Current state of Win 7 visual styles?

By sebazwin
in Tips, Tweaks & Customization

 Share

Recommended Posts

Apprentice

sebazwin

Posted
Posted

It's been over a year since I last checked the visual styles for Windows 7, and I started browsing the forum but I can't find quickly what I want to know, so I thought I would ask.

Since 2009, has any new patcher been released that is updated often? I just checked UxStyle, and it still says "Last Updated: July 13, 2009", which is even before Windows 7 retail was released. I get a feeling that something so old might mess up something, especially since SP1 was released.

Also, is there a thread, website or whatever that shows all the finished current visual styles available for Win 7 SP1 x64? I see there's a Window Blinds forum, but I don't want to spend money on the WindowBlinds suite.

Thanks

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/995812-current-state-of-win-7-visual-styles/
Share on other sites
Grand Master

fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj

Posted
Posted

It's been over a year since I last checked the visual styles for Windows 7, and I started browsing the forum but I can't find quickly what I want to know, so I thought I would ask.

Since 2009, has any new patcher been released that is updated often? I just checked UxStyle, and it still says "Last Updated: July 13, 2009", which is even before Windows 7 retail was released. I get a feeling that something so old might mess up something, especially since SP1 was released.

Also, is there a thread, website or whatever that shows all the finished current visual styles available for Win 7 SP1 x64? I see there's a Window Blinds forum, but I don't want to spend money on the WindowBlinds suite.

Thanks

UxStyle's website specifically says "[yes, this works on Windows 7 SP1 even.]".

It patches the files in memory instead of on your drive.

I've been using it on Windows 7 x64 and I haven't had a problem.

  • BumbleBritches57
  • Like 1
Grand Master

Jamushroom Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

^That's "themes", not "Visual Styles". The topic is clearly about Visual Styles, which is something completely different then a theme.

I was working on my own version of Aero in which all graphics have been remade from scratch. Though I might just wait with compiling it until Windows 7 comes around. I'm currently still in the design stages so it'll be a loss if I'd made it for Windows 7.

Let me tell you this though, it looks a lot different compared to the default Aero.

Mentor

Paul Ferson Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Visual Styles for Windows 7 don't really seem as awesome as they did on Windows Vista and Windows XP. I've been using Windows 7 with its standard Aero theme because of the lack of exciting themes. UxTheme Patcher should still work, even though I personally use TuneUp Styler because everything is straightforward.

Apprentice

sebazwin

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I'm looking for a style that doesn't look like a circus vomited on the screen, which are about 90% of the visual styles and Windowblinds themes out there. And I'm also looking for one that is not a rip off of a Mac theme, because as much as I like the Mac OS X interface, when elements of it are mixed with the Windows interface, it looks hideous. I also want something that is easy on the eyes, since I suffer from migraines and the more light colors on the screen, the sooner I will get a migraine. So far the closest I've seen to what I want is this: http://skins12.wincustomize.com/8/74/874914/1/7372/preview-1-7372.jpg, but it's not that great either.

Is there a free program that makes it easy to change the default folder icon? I read how to do it in a forum but it involves way too many steps with a registry and so on. And, it seems to change only the default folder when it's an empty folder, but as soon as the folder has content inside it defaults to the hideous yellow folders. My two biggest problems with the Windows interface are the horrible baby blue color that is present almost everywhere and cannot be changed from Windows' Personalization CP, and the also horrible yellow folder icons. If I could just change those two things I'd be happy. Suggestions (that are free and don't involve me designing my own style) are very welcome.

Rising Star

liju

Posted
Posted

I'm looking for a style that doesn't look like a circus vomited on the screen, which are about 90% of the visual styles and Windowblinds themes out there. And I'm also looking for one that is not a rip off of a Mac theme, because as much as I like the Mac OS X interface, when elements of it are mixed with the Windows interface, it looks hideous. I also want something that is easy on the eyes, since I suffer from migraines and the more light colors on the screen, the sooner I will get a migraine. So far the closest I've seen to what I want is this: http://skins12.wincustomize.com/8/74/874914/1/7372/preview-1-7372.jpg, but it's not that great either.

.....

The 3 best dark visual styles for Windows 7 IMHO:

Dark Soft

Dark Agility

APPOWS2010

Apprentice

sebazwin

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The 3 best dark visual styles for Windows 7 IMHO:

Dark Soft

Dark Agility

APPOWS2010

Thanks. The first two look OK, if not great, but I'm looking for something that while dark, it's not pure black like those. Or, if it's black, then with a glass effect. Years ago when I had XP I used this great black glass style, I can't remember the name now. If I can't find anything I might have to spend time building my own style. I had bought Windows Style Builder in 2009, but it takes way too much time to build a style from scratch, and even then, I can't change all of the ugly features in the Windows GUI, just some of them.

Mentor

ajua

Posted
Posted

Which is better? UxStyle or Universal Theme Patcher.

I'm on the same corner as many that forgot about Visual Styles because the lack of great options and the hassle to install the first that came out but after reading this thread I might give it a second chance...

Apprentice

harjeet

Posted
Posted

IMO Universal Theme Patcher is much better because its a one time patch (except for Service Pack updates).

