaper and the icons, next would be to get the leopard dock as your taskbar replacement.
(
click to enlarge)
My choice for this is the
RK Launcher. A free application that will allow you to have a visually pleasing Leopard bar at bottom of the screen. It has support for themes, PNG's and ICO's and is smooth.
Requirements are: OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista with at least 16 bits (65536 colors) of screen color depth or higher.
However , this 13meg installation tough small, does require some CPU processing. I do find that if you have a dual core PC your fine. CPU utilization increased to 50% on just one of the 2 Cores when I did a mouse over test on top of the shortcut icons on the doc. The mouse over is just like in OS X, you see the icons enlarge as you move over, and I was moving my mouse back and forth over them causing 1 CPU so increase to just over 50%. Once you stop moving the mouse over, CPU droped down to 5% or less which is fine. So if you only have 1 CPU there could be a performance hit here for you.
Task Manager resources used before and after the mouse over test on the dock (click the images to enlarge)
Download this Leopard Like Dock directly from hereLast but not least is
Flyakite OSX 3.5 . The latest conversion pack to make your Windows based operating system look and feel like Apple Mac OSX. This software is freeware and is not affiliated or endorsed by Apple or its affiliates. It has no spyware or adware. The installer automates the transformation of your Windows XP+ system files , it does the registry tweaks and installs the 3rd party software required (sounds, skins, cursors etc).
Recommended System requirements are a 32bit Windows OS (XP+), a 1Ghz CPU and 512Megs of Ram.
Download this package directly herePlease remember that installing these freeware packages are at your own risk, though I have had no issues with it, I cannot guarantee you wont. Good thing is you can use the uninstaller to undo the changes to its good that way.
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Written by PCWizKid on March 15th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Xp and desktop themes and desktop wallpaper and freeware and icons and osx leopard and windows customization.
If your looking for a change in your desktop appearance and behavior, you might want to try the freeware version of
Real Desktop. It gives your ordinary desktop new life and turns it into
a next generation 3D Interactive Desktop.
The recommended system requirements are as follows:
- Windows® XP / Vista
- Windows® DirectX 9.0c
- AMD ATHLON™ XP 2400+ or higher (alternatively Intel® Pentium® 4)
- 512 MB main memory
- DirectX able graphic card: 128 MB NVIDIA® Geforce™ 6 or better,
ATI® Radeon™ 9700 or better - Screen resolution 1280 x 1024 at True Color (16 million colours)
- Internet connection
My initial thoughts were the amount of resources it probably uses up, but I was surprised to see it didnt take that much memory compared to my Firefox browser.
Also I loved how you can configure it to look the way you want with wallpaper and backgrounds giving it your personal touch.
You can stack icons, drag them anywhere on the desktop and flip them around. The Recycle Bin becomes a three-dimensional trash can. This certainly looks like a feature that could be a part of the next release of Windows 7 perhaps.
Its a free license to use if you get the lite version.
Download it for free instantly from the developers website.
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Written by PCWizKid on March 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 3d desktop and Contributors and Microsoft Windows Vista and desktop enhancements and desktop themes and desktop wallpaper and direct 3d and freeware and real desktop.
You dont have to settle for the default Microsoft Desktop Themes that come with Windows XP. There are a few unofficial Microsoft released desktop themes that you can add to your collection for free. Here they are:
Is a welcomed alternative to the extremely small collection of verified-by-Microsoft XP themes, similar to the Royale blue.
