PHARA0H Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Here I state my little tiny opinion on the world wide web about Vista quite briefly and note a few minor but perhaps major details I find somewhat disturbing regarding some visual elements. Know this, I'm very aesthetic. I look at every fine tuned detail of things in life and when it especially comes to computers and technology, I like to have the finest. In appearance, function and reliability. So here's by blurb: I finally did it. I upgraded my OS to Vista Home Premium just this weekend. For years I have used Windows XP Media Center Edition and pretty much thought myself the hardcore savvy-est guy out there having fully customized the entire look and feel of it, next to always keeping things in order, clean and running smooth. Not without many, many re-installs mind you. That said I have learned thousands of things and have become quite the expert when it comes to changing the appearance, look and feel of an application as I see fit. And now, there's Vista. I love it. I really have to say I love it. From the smooth animations to almost every single piece of detail inside and out I love it. In terms of detail however, I have to say, visually speaking, I am distraught with a few minor items regarding basic Icons and their existence withstanding. Due to all my past experience modifying so many things in the past I've learned to do what I can on my own when I want to alter certain objects, say an Icon or even a theme, solely using a cute little program called Resource Hacker. With Vista, I have no desire to change anything in terms of the theme, nor do I plan to. But there are a couple issues with some Icons I changed. The occache.dll, webcheck.dll, ieframe.dll files I altered simply for my own desire. Replacing them was a chore figuring out how to do, but nonetheless, once I found out how, it was very easy and, I still have the instructions saved so if anyone is actually interested in doing the same, I'm happy to share and assist. However, what I have found interesting and could never change in XP either, are two specifics that I was more than astonished to find are still there in Vista! How bizarre is that!!?! So here we have it, XP will still haunt us for who knows how long to come. So, that's that. Do you think we'll ever get updates to these? Or will it take an even better pro than myself to figure it out? No one knows. But I do know, I still do like Vista overall. I just wish I could change the latter two items, but I just can't. I wonder if I can spark anyone else's desire for the challenge? Below I have provided examples of all that I have mentioned. Feel free to comment or reply even. There are still other things I have found, but these are just a few examples: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here I have replaced the occache.dll and webcheck.dll files to update the two folders here. I know we never look at them really and it's funny that I'm the way I am but I just have to KNOW they're changed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here I have replaced the ieframe.dll file to update the download animation. I like this one a lot better than the standard one. Oh this is if you use Internet Explorer. Please note also, if you update Internet Explorer at any time, these three files (occache.dll, webcheck.dll, ieframe.dll) will have to be replaced once more. As well as in IE 8 (which I've tested and don't like right yet). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is the ugly icon that, even in XP, never looked good STILL being used for the Remote Assistance Panel in Vista. Golly - you think they'd have changed that one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And my favorite most of all that I could never figure out, even in XP, that we owe credit to the comctl32.dll file(s) in all Windows OS's, the ugly little XP toolbar buttons that appear when you use the Open File option from any 3rd party application. (In this screen shot I'm using IrfanView). Once, I tried changing them by replacing the bmp's in the file back when I was using XP and after I rebooted it wouldn't log on. It remained in a perpetual state of Starting Windows. So I had to endure these forever practically. In all the excitement of upgrading to Vista, I thought: "I wonder if those will change?" Alas... they didn't. I was quite sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadgeek9 Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Never use the upgrade option in Windows setup, it's ineffective - that could honestly be the problem you are facing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blade1269 Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 hey, kinda offtopic is there a reghack or program that will make the orb in the start menu go back to the xp START button just the button. Not the menu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHARA0H Posted October 5, 2008 Author Share Posted October 5, 2008 Never use the upgrade option in Windows setup, it's ineffective - that could honestly be the problem you are facing. Perhaps. I would like to know if the latter two elements change regardless or not. Doing a full install versus upgrade. I thought about that. But I'm too far along with my install and tweaks to do it all over again to try. No biggy. I never otherwise SEE those things, but just knowing they are there... is disturbing nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHARA0H Posted October 5, 2008 Author Share Posted October 5, 2008 hey, kinda offtopic is there a reghack or program that will make the orb in the start menu go back to the xp START button just the button. Not the menu All that I know, there is ViOrb. http://lee-soft.com/viorb/ However, I searched and searched for you and no one has created a start button that reverts back to the XP style for this program. That I could find. If you know how to create png files you could possibly make your own and then just replace the flag.png file in the program folder for viorb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis W. Veteran Posted October 5, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 5, 2008 Never use the upgrade option in Windows setup, it's ineffective - that could honestly be the problem you are facing. Nnnnooope. On clean installs we still get these pre-Vista artifacts. @OP: You're not alone. Most of your points have been touched on by many others in the Aero Taskforce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Live Veteran Posted October 5, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 5, 2008 The classic open file dialog looks very "classic" because it's the classic one. Apps that use the Vista file dialogs look quite different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHARA0H Posted October 5, 2008 Author Share Posted October 5, 2008 The classic open file dialog looks very "classic" because it's the classic one. Apps that use the Vista file dialogs look quite different. I know. But regardless... in any 3rd party application, as I stated, you still see the old XP toolbar buttons. Again, this is due to an un-updated comctl32.dll file. I'm sure once MS finally retires XP (I can't wait) then they'll venture forward towards Windows 7 which will change everything. Nnnnooope. On clean installs we still get these pre-Vista artifacts.@OP: You're not alone. Most of your points have been touched on by many others in the Aero Taskforce. Haha that is so funny they exist! I didn't know of them. I wonder how many things they consider ultimately important. I read through a lot of it and I can't believe how even MORE picky some people are about the tiniest of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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