Making Windows look nice

[Dizzy]

Okay here's my problem.  Windows XP looks boring and blah and I don't want to upgrade to Windows Vista.  But I'm using a laptop...for some reason whenever I install Windows Blinds or Crystal XP Brico Packs (WHICH I LOVE http://www.crystalxp.net/bricopack/en.htm) it takes LITERALLY like 10 minutes to start up Windows.  Any type of those visual improvement programs that work well on laptops...any reason why it doesn't work on my laptop?

I'm running a 1.6GHz AMD 64 Athlon with 1GB RAM and a ATI Mobility Radeon X600.

[StreakInTheSky]

I use styler.

[Shinora]

i use windows visual style myself.  i tried window blinds a long time ago, it was too bulky for my taste.

[Dizzy]

Do either of you use a laptop though?  I'm looking for something that won't horribly slow down my laptop (=___=);

[Shinora]

yea im on a laptop, 2.0ghz core duo, x1600ati, 2gig ram

[StreakInTheSky]

styler is as small as you get when it comes to this thing from my experience. Best of all it's absolutely free. try it out

http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.id.551.htm

The main site doesn't seem to be working. I think it was also in japanese lol

[Dizzy]

I'll try what Shinora recommended when I get home tonight and if that isn't to my taste, than StreakInTheSky.  Thanx very much guys.

[aKaoNi]

If you're still having trouble using using/installing any programs, a quick way to perk up xp without installing anything is using the Royale Theme they have made for windows xp media edition pc's. It's a cross between regular xp and what the longhorn beta looked like, I use it, definitely better than the stock xp theme, Microsoft New Zealand released it last year but for some reason you can't get it off their website anymore so I have it for you here with some screenshots also:

Windows XP Royal Theme (Right Click and Save)

Note: The Ai Otsuka wallpaper is not part of the theme. 

[marktobias]

I had XP for a week (until my hard drive died because of a corrupt drive I was running via IDE and so I had to re-install 2000)

As soon as I got XP I made it look as much like Classic Windows as possible. I can't stand the cartoonishness of the default look.

I might be reinstalling XP next week though so I'll come back to this thread.

[BX_LeMans]

The better Windows looks, the slower is it. Every program slows the system down.

My system is uptodate, but I have no visuals on except of a Wallpaperchanger, Windwos standarttheme in silver(on my old 1600+ I had all styles deactivated).

In background runs soundcontrol and systemcontrol. Firewall and Antivir runs on the houseserver.

I don't need nice styles, the system has to be clean and fast. H!P-walls are the only style, I need

[thatguy]

patched uxtheme.dll, xpize. "xeno" visual style. custom samurize config. since everything is loaded natively (no external programs like stylexp, etc), there is very little overhead for the visuals.

[BX_LeMans]

This looks cool. How do you get the systemdata and time up there?

[thatguy]

^ samurize: http://www.samurize.com/
it's rather similar to konfabulator/dashboard, but rather than having individual widgets, you have a single customizable area where you can put data objects (set them to be text or graphics, and measuring any sort of system data). there are plenty of pre-made configs that you can try out, but samurize comes with a straightforward design app that lets you create your own, almost wysiwyg. the drawback is that the more info you want to display, the more work you need to put into it. but then you can design your own "dashboard" that has a unified style, to your own liking (as i've done with my custom config).

[Dizzy]

Note: The Ai Otsuka wallpaper is not part of the theme. 

What a rip off!

[Dizzy]

I'm currently loving Samurize although I've got to get used to it more.

[Rick-e]

I'm currently using Samurize too. I like how I can customize it to my liking. And windowblinds is really nice too, but I stopped using it because it makes my pc slow to start >_<

[bloo_pie]

i used StyleXP before i decided to revert to the old Windows look. i had no problems with it, and the Use No Resources option was really nice.