Make your xp look like Vista

well i've been one of those people who find vista to be a little unstable and slow that's why i came back to xp... but i really like the look of vista and xp default look is boring... so i just customize my xp to look like vista... I'm planning to right a tutorial but i'm really lazy right now.... but here's a complete GUIDE that will show you ways to make xp look like vista.

http://www.joejoe.org/Windows_XP_Customization/

vista rtm boot screen for win xp.

http://www.joejoe.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=5792

Emulate the new Flip 3D offered with WIndows Vista using this software:

http://www.otakusoftware.com/topdesk/

if you encounter any problem just post and i'll be happy to reply.

enjoy!!!

 

i bet this might make your windows xp slower than vista

 

Absolutely not!!!

 

True. Vista is slow. XP is fast.

By putting more resource intensive items into XP from Vista, you will get XP slower. Also, Vista and XP's architecture are different.

 

anyway of getting aero onto xp??

 

The only way is using the license version of windowblinds.

 

False.

Even if you put this customization to make xp look like vista it would still be faster than vista coz vista requires double the requirement of xp to make it run smoothly. Furthermore, if you just used the msstyles then it would require no additional ram. but if you use windowblinds it might require more ram making your xp slower than before but still it would be faster than vista.

 

im liking that top desk program works well with my windowblinds skin

 

Vista Transformation Pack 6 works well. Only problem is the minimize button doesn't work well on 1920x1200.

 

I did try the program, which is free but found it cumbersome. It does look like Vista with the interface and all but I also noticed that my laptop is slower like Vista. I think the GUI is hogging the resources...like Vista. Back to XP for now.

 

i don't actually recommend using VTP 6... it makes so many critical changes on the system... better used third party software like windowblinds or just used msstyles...

 

I used VTP 5.5, there were almost no problems with uninstallation,

But I feel that windowblinds slows down your system too much, and there are some glitches that arise from it. Honestly, I got bored of my system looking like Vista because it wasn't actually Vista... and there was no aero or anything so... it wasn't that neat.

 

no windowblinds- no look a like aero.

windowblinds doesn't bog down my system... but to some it does i don't know why...

 

What theme do you guys use with Win Blinds? I use White Flame.

 

Go

 

I dual boot Xp with Ubuntu too

 

same here.. For me this is the best theme that look like vista..

 

I do as well

 

Hi Guys,

I'd like to make my XP look a little more like Vista, bit I don't want to use vista customization pack or such things, because I don't want to make deep changes in my system. Also I don't want to have a vista clone, only a bit of the look.

Isn't there any (black) colour scheme for XP which looks a little like vista?

 

Tobi1982, I use StyleXP to load a Vista skin, such as this one. I have boot and logon skinning turned off, allowing me to havea skin without stylexp running in the background. Zero extra resource use

Or just use the Vista transformation pack

Or a hacked uxtheme.dll file, but I have no experience on that

 

@LFC

But don't Style XP and Vista transformation pack make rather deep changes to my system?

 

well you can hack uxtheme.dll and put vista style theme.

1. hack your uxtheme.dll using this patcher:
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Uxtheme-Multipatcher-Download-2369.html

2. use vistavg theme by vishal gupta. this is closest vista visual style that you can used, IMO.
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/41545056/

 

well you can also used style xp. it doesn't make any deep change on your system. but VTP does. style xp though is not free.

 

Thank you for your helpful answers! What about this method, will this make any deep changes to the system?

 

It just allows you to use non-Microsoft approved themes (there are like 3), so that is the only change to your system. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, then just make a system restore point before you do it.

 

OK, thank you very much, guys! I think, I'll try this one!

 

well said

 

your welcome. hope you'll enjoy the theme.

 

Hi again!

Today I tried the theme and it is great! I looked for a cool Vista-style wallpaper and that's exactly what I was looking for: Vista-look, but without messing up my system as with some other packs. I don't need Aero-emulation or such stuff.

I attached a screenshot so you can take a look.

Greets
Tobi

 

nice!!!!

however, it will more vistaish if you will remove the log off and shut down text. also you can use vista icons.

 

I just tried out top desk. Awesome program! I always tend to have so many windows opened and this makes it easier for me to switch between multiple windows. ALT + TAB works great, but takes a while =). I was always jealous of my friend who had a mac and already had this feature.

One more thing is it possible to make it so that I can click a window and it would bring up my desktop like in vista? I am currently using a short cut which I binded to my CTRL + SHIFT + A key to "show desktop".

 

Well I am not sure about the shortcut but pressing "windows key"+ D(not sure if its the same keys in Vista) will show your desktop.

I either use that or click on a docklet in Object Dock to show my desktop.

