Current state of Win 7 visual styles?

By sebazwin
in Tips, Tweaks & Customization

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sebazwin

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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

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https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/995812-current-state-of-win-7-visual-styles/
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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.

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Grand Master

Jamushroom Veteran

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  • 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.

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Paul Ferson Veteran

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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.

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sebazwin

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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
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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.

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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
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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.

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