The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    XP vs. classis themes?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by ConfusedCollegeGuy, Dec 21, 2005.

  1. ConfusedCollegeGuy

    ConfusedCollegeGuy Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    40
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I changed my computer's theme from the standard XP one to the Windows Classic theme, and everything is working so much better! What's the deal with that? Does the 'fancier' XP look really use up so much more system resources? Weird!
     
    ConfusedCollegeGuy, Dec 21, 2005
    #1
  2. USAFdude02

    USAFdude02 NBR Reviewer & Deity NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    762
    Messages:
    2,025
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Yes, it eats up more resources. It basically overlays the standard bars etc with the colorful stuff.
     
    USAFdude02, Dec 21, 2005
    #2
  3. ConfusedCollegeGuy

    ConfusedCollegeGuy Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    40
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Oh, thanks! I mean, it's definitely nicer looking, but not worth everything freezing up (and I only have 256 mb ram!).
     
    ConfusedCollegeGuy, Dec 21, 2005
    #3
  4. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    22,339
    Messages:
    36,639
    Likes Received:
    5,078
    Trophy Points:
    931
    You loose quite a bit of performance on the fancy XP themes as posted. I also use the Classic interface, because it is much more responsive.

    If you want even more performance out of your comptuer, then you can try the Tune Up guide in the Articles forum. ;) Worked for me.

    EDIT: With 256MB of RAM, you should turn off as much as possible - background services, etc. Definitely upgrade that to at least 512 if you can. ;)
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Dec 21, 2005
    #4
  5. USAFdude02

    USAFdude02 NBR Reviewer & Deity NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    762
    Messages:
    2,025
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    You can also google search reg-cleaners that will help your system. Search for winxp system processes and it will tell you what you can take off the process list. (recommended only if you know what you are doing though). Those might help too.
     
    USAFdude02, Dec 21, 2005
    #5
  6. ConfusedCollegeGuy

    ConfusedCollegeGuy Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    40
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I did most of the things in the article "How to optimize a laptop" or some similar title. I got Tune XP, too, but I don't really know that it's made much difference. Disabling some of the start-up programs definitely helped.
     
    ConfusedCollegeGuy, Dec 21, 2005
    #6
  7. dr_st

    dr_st Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    571
    Messages:
    1,437
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I don't think it's nicer looking.
     
    dr_st, Dec 22, 2005
    #7
  8. Shampoo

    Shampoo Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    208
    Messages:
    1,889
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Bah, I am not a fan of those registry cleaners, as I keep track of what I install and uninstall and clean up my registry manually.

    If you only have 256mb of ram yes I suggest using the classic view.

    Nothing wrong with it. I used win98se until 2002. :D

    I didn't want the "NEW LOOK".

    Now that I have more powerful systems I like it :D

    Cheers,
    Mike
     
    Shampoo, Dec 22, 2005
    #8