Customizing XP while avoiding spyware.

[rekced]

I had a lot of trouble in the past with my system getting all screwed up when I downloaded new themes. Now I'm thinking about trying it again and was wondering if anyone here can tell me where I can get clean/legit software to run it. I'm also not sure where to get the themes themselves.

sorry for such a newbie question. Thanks so much in advance!

[Boine]

Try getting the uxtheme.dll patch for windows... (do a search it's on this forum)

Also, www.customize.org has some themes for XP; however, Neowin also has it's own XP Theme Etc Section! https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showforum=36

Good luck!

[jaxius]

stardock proggies

stylexp

patched uxtheme.dll

http://www.themexp.org

http://wincustomize.com

:)

[zhangm Supervisor]

uxtheme.dll patch is the best way to go. Don't buy StyleXP or download anything from themexp.org. StyleXP is a program that does something you can do for free, while themexp.org is known for loading everything (whether the author consents or not) with spyware.

[jaxius]

uxtheme.dll patch is the best way to go. Don't buy StyleXP or download anything from themexp.org. StyleXP is a program that does something you can do for free, while themexp.org is known for loading everything (whether the author consents or not) with spyware.

true... but it is also the user that should have antispyware proggies installed and watch what they click when installing something

[zhangm Supervisor]

No, it is the user who needs to be educated and compute wisely, part of which involves not downloading crapware from dodgy sites.

Antispyware software is there to catch the stuff that the user can't. But it is no excuse for clicking blindly, and definitely not an excuse for downloading stuff that you KNOW is infected. :rolleyes:

[jaxius]

once upon a time stylexp and themexp.org were good... anywho... just spur of the moment ones i came up with.. on the main page of neowin.net on righthand side they have links for customizing and the diff sections in the forum

:shiftyninja:

[luckyme632k]

For a very long time, I had a problem with Windows not allowing me to move, rename or delete folders after I'd made minor changes to their contents, like renaming files. I had to use Unlocker to get around this. (Great freeware, btw.)

That and a bunch of other annoyances magically disappeared after I got rid of StyleXP and switched to a uxtheme patcher. Hmmm...

TGTSoft should be ashamed of themselves for the crap that's on themexp.org. I'm dumping StyleBuilder as soon as an alternative msstyle editor is available.

[whitedragon]

Stardock FTW!!!

[zhangm Supervisor]

Resource Hacker has, and always has been a viable alternative to StyleBuilder. Resource Builder is yet another option.

[Leoboy]

Free desktop clock - for tray clock.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/freedclock.html

[dreamz Veteran]

i wrote a guide for a reason: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=339820

;)

[JRAltd]

Resource Hacker has, and always has been a viable alternative to StyleBuilder. Resource Builder is yet another option.

I dont find that Resource builder is another option for making MSStyles. So if anyone has another suggestion that It would be nice to know about it.

Thanks for the info though.

[dreamz Veteran]

I dont find that Resource builder is another option for making MSStyles. So if anyone has another suggestion that It would be nice to know about it.

Thanks for the info though.

stylebuilder.

resedit is a great one. it's just like reshacker, but it allows you to edit stuff directly.

i use reshacker for bitmaps, though.