Using Visual Styles

**{I}{K}{E}** · 05-05-2005, 10:46 PM

Visual styles are themes for Windows XP. The pre-installed theme, Luna, is just the tip of the ice berg when it comes to how you can make XP look! Notice in the sample below how the tool bars are white, and the buttons are different... these are just a few of the changes that can be made.

To use visual styles with Windows XP, all you need to do it run a small update which will unlock the Windows XP Theme Manager to accept user created themes. Just download UXTheme, install it following the provided directions and you are ready to go!

Download UXTheme Multipatcher 4.0

The follow warnings will pop-up during the update, they are just for MS to cover themselves. You can replace the origonal files by reinstalling UXTheme again. Make sure you click on the circled buttons or you will not be able to use the new styles.
Now that your system has been updated to allow for Visual Styles, you can easily change the look of your system by downloading new VS from across the web.

Most themes are stored in compressed files like ZIP or RAR. Uncompress the file to:c:\windows\resources\themes

To change between VS's, click on Start, go to the Control Panel, click on Appearance and Themes, and finally the display tab. There you can change your Visual style by changing the drop down "Windows and buttons". You can even restore your system back to Window XP default theme from here.

To get themes, check out these sites:
Note: All themes are stored in: c:\windows\resources\themes