Page 1 of 4: Make Windows XP look like Vista/OsX/Linux

BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

Make Windows XP look like Vista/OsX/Linux

This is a tweak thread which will help your Windows XP desktop to get a Next Generation look
without burning much memory.

I agree that Windows Vista or Google/Ya hoo Gadgets give the desktops a real mind blowing look
BUT they all need lots of memory. Vista uses 256MB of RAM just to run and Google/Ya hoo gadgets
uses 25-35MB memory individually.

I am talking about a complete desktop tweak which will use only <20MB of your memory altogether.
Greater the free memory Greater is the speed.
And its all done with the help of FREEwares only.

Here's a screen shot,

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................................................................Click to Zoom

BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

Post Updated: 24th March 2008.

Step.1: Get Some Cool Vista Wallpapers

You are definitely going to like these wallpapers.
You can get them from these links,

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1. Mike Swanson's Blog
Mike Swanson, a consultant in Microsoft has posted some great collection of wallpapers in his blog.
The wallpapers in this blog has the Vista touch.

You can access the website here,

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2. Flickr Wallpaper Collection
This contains various images in Flickr's wallpaper pool

You can access the website here,

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3. Social Wallpapering
This is a Social networking site for wallpaper sharing.
Has some pretty good collection of Standard, Widescreen & Dual monitor wallpapers.

You can access the website here,

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BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

Step.2: Clean Your Desktop

Remove all icons which are not absolutely essential.
The desktop is your workspace. Keeping in neat an clean increases productivity.

Right Click on all unwanted icons and delete them. You can even delete the "My Computer" icon.
We can always re-add the needed icons later in Step.3 with the help of Object Dock.

AutoHide Taskbar
Right Click on the Taskbar and go to its "Properties".

We are going to change the way taskbar appears.

Check the box which shows "Autohide the taskbar"

Now the taskbar will appear only when we bring the mouse cursor to its position.
Autohiding the taskbar increases your desktop space and increases the content of the window.
If you are using a tabbed browser, you wont even miss the taskbar.

BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

Step.3: Get the 'Mac' Look

If you used a Mac the first thing you notice is the Dock sitting in the desktop which shows the icons.

Now you can get the same dock in your Windows for FREE!

Download the ObjectDock Free version from here,

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You can edit the way the dock looks, You can add cool icons to it or remove the icons.
The free version of ObjectDock uses a memory of <10MB only.

BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

Step.4: Minimize the Windows to Desktop

Now that your taskbar is auto-hiding it will be difficult for you to access the minimized windows.
So why not minimize them to the desktop as thumbnails?

Thumbwin is a tiny program which uses only ~1.5MB of your RAM, which is a Freeware.
Minimizing as thumbnails have a demerit that you need to minimize a window to see the next minimized window.
If you are using a tabbed browser(Firefox,IE7) then this wont be a problem for you.

You can Download ThumbWin from here,

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You can add ThumbWin to the startup by going to,
Start---> Control Panel---> Scheduled Tasks
Then Click on "Add Scheduled Task"
The Scheduled task wizard will open up, Click "Next"

Select ThumbWin from the list and press "Next"

Check the box "when my computer starts" and add it to the Scheduled tasklist.
You can remove the program from the startup just by deleting this entry.

BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

Post Updated: 24th March 2008

Step.5: Tweak Your Icons

Icon Tweaker

Give your desktop a personal look by changing the default Windows icons.
You can also modify individual icons of drives and folders to be able to recognize their contents easily.

Using the available themes you can apply set of icons at once.
Many themes with beautiful icons are already included and ready to use.

You can download Icon Tweaker from here,

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Vista Drive Icon

Changes the drive icons shown in Windows "My Computer", to a nearly Vista drive icon,
showing the drive's free space with a smooth colored horizontal bar.
You just need to install it and run it. It will automatically insert it into startup
and run in the background. Its a tiny app and will use ~1MB only of your RAM.
You can download Vista Drive Icon from here,

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BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

Step.6: Get Useful Tiny Widgets

The usual Ya hoo/Google widgets use >15MB RAM to run.
The widgets about which i am talking use <1.5MB individually.

Hyalo-RAM
This tiny Widget developed by Adni works as a system memory monitor.

Its needs only ~1.5MB memory to run.
Download it, No need to install it, it will run from the exe file itself.
Keep the exe file at some safe location, Launch the Program.
Now Right Click on it and select "Properties"

Select the option which shows "Run Automatically when windows starts"

You can download the widget from here,

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Adni also offers 33 similar FREE gadgets, they all are very useful.

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BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

Post Updated: 24th March 2008

Step.7: Get some Cool Cursors

CursorFX
Cursor FX was a Pro software in the past, developed by the Desktop enhancement giant Stardock.

Just see these screenshots and you'll understand it performs like a pro.

...

click to zoom

You can download it from here,

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OR

You can get some cool and informative cursors from here,
Installation instruction are there in the same page.

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the_ocean · Credits: 944 My Scrapbook

thanx a lot

BGM · Credits: 104516 My Scrapbook

UPDATE: APRIL 17TH 2008

VistaMizer (Free!)

..

VistaMizer is a FREE software which can transform Windows XP to the looks of Vista.
It uses less memory when compared to Windowblinds. So this software can even run on old pcs without any slowdowns.
If you are on an old pc, just uncheck the "Apps" box during installation.

If you are on a high-end pc (i.e a new pc with RAM >512MB/ >64MB graphics card) you do not need to uncheck the "Apps" box.

You can download VistaMizer from here,

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