Cant afford Vista but still feel the wow!!

[iMav]

Well iv been wanting to write this for a long time but never actually got the time ... actually it took me a lot of time to find all these applications which wud make my xp look almost like vista

Screenshots check out the aero effect
*img148.imageshack.us/img148/9287/01hy5.th.png *img100.imageshack.us/img100/6295/02wq0.th.png *img149.imageshack.us/img149/7918/03ig6.th.png

Do u want to make ur XP look like Vista and believe me it has stark resemblance ... i am using this on my xp and honestly i sometimes forget which OS iv booted into ... cant give u screenshots coz im currently in vista ... however here is how u do it ...

To achieve this we will make use of many 3rd party softwares:

1. Vista Bricopacks ... il tell what it is and how to get it
2. Windows Blinds 5.5 (If u want the aero effect, else a lower version of windows blinds will do but u wont be able to use the aero effect)
3. Vista Theme
4. Stardock Logon Studio
5. Vista Drive Status Icons
6. Stardock Bootskin
7. A patch
8. Vista Sidebar
