It's fairly simple actually. It just takes the right software and a bit of time. Some of the software that members here often use are listed in this guide.


XPize - XPize Link
XPize is a program that will replace the original images and icons in XP with nicer looking ones. There are a couple of extra features bundled with it as well (TaskSwitchXP, new screensaver) that make it even more appealing. Best of all, it's made by XPero here at MSFN!


AveDesk & SysStats - AveDesk Link - SysStats Link
This is one of my personal favorites. It's a program that creates "desklets" on your desktop. These desklets can have any functionality, ranging from a simple shortcut, to displaying the weather forecast, to RSS feeds.


Samurize - Samurize Link
Samurize is another desktop enhancement program that makes it very easy to display your system information on the desktop (see right image above). There are many many premade configurations available at the Samurize website and elsewhere on the internet, so you can simply download the configuration file and run it.


Konfabulator - Konfabulator Link
I haven't played much with Konfabulator, but it offers a similar feature set to AveDesk. The advantage to Konfabulator is that there are hundreds upon hundreds of pre-made widgets available to download. The popularity of Konfabulator has increased recently since it used to be a paid-for software and is now freeware.


Docks
I'm going to make this section general, since there are several options to choose from.
ObjectDock
RK Launcher
Yz Dock
RocketDock
Docks are meant to emulate the OSX dock. They provide a neat place to store your shortcuts, as well as possibly displaying system information (with SysStats for example). Each has their benefits, and as for which is the best - that's up to you.


Longhorn Sidebar - Sidebar Link
Some people have managed to make the Sidebar from Windows Vista run on Windows XP. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a direct link (for legal reasons), but Google should be able to point you in the right direction.


WindowBlinds - WindowBlinds Link
WindowBlinds is a skinning engine for Windows. It runs on Windows 98, Me, 2000, and XP, allowing you to have the same look on your Windows 2000 computer as your Windows XP computer. There are some features that WindowBlinds provides over the standard Windows skinning engine (animated caption buttons, extra sounds, etc), but it does use a bit more resources than the default skinning engine. It's lots of fun, but I'd only recommend this if you have a more powerful computer (i.e. less than 3 years old). If you want to find lots of good skins for WindowBlinds, check out WinCustomize


UXTheme.dll Hack - UXTheme Patcher Link
This patcher will patch the uxtheme.dll file (the file responsible for your Windows theming engine) to allow you to use non-Microsoft signed themes. The best part of this is that it doesn't use any extra resources unlike StyleXP, and it's completely free! The patcher works on Windows XP, Windows 2003, and has partial support for Windows XP x64.


CursorXP - CursorXP Link
CursorXP is a program that will skin your mouse cursor and provide a little bit of a flashy appearance. A screenshot doesn't really do it justice, since most of the cool parts are in the animations.


IconPackager - IconPackager Link
IconPackager is a program that allows you to easily change the default icons on your system. You can find pre-made icon packages at WinCustomize, or build your own from icons that you find on your system or on the internet.

LClock - LClock Link
LClock is a very simple program that makes the Windows' clock look like a Windows Longhorn Clock. LClock also comes with a simple but configurable popup calendar that opens when the systray clock is clicked.

Y'z Shadow - Y'z Shadow Link
Add a shadow to all your windows and menus!!! You can also make your menus transparent. Simple, lightweight, and easy to configure.

Y'z Toolbar - Y'z Toolbar
Customise your toolbar exactly to your liking! Hundreds of themes are available to download, and make your Windows look that much nicer! For more toolbar skins, check out DeviantArt.


DeviantArt - DeviantArt Link
This site is pure gold. If you want to find wallpapers, icons, themes - just about anything - this is the place to look. 'Nuff said.



That's about it for the "mild" customizations. By mild I mean that the above programs won't change the functionality of your system. You can go one step further and use alternate shells to take your desktop to a completely different level. Some of the favorites include:
- LiteStep
- Aston Shell
- Talisman
- GeoShell
- BB4Win - (BlackBox for Windows)

Don't use these unless you know what you're doing. My personal favorite is BB4Win, but that's just because I use BlackBox in Linux.


