The Windows Vista theme customization application Vista Visual Master changes that. It is a all in one solution for everyone who wants to customize the Windows Vista theme and appearance. The application can be divided into two sections. The first deals directly with the Windows Vista theme while the second takes care of system settings that relate to the visual appearance of Windows Vista.

One of the most important aspects of Windows Vista theme customization is patching the uxtheme.dll file in Windows Vista to be able to apply custom themes to the operating system. This option is available in Vista Visual Master. The same menu contains an option to change the Windows Vista theme directly to another one.

Other options that relate to the visual appearance of Windows Vista are the abilities to change Windows vista icons, logon pictures and the vista boot screen. All options are easily accessible and there is always an option to restore to defaults with should ease the minds of users who feel uncomfortable about changing system files in Windows Vista.

The second section is just the usual Windows Vista tweaker with the only difference that the available settings relate to visual effects on the system. It is for instance possible to remove icons from the computer deskop, remove shortcut arrows and to disable the changing of wallpapers in Windows Vista.

The main use of the tool is to customize the Windows Vista theme. It works flawlessly and creates backups of the most important files which come in handy if something goes wrong along the way.

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The Vista Live Shell Pack for Windows XP is a collection of three shell packs for Windows XP that turn the visuals of Windows XP into a Windows Vista looking interface. The three packs distinguish themselves only by color from each other. They are available in baby blue, gray and pink (gosh) (via Techyard).

Changes to Windows XP require the patching of the file uxtheme.dll. This file refuses changes otherwise and does not allow the installation of any themes that have not been officially released by Microsoft. Vista Live Shell Pack comes with an installer that includes the uxtheme.dll patcher making it very easy to install the new themes.

The installer provides a list of files that will be installed on the system. It turns out that the pack installs and modifies lots of files on the system, especially those with icons and other graphic information in them.

Many other files get updated as well if the user chooses so. Some noteworthy ones are the boot logo, logon screen, screensaver, the installation of Windows Vista fonts, the skin and some applications (ViOrb, TaskSwitchXP and RebIC). Everything can be unchecked in the installer. The installer can create a system restore point which is important to do in case something goes wrong during installation.

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The official XP themes have the advantage that they can be used right away. Royal Noir is a Windows XP theme that was discovered about two years ago. It comes as a blue and black theme with great contrasts.

Installation of Windows XP Royal Noir. Just download the Royale Noir package and unpack it on your computer. The contents have to be moved to windows\resources\themes\royal noir. A click on the luna.msstyles file should be located in the royal noir directory will activate the theme and bring the Display Properties to the front.

The default color scheme will be the blue one which will be shown as Royal in the Color Scheme menu. A click on the Color Scheme pulldown menu will display the second option entitled Royal Noir which will change the blue color to black upon selection.

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The uxtheme.dll patcher that I had installed on my previous system was not working anymore because Microsoft seemed to have replaced the uxtheme.dll file with a newer version which had the result that the patch failed. A quick research on the Internet brought me to Rafael’s website that offered a patched uxtheme.dll that was compatible with the English Windows XP Service Pack 3 final.

I then used the small application Replacer to replace the existing uxtheme.dll in c:\windows\system32 with the patched one. Replacer displays a command window upon execution and all that needs to be done is to drag and drop the original file and then the new file into the window. Everything else will be done by replacer.

I was able to change the theme after the next reboot.

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I would like to introduce two methods of patching uxtheme.dll. The first method is automatic but sometimes not working. I would still suggest to use the Uxtheme Multi-patcher first if you use Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Just unpack and start the application (no installation required) and click on Patch to patch uxtheme.dll. The software checks the operating system and asks if the findings are correct. If the information is correct click OK.

Windows File Protection will kick in which you have to cancel of course. File Protection would otherwise replace the patched uxtheme.dll with the original from the Windows XP CD which would have the result that you would not be able to use custom themes. Once that is done restart the computer once and check if you can add custom themes. If that is possible you have successfully patched uxtheme.dll. If not or if you are using Windows Vista read on.

Windows Vista users or users where the automatic patching failed can replace the file manually instead. They need the application Replacer for it which can be used to replace files with system protection. They also need the patched uxtheme.dll which they can find at Uxtheme Patches. Make sure to download the correct version for your operating system.

Start Replacer and follow the on screen instructions. Begin by dragging and dropping the original uxtheme.dll file which is located in c:\windows\system32 into the program window and hit enter. Then drag and drop the patched dll into the window and hit enter again. Follow the instructions until File Protection kicks in again. Make sure you cancel the file protection window so that the patched file is not replaced with the original one again.

Custom themes can be added after a restart.

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Visual Styles can be changed in the Appearance tab in the display properties menu or by double-clicking the *.msstyles file. Using the patched uxtheme.dll gives us an advantage over softwares like theme xp or wincustomize because we do not need to run the software in the background.

Thalios


Longhorn Inspirat


Royal Inspirat


Klarheit


aes

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