I've always considered customization to be the selling point of Windows.
So it really pains me to see screenshots where Windows users have the default Windows Aeroscheme.
The typical Windows 7 user may have played with colours and hue or something in the Windows 7 Personalization options. It doesn't work and most of the time it's ugly.
And when I say it's ugly, I'm not talking about changing the theme to Aero Canada or something. I'm also not talking about Rainmeter.
It's ugly because default Windows Aero is ugly.
I'll let you compare.
Default
Custom
Default
Custom
See the difference?
The Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons are customized.
The Windows border is sharper.
The Start Menu button has been customized.
The Taskbar buttons are sharper.
The Forward and Back buttons are customized.
Mine really isn't the best that's out there, but I still feel it is, in every way, better than the default theme. The default theme is simply too bubbly. There are a lot more themes out there if you still think your default theme is better. Some can even change your desktop to look like Mac.
Here's a few examples you could have instead of the default Aero theme.
They all use something called Visual Styles 7 to change the look of your desktop. Some change very little, and some changes everything.
For $30.00, you can buy Ave's Vista Style Builder which lets you make them.
If you're poor like me however, you can visit DeviantArt, and choose from the Visual Styles 7 that very nice people have made and posted. There are also some for Vista too.
You'll also need to install UxStyle Core to patch your computer if you want to use Visual Styles. Very simple and free. Some Visual Styles builders include it in their download. If they don't, here it is.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage to your computer. Don't blame me if you can't read instructions. Some themes may have minor bugs to work out.
This is the opening to Broken Blade or Break Blade. It's a really nice mecha film instead of all that Gundam bull. The animation and every scene is really well done. Only 6 episodes though, and there's a bunch of fan service if you're into that. Some obvious flaws, but a good watch nonetheless. Highly recommended.
The opening has become one of my favourite songs. Fate sung by KOKIA. Kind of soft though, but it's nice from time to time.
Last edit: 2011-08-28 02:00:22
Muse~
Phtes United States. August 27 2011 16:22. Posts 362
Haha break blade was one of my favorite mecha animes + that opening just fit it so perfectly IMO. Visual styles is nice but the basic Ui is just fine as it is for me, nice find though.
I'm Your Phtes o.0 **SKT1 For Life!**
AyameStarcraft United Kingdom. August 27 2011 16:27. Posts 192
I guess a few of those look nice. I'm not sure how much trouble they'll end up being in the end though. I was even to lazy to change the picture on my laptop away from some default pic which was too low rez for months. Also, actual UI is only like 1/10th of the screen, even counting my desktop icons, so I just use a nice unobtrusive background. Makes everything ok in my opinion.
On August 27 2011 15:48 Blisse wrote: This is the opening to Broken Blade or Break Blade. It's a really nice mecha film instead of all that Gundam bull. The animation and every scene is really well done. Only 6 episodes though, and there's a bunch of fan service if you're into that. Some obvious flaws, but a good watch nonetheless. Highly recommended.
The opening has become one of my favourite songs. Fate sung by KOKIA. Kind of soft though, but it's nice from time to time.
Don't hate on all the Gundam universe , Wing has still a place in my heart even though the franchise has been terrible since. As for Break Blade it's absolutely awesome, the anime end with a cliffhanger so you will probably have to switch to the manga as only the first 6 volumes were animated.
Zelniq United States. August 27 2011 22:33. Posts 6936
Not everyone is running on legacy computers. If you can run Aero fine, you can run this. Not a resource hog by any means like Rainmeter may be.
If you prefer the look of Windows Classic, well no one is going to convince you otherwise, ever. If you can not use it, then I highly suggest using something other than the default Aero theme though.
I also forgot the disclaimer, "this is my opinion" and "everyone is entitled to their opinions."
Going to add a few more since my examples look the same. More variety.
If you look through the link, I highly doubt you won't find at least one theme you like.
On August 27 2011 23:30 Schnake wrote: Tried to install Soft 7 but I couldn't get it to work. Do I need to overwrite the explorerframe.dll for each theme seperately?
Depending on which theme you want.
If you want to use the Soft 7 theme, then you have to overwrite ExplorerFrame.dll and Explorer.exe to change everything. Then you put the actual theme in your C:/Windows/Resources/Themes folder.
It'll be something like Soft 7.theme and a folder called Soft 7. Then you go into Personalization and activate the Soft 7 theme, and log out and back in to restart the explorer process.
The first time is really the biggest pain, but once you've done it once it's very simple.
On August 28 2011 09:19 nBk wrote: link to that wallpaper and theme in the first custom pic? Can't seem to find it, loving the looks of that.
I used to use only a single theme but since it's very preferential, I combined several themes. That's probably why it was difficult to find.
I'm using the Black Token pack for the icons, installed through 7Conifier. My background is the picture from the background of Zune QuickPlay. My Start button and Explorerframe is from the 2beFine Classic pack on DeviantArt. My Explorer theme is from Shine 2.0.
To install, I downloaded 7Conifier, 2beFine Classic and Shine 2.0, installed everything in 2beFine Classic except the visual style, installed the visual style of Shine 2.0, then activated it in Personalization, and restarted my computer.
I install mine manually, but using the program in my last post should make it loads easier.
There are limitless numbers of combinations you can create if you mix and match your favourite parts of each theme. Or if you create your own as well. It looks difficult, but really it isn't.
From my experiences, the ExplorerFrame.dll changes the frames of the windows, while Explorer.exe changes the Taskbar and how your Explorer process looks.
Break Blade was an absolute FANTASTIC movie series. Id give it a solid 9 overall. Its been a long time since there has been a great mech anime, and this is one of them.
Having tons of problems trying to get this to work. Ran windows theme installer- windows theme installer has stopped working blah blah. Same thing for 7conifer, 7conifer has stopped working- whenever I launch it. Running win7 enterprise if that helps
EDIT: rebooted the laptop, ran the theme installer and conifer fine but I dont know how to install the others. ex: 2befine zune, shine2.0 etc. They are all .rar files and when I go to browse it in the theme installer they dont show up. Help is much appreciated.
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, Wing has still a place in my heart even though the franchise has been terrible since. As for Break Blade it's absolutely awesome, the anime end with a cliffhanger so you will probably have to switch to the 
Zelniq United States. August 27 2011 22:33. Posts 6936