If anyone has any suggestions or additions, let me know and I'll add them to the guide.



Final notes
- @DarkWader, I used your desktop as an example. I hope you don't mind. If you do, let me know and I'll remove the image.
- If there are any concerns about the legality of some of the material here, I am more than willing to discuss the matter, or remove links/content as necessary.
- @Mods/Admins - Sorry about the source of the UXTheme patcher. It's the best one I've found on the net, so I figured that I'd share it.
- Don't complain to me if this becomes an obsessive hobby like it has for some of us (*poke* 'Dagonet *poke*)


EDITS
1) 2005-11-20 - *slaps self for initially forgetting XPize*
2) 2005-11-24 - Added LClock, Y'z Shadow, and Y'z Toolbar

Guilty...

Begginers will thank this post.

Nicely done Zxian!

wonderful post, this kind of work is strongly appreciated

[Pinned.]

Shweet....

Thanks SiMoNsAyS.

Thats pretty neat... Thanks man

Could there be program suggestions for making the taskbar transparent like the example shown?

Making the taskbar transparent can be done by either using WindowBlinds5 Beta (or final when it comes out), or by adding the section of your background that would normally sit behind the taskbar as a "mask" to the source files of the theme. The latter takes a bit of know-how, and should probably be described elsewhere by someone who's actually done it (DarkWader perhaps..?).

There are some other third party apps that will make the titlebar transparent as well. WindowFX from StarDock is an example of this. Google should help you find some of them.

You forgot LClock and yZShadow. It's a good guide, great job

Added LClock, Y'z Shadow, and Y'z Toolbar. Thanks Martijn.

You're welcome, I'll see if I can find more programs
Edit: you could add FireFox and Opera as skinnable/themeable browsers
Edit2: you forgot to mention StyleXP
Edit3: I was looking in the GUI section of my sites files and I found BootSkin
Edit4: PodXP
I also found another big list of resources: here and here
Edit 5:
Found this in the Windows Tweaks forums in the thread "Tweak Sites":

Thanks again.

I'll have a look at some of the programs and update the guide over the weekend (hopefully).

I don't think I'll add StyleXP though, since it's essentially a pretty front-end for the uxtheme.dll patch and what Windows is already capable of. Not to mention that I've just had bad experiences with that program.

Oh... and several of those links are dead. Google will help though.

Well, I got them from a list, so I didn't really check them all...
I guess you're right about the StyleXP btw

You forgot to mention that you can modify things like menus and dialogs by hacking
the Shell32.dll and explorer.exe files using things like resource hacker.
Shell32.dll Dialog 1003 the Run Box Dialog
What I change
1: Added a bitmap for the background
2: Added Icons over the top of the buttons.

Here is a link with a bunch of tutorials on how to change more things
WinT`s Modify Windows Shell Files
My Run Box

That's really cool, I've never seen a site like that! Thanks

Finderbar (requires .net Framwork 1.1)

Larger

Thanks for this harunaksoy, you rock

heres my fav systray clock program

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=157465

@gunsmokingman - I'll put that under the "hardcore" section of the guide.

@harunaksoy - Thanks for that. I'll test it out and add it to the list.

@MCT - It's already there...


@DivLog - Go advertise somewhere else. Several of your other threads regarding the tray clock program have been closed.

Also nuonsoft Shellenhancer! www.nuonsoft.com

hehe thanks here's the register file to show it as the default view, this ony works for XP SP2! so don't try it with another version, you might loose your tree view.

I love it!!! GREAT JOB!! must have took u some time to put it all together!

Good work zxian!

It think you might wanna add Winroll. It just rolls up your window with a right click, its pretty nifty!

http://www.palma.com.au/winroll/

Yes I am Hardcore Thanks

nice work Zxian its been awhile since i went customizing, thanks for a few of your pointers

Maybe you could also include a link to Joejoe's site, it has good customisation resources.