Glass Onion http://solmiler.deviantart.com/art/Glass-Onion-for-W7-202355689 is a great theme. If its too glassy you can always add colour, even change it to black, in the personalization panel.

Apprentice

sebazwin

Posted
  • Author
Posted

CustoPack Tools

Its free. Its awsome. :shifty:

This one seems good. I've been trying to find a set of good icons for half an hour now, and it's very frustrating because most of the icons are either for children or Mac OS X knockoffs. I would love to find Windows icons that look good, even if it's the default ones but in a graphite variation, anything but that horrible yellow.

Guest

Posted
Posted

If you're into "it's a bit like standard aero but customised" as I am, here are my favs:

http://solmiler.deviantart.com/art/Glass-Onion-for-W7-202355689?q=boost%3Apopular%20in%3Acustomization%2%20%20Fskins%2Fwindows7%2Fvisualstyle%20max_age%3A744h&q%20%20o=0&offset=180 Glass Onion. Using this now.

http://ap-graphik.deviantart.com/art/Soft7-2-0-beta-3-161602097 Soft7 2.0

http://zainadeel.deviantart.com/art/Win7-Blend-for-Windows-7-v1-8-144063997 Win7-blend

  • 9 months later...
Apprentice

Mirel

Posted
Posted

I'm looking for a style that doesn't look like a circus vomited on the screen, which are about 90% of the visual styles and Windowblinds themes out there. And I'm also looking for one that is not a rip off of a Mac theme, because as much as I like the Mac OS X interface, when elements of it are mixed with the Windows interface, it looks hideous.

Indeed. Sometimes when I'm looking for themes, I open literally almost 100 tabs, and check the previews of all the visual styles. Everything is so goddamn ugly, I don't understand why these people make all this crap. Are they really so happy with their achievement of recoloring Aero that they have to release it on deviantart and/or neowin? It's been years since Windows 7 was released, and 98% of all the themes out there is just ugly. It's not a matter of personal taste, I truly believe most of the themes are ugly. Try doing that **** with recoloring (well, copying Aero to be frank) or combining certain colors which don't fit together in a creative study and you'll get a bad grade. If making custom visual styles was a class somewhere, I think 98% of all the themes out there would fail the test. I'm convinced of it.

I wish I could find a visual style with a thin taskbar, decent colors and font and some small nice looking - [] X icons in the top right of a window. Here's an example of someone in the XP days who truly made something different: http://schluepfer.de...e-v1-0-38783250 Looking back on it, I don't think every part about it is beautiful, but the guy did take the time to replace every graphic, every icon, every bar with his own.

To this day, I've seen in total 5 or 6 visual styles with unique icons and colors, but there's always one minor detail which makes the whole thing look ugly. Right now I'm settling with http://browse.devian...=baero#/d4bpmh5 I don't like the fat ass taskbar and that the - [] X buttons are not all the way to the right of the window, and if you disable transparency like I do, it defaults to a grey color. But all in all it's a pretty decent skin. :)

I've googled but there seem to be so many ways to make visual styles. I really want to make my own visual style, with a clean thin taskbar, small fonts and decent looking icons. If someone can provide an excellent tutorial explaining where and how you replace every part of a .msstyles file and compile it into one, and the same with the startorb and explorer.exe and explorerframe.dll, I'll be on my way.

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • The 2TB Samsung 990 PRO NVMe SSD hits lowest price in over three months

      By hellowalkman · Posted

      The 2TB Samsung 990 PRO NVMe SSD hits lowest price in over three months by Sayan Sen Yesterday, we covered a really good deal wherein you can get a 4TB TeamGroup T-FORCE G50 NVMe PCIe Gen4 SSD for a low price of just $400 with a special discount coupon. That's just $100 per TB, making it a very good offer during these hard times. The deal is still live, so you can check it out in its dedicated article here if you do not want to miss out. Meanwhile, if you don't have that kind of budget but still wish to buy an SSD for a good price, the 2TB variant of the TeamGroup SSD at $280 its lowest price in over three months. Meanwhile, those seeking 2TB but faster performance can check out Samsung's 990 PRO, which has hit the lowest price also in the last quarter or so, as it's on sale for $370 (purchase links under the specs table down below). Thus, you want a faster drive, get the 990 Pro, or you want more capacity, grab the TeamGroup 4TB linked in the first para. The 990 PRO is a PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD and still one of the fastest drives available today for under $500. Speaking of fast, sequential reads and writes are rated at 7450 MB/s and 6900 MB/s, respectively. The random throughputs for reads and writes are 1400K IOPS and 1550K IOPS, respectively. The 990 PRO is based on Samsung's 7th Gen V-NAND flash, and it too is TLC. It packs 2 gigs of LPDDR4 DRAM cache, which helps the random performance. The endurance rating for this is 1200 TBW (terabytes written), which should be sufficient for most users. The Samsung 990 PRO is compatible with the PlayStation 5, but if you are going to use the 990 PRO on a PC, check out the Samsung Magician app that lets you track your drive's health, update its firmware, customize various settings, and more. The tech specs are given below: Specification TeamGroup T-FORCE G50 2TB Samsung 990 PRO 2TB Interface PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 PCIe Gen 4.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 Form Factor M.2 2280 M.2 2280 Controller InnoGrit Controller Samsung In-house Controller NAND Flash 3D TLC 3D TLC DRAM Cache None (HMB supported) 2GB LPDDR4 Sequential Read (Max) 5,000 MB/s 7,450 MB/s Sequential Write (Max) 4,500 MB/s 6,900 MB/s Random Read (4K) Up to 600,000 IOPS Up to 1,400,000 IOPS Random Write (4K) Up to 700,000 IOPS Up to 1,550,000 IOPS TBW (Endurance) 1,300 TBW 1,200 TBW MTBF 3,000,000 hours 1,500,000 hours Operating Temperature 0°C to 70°C 0°C to 70°C Storage Temperature -40°C to 85°C -40°C to 85°C Shock Resistance 1,500G / 0.5ms 1,500G / 0.5ms Heatsink Patented Graphene Heat Spreader No Get them at the links below: Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB (MZ-V9P2T0B/AM): $369.99 (Sold and Shipped by Amazon US) TEAMGROUP T-Force G50 2TB SSD (TM8FFE002T0C129): $279.99 (Sold by TeamGroup, Shipped by Amazon US) Good to know This Amazon deal is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • Major Xbox layoffs may claim South of Midnight developer Compulsion entirely

