9/30/08 6:16 AMStep By Step: How to Use Custom Windows Visual StylesPage 1 of 13http://lifehacker.com/5056544/how-to-use-custom-windows-visual-styles

STEP BY STEP

How to UseCustom Windows Visual Styles

MP3 PLAYERS

Breathe New Life into Your Aging MP3Player withRockbox

FEATURED FIREFOXEXTENSION

FirefoxUniversalUploader IsLike an FTP

SCREENSHOT TOUR

Share Files andRemote ControlDesktops withGbridge

STEP BY STEP

Customizing the appearance of your Windowsinstallation can be frustrating, because both WindowsXP and Vista are limited to the Microsoft's defaultthemes out of the box. However, with a bit of tweaking under the hood, your Windows setup can tryon a wider range of looks than come pre-installed.Let's take a look at how to patch your Windowsinstallation to allow customized styles, and a fewplaces to find new and interesting styles online.

Vocabulary and Methods

When talking about the physical appearance of Windows there are two terms that are distinct butoften used incorrectly in place of each other. Visual

4:00 AM

on Tue Sep 30 2008By

Jason Fitzpatrick

5,211 views

9/30/08 6:16 AMStep By Step: How to Use Custom Windows Visual StylesPage 2 of 13http://lifehacker.com/5056544/how-to-use-custom-windows-visual-styles

styles, which have the

.msstyles

file extension, arethe files which supp;y all the information about howthe interfaces within Windows should look. Thetoolbar skin, start button skin, borders, buttons, etc.are all stored in the visual style. Themes contain avisual style along with additional settings such asicons, wallpaper, etc. Later, when browsing forgoodies, keep in mind that a theme pack will havefurther customization than a visual style pack.Throughout the tutorial you'll need to be able toaccess the menu within Windows where you canchane your themes and visual styles. The followingscreenshots are from Windows XP but the essentialmenus are nearly identical in function in Vista, too.For reference, here is how to access both:

XP:

Right-click Desktop -> Properties -> ThemesTab (or Appearance Tab for Styles)

Vista:

Right-click Desktop - > Personalize ->Themes

First, Back Up Your Current Theme ForSafe Keeping

9/30/08 6:16 AMStep By Step: How to Use Custom Windows Visual StylesPage 3 of 13http://lifehacker.com/5056544/how-to-use-custom-windows-visual-styles

Although you'll most likely find a new style that youreally enjoy, on the off chance that you don't, make abackup of your current theme for you to restore laterif necessary. Backing up only takes a moment and willallow you put things back exactly as they were beforeyou started customizing, right down to the wallpaper.From within the Themes tab click Save As and nameyour theme whatever you'd like. Save it in a safeplace.

Second, Patch Your Windows Install

Patching your system for themes allows you to usenon-Microsoft approved visual styles. At the very rootyou're simply replacing the

Uxtheme.dll

with amodified version that doesn't verify if the style hasbeen signed by Microsoft. It used to be that patchingyour Windows installation was a hassle, a small one,but a hassle nonetheless. Now both Windows XP andVista have patching programs available that make itno more hassle than clicking a button and rebooting.There are various programs that can do what the freepatches do with some additional functionality thrownin, but they are hardly worth the $20 and up fees theycommand.For Windows XP, download theUxtheme Multi-Patcher. Run the file, click through the prompts andreboot.