Ah, I didnt see this post before now.
I would have made that "howto" earlier, but since WB5 is released now, and mostly everyone has it, I wont bother doing that..
Unless someone begs me to

Its quite simple actually.
Resize the wallpaper to the screen resolution, cut the bottom of the wallpaper so that it will fit the taskbar.
Use Paintshop and create a 2 layer image, by using the taskbar bitmap and add a new layer that's around 70% opacue, paste the wallpaper cut and merge these two layers.
Use a program called ResEdit to edit the msstyle, and change the taskbar bitmap to the one you made in paintshop.

some people will also like to take a look to ÜberIcon

It's a nice program, but it got a bit annoying somehow after a while...

Warning, this link possibly bad. It redirected me to a site owned by Yahoo.

Isn't Konfabulator a Yahoo! product??

Yup... Konfabulator is now known as Yahoo Widget Engine (or something of that sort). I haven't had much time to look into it (or update the guide), since my laptop just died, and school's started again.

Wait for screenshots from a new 1680x1050 laptop screen though...

panoramic? ****!
which monitor? how much? (i'm interested on a new one )

It's gonna be the Dell Inspiron 6000 with the WSXGA+ screen and 9 cell battery. 5+ hours of beautiful goodness...

PC Mag says that the 6000 weighs in at 7lbs. How much beefier does it get when you go with the 9-cell battery?

I personally prefer thin/light laptops for portability but this one should definitely serve you well if the display is your main attraction. And that extra battery power will certainly come in handy

Lots more details at NotebookReview.

Congrats on your purchase!

I'd like to try to keep this thread as clean as possible, so only on topic discussions here please.

But to answer your question, I'm not sure how much more weight the 9-cell battery adds. For me, it's carried in my backpack and still weighs less than my average textbook, so I don't really mind all that much. For me, it's the full-sized keyboard, and the larger screen that does it for me. My dad's got one of the "ultra-portable" Sony laptops, and I have troubles typing on it.

Zxian would you mind listing exactly what you have goin on in the right (as in left/right) screenshot? Id be interested to know just what modifications you are running there (as in what themes, background image, widgets, iconpacks, etc).

thanks

In my desktop screenshot, I'm using the RoyalFour theme, AveDesk, and Smaurize. The background image is just something I found from Final Fantasy X. PM me if you want specifics.

I'm actually running Windows 2003 in that screenshot, since I get it free from my university, so you can see that most of this stuff works in Win2k3 as well as XP.

FlyakiteOSX v.3.5

PS http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=75614

any one know where i can get the image of the gun toting girl from - i like very much!!!

cheers guys

Yuna wallpaper

Enjoy.

You haven't posted Vista Sidebar from Ricktendo64
It can be found HERE

Thanx!!!

I realize this is an old post, but for others in the future I thought I'd post a simpler solution. At least if you own an Nvidia card. The NView option in the Nvidia drivers have supported changing the opacity of the Taskbar for some time now. From the classic Nvidia controls (might be possible from the new control panel, but I can't find it), go to Desktop Management and enable NView. Then scroll down to Effects and "Enable taskbar transparency" and set the desired level of opacity. Bingo. Though I have found when I play videos that the transparency turns off. And sometimes if a program is "using" the previously played video file, I have to close and reopen that file (whether it be a web browser, or some other program), before the transparency returns to normal.

You should add deskview (or wintidy2 if you swing that way) to that list. People ALWAYS ask, "How do you get those small icons?!"

Do you know which bitmap(s) those would be for the Royale Noir theme? There's sooooo many and a lot of them look like potential candidates. I am considering doing this, or even changing the look of the task bar itself by changing those files. Not sure where to begin. By the way, how do people make themes? Like make their own .msstyles. I know I'll need the uxtheme patch if I make my own.

Does anyone know how to edit the shell32.dll so that we can change the icons and appearances like changing the icons for all folders in system??