Customizing Your PC

My C640 has a Windows XP skin that allows it to look very distinctive as you can see here:

This can be done in two different ways. The more powerful one which involves $$ will also use more of your computers resources through extra processes. The other involves a simple patch that will alow you to use a smaller variety of skins.

Windows Blinds
The current version of WB is a program by Stardock that will use custom skins called WB files. Both the program and the skins can be downloaded from http://www.wincustomize.com. The variety of skins is virtually endless. If you don't find a skin to like with WB then you won't find a skin you'll like anywhere. The installation process if self explanatory and changing skins involves a very simple right click. However I must warn that the program itself and the skins take up a large chunk of Processing power, RAM, and HD space relative to the other skinning method.

UXtheme.dll Patch
Many do not know this but Windows XP has a built in skinning ability allowing it to use "msstyle" theme files. However, for some unkown reason 'cough'money'cough', Microsoft configured the UXTheme.dll file used for skinning windows in order to not allow the use of 3rd party msstyles. As a result a 3rd party patch came out which allows the user to simply click on msstyles to skin their computer. The msstyles themselves load with no residual memory usage, processing power, and very little HD space. The UxTheme.dll patch can be found here and the msstyles can be found here and here. While this method is simple and has very few residual effects it is not nearly as powerful as WB in skinning. WB can also add transparency to make the Vista Skins look real--msstyles cannot.

In the end it's your choice on how serious you are about skinning and whether to buy WB or stick with the free UXTheme.dll patch. Just make sure your desktop doesn't look like this:


~Updates SOON