      By PeterTHX · Posted

      If you can't spell a simple word that 2nd graders learn, your entire argument is suspect.
    • UK to ban under-16s from social media following a six-week trial with teenagers

      By FloatingFatMan · Posted

      And here goes the "Won't someone think of the children" brigade. Get stuffed mate. This has NOTHING to do with making the internet safe. It's about tracking adults, spying on your online activity, and sending the boys around when they don't like something you post. Also, again, parliament have voted TWICE against this, and Starmer is going ahead anyway. THAT is anti-democratic bullsh**. They will use this law to track you, they will use this law to control you, and they will use this law to punish you if they don't like what you do, even if it's legal. And your data? Say bye bye to that. It'll be on the darkweb in weeks. I'm not some rando online. I've been an IT professional for 40 years, many of it in security. I know exactly what this means and what will happen to your data. I do not consent and I will not comply.
    • Windows 11 KB5094126, KB5093998 bugging out Office apps but it may not be Microsoft's fault

      By sphbecker · Posted

      "...but it may not be Microsoft's fault" seems like a reasonable way to tease what is going on without leaving the user with a false impression that an update is the problem. A title isn't a summery, it is meant to entice the user to read the article. It should not contain a misleading premise; which this title does not. You could maybe complain that the first paragraph should have included that detail. The writing style popularized over 100 years ago in newspapers will cover the most important information as soon as possible with details and nuance added later; the idea being that with each new paragraph you have less of the reader's focus.
    • Samsung Galaxy XR arrives in the UK with new AI and enterprise features

      By Fiza Ali · Posted

      Samsung Galaxy XR arrives in the UK with new AI and enterprise features by Fiza Ali Samsung is bringing its Galaxy XR headset to the UK several months after the device made its debut as the first headset built on Google's Android XR platform. The headset was first teased in late 2024 alongside Google's introduction of Android XR before making its commercial debut in 2025. Developed in collaboration with Google and Qualcomm, Galaxy XR combines mixed reality experiences with Gemini-powered AI features, allowing users to interact with digital content using voice, gestures, and visual inputs. While the hardware itself remains largely unchanged from the version Samsung unveiled last year, the company is using the UK launch to spotlight several software enhancements that have arrived through recent updates. Among the most notable additions is deeper integration with Google's ecosystem. Galaxy XR users can explore destinations through Google Maps' Immersive View, receiving AI-powered recommendations and contextual information from Gemini while navigating virtual environments. Furthermore, entertainment experiences have also expanded; users can watch 180-degree and 360-degree videos on YouTube, browse spatial content converted into 3D, and ask Gemini questions about on-screen content without interrupting playback. Samsung is also highlighting mixed-reality features such as Circle to Search, which allows users to identify real-world objects through hand gestures while using the headset's video pass-through mode. Another feature automatically converts photos and videos into spatial 3D experiences. Moreover, the headset now also supports Android Enterprise, allowing organisations to manage deployments using existing Android management tools. Annika Bizon, Vice President, Product and Marketing, Mobile Experience, Samsung UK & Ireland, talked about the device, stating: The headset is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 platform and features dual 4K Micro-OLED displays. The tech giant says that users can expect up to 2.5 hours of battery life. Samsung also confirmed that Galaxy XR will continue receiving software and security updates as the company works alongside Google and Qualcomm to expand the Android XR ecosystem. Galaxy XR is now available for pre-order and will go on sale on 8 July. Customers interested in trying the headset before launch can visit Samsung KX in London and selected Samsung Experience Stores from 17 June. Finally, the company will also host a livestream on 19 June showcasing the headset's capabilities and answering questions from prospective customers.

  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      Jocimo earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      suprememobiles48 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Windows Guy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Prasann earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Prasann earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      522
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      174
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      93
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      83
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      70
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!