Windows XP Themes, Visual Styles, & Logons...

Hey everyone... Last couple nights i've been playing around with different Themes and Visual Styles for the Windows XP Desktop. Found a few i'd liked and learned some tips for installing without any 'windowblinds'-esk programs. Thought i'd share this info, and hopfully receive some comments on people's favorites.

I started my search, and found a neat little site-- http://www.DeviantArt.com , This site has a lot to choose from! I found a 'firefox' visual style, and it looked pretty neat, tried to install it and found that it wouldn't work just by double-clicking the *.msstyles file included. Did a little searching on Google and found the problem. There's a pesky little *.dll file that won't allow 3rd party visual styles from being installed! Now i've found there's two ways around this.. u can install a program to 'manage' your different themes and install them, or u can use a freeware program to edit the windows *.dll file to allow your visual style.

Personally, i don't like the idea of a program having to be installed when unnecessary, so i obtained the program called "UXTheme Multi-Patcher 5.0" from http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/UXTheme-MultiPatcher.shtml this program is pretty self-explanitory, solved my dilema fast. =D

After trying a few, i found that the Firefox one, although it was pretty neat at first, wasn't my fav design. So i looked around a bit. My personal favorite is Obsidan 1.1 located here --> http://www.deviantart.com/view/31560799/
yeah, theres some issues with it, but overall, i'm satisfied with the layout and the colors.

The Wallpaper i chose is an abstract, located here --> http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/15029756/ installing that is pretty self-explanitory, sure does look neato =D hehe.

As for the logon screen, i found one that featured Megaman! http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/1725654/ Looks pretty neat, so i wanted to install it.. well, same type of methods as installing the visual style.. a program that does it for ya, or (this time) a manual way to edit the registry to use your new Logon screen instead of the default. Of course, i chose the long version, so i didn't have to install anything crazy.. hehe. There's a neat little FAQ on how to do it here --> http://articles.networktechs.com/58-p2.php and that works perfectly with the logon i've chose, =D.

One more thing i found that's pretty neat. It's a foreign Theme for windows XP, that includes a wallpaper, screensaver, custom windows sounds, cursors, and icons for your recycle bin / my documents / my computer etc. I found it to be really cool! kinda brings a cartoony, not-so-serious look to your desktop! i like it! It's called "San Fermin". here's the link http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/e/e4e2c016-9bf0-4422-a7ec-93784493eeeb/sanfermin_en.msi if anyone has any more info on what this is all about, add to the blog, i'd like to know, but either way, the theme is cool. =D.

Well, that's probably it for today, hope this info has been helpful! Don't forget to post your comments!! I'd like to know what themes and visual styles you are using, and where you got them.

-Mark