 

WindowsBlinds, True transparency, Transbar.. These give Aero look on XP with minimum Resource Hogging..

Oh man ! i was about to do an article on Making XP look like Vista...anyway..someone stole the show..
If u want Aero Flip3d on XP let me know

 

Oh wow. I never knew that windows key + d shows the desktop. Thank you. I also just realized that I can set one of the mouse ares to show desktop too. I set area to the Left and Middle to make it show part of the desktop. Thanks for that tip about the windows + d command.

 

Let's get this straight

1. Aero uses about 40MB of RAM, as does the side bar.
2. If you disable Aero, everything works as quick as in XP, with Aero on it's only a tiny bit slower but the difference you see is the 3D closing of the window.
3. XP SP2 architecture has been made for 512-1GB of RAM, Vista has been made for 2-4GB. Having 800MB used in Vista does not have the same impact as XP.... If windows alone uses 850 or 1200MB, I don't see a difference in the speed of Vista. Under XP, 600MB used versus 200MB is well, big.

 

i used the transformation pack 8.01 and it was flaky. im back to normal xp media center mode and can't be happier.

its great

 

From my personal experience, I found those "Transformation Pack", and "Theme Packs" usually slows system down overtime, and can cause instability issues.

 

Not if you know what you are doing....

 

You guys need to remember that the way RAM is handled in the two OSs differ greatly. Sure Vista "uses" more RAM then XP, but it's because of this difference in architecture.

 

I tried the vista transformation pack and it ballsed up my USB HSDPA modem - I kept getting a error 720. And I had to re-install XP to solve it.

It was pretty but I couldn't customize the start menu.

 

Hmmm, I would like to know the difference between our ways of installing the transformation pack. -_-;;

 

does this only work in laptops?? Ive tried it but when i copied the VAIO FOLDER on drive C nothing happened...COULD i just disregard it? and if it would work could you give me a site where i could get the rc2 key..tnx

 

This is ridiculous, about as much as skinning OS 9 to look like Leopard.

First, if you have low end hardware and really have a legitimate concern about speed, running vanilla XP is fine. If you can afford to pile on program after program to visually buff up your near-decade-old OS to look like something more modern, you're probably better off running the more modern version. There are features that are poorly or simply not emulated well with XP, and augmenting the base featureset with additional programs is like building a house of cards. Sure, it looks pretty, but the more layers you add, the more likely that it will start to fall apart. Lets see, to even approach Vista's visually apparent features, you'll need:
- Y'z Shadow/WinFX (Shadows)
- Windowsblinds (Aero blur)/TrueTransparency (No blur)
- AveDesk (Large icons on desktop only)
- Flip3D emulator
- Vista icons (drivespace bar under drive icons)
- Taskbar preview emulator
- Sandboxie (IE 7 Sandbox Mode)
- Resource hacking package (Shell icons)
- Launchie (or some other instant file indexer/launcher with advanced search syntax)
- Sidebar program (ported or emulated)
- Start menu replacement/Start button replacement.
- QTTabbar

That's at least nine or ten programs worth of overhead just to make your OS superficially look and act like Vista. You don't get enhanced security, better networking, the ability to mute certain programs while keeping your media player volume at 100%, built-in user privilege elevation so you can run a low-priv account, built-in encryption, backup, and imaging capability, better task scheduler and task manager, etc, etc.

Also, to dispel this misconception: msstyles DO slow down the computer. Factors that will seriously drag down the system include the extensive use of 24 and 32-bit BMPs rather than compressed 4 or 8-bit BMPs, the inclusion of large BMP files, the use of blended shadows under text, and stretching bitmaps rather than tiling them. This mattered quite a bit on my six year old laptop, and I don't expect it to matter on any decent system built within the last three years (netbooks aside, of course). Two of the absolute best msstyles, as far as resource consumption that I've seen have been HmmXP and (gasp) Luna.

I'm not saying upgrade to Vista, I'm saying that if you are going to complain about sluggish performance and instability, just run vanilla XP SP3 in classic mode, with a 3DCC scheme or something. It is a fine OS that doesn't need gratuitous adornment to try and make it into something that it isn't.

 

My favorite msstyles vista skin is the Razor vista. Get it here: http://zrageburn.deviantart.com/art/Razor-Vista-Updated-55992281

IMO the best method to get XP looking like vista is to download IE7, MP11 and apply this skin. I don't like transformation packs or applications that change boot screen etc.. Using Razor vista seems the best and most stable and I have had no issues with it on several machines that I have cleaned with fresh installs of XP sp3. When I redo machines for friends this is what they end up with whether they like it or not. Believe me, don't try to emulate vista too much with XP.. Just stay with the msstyles themes and forget the transformation packs.. If you really want aero its best to just get a box capable of running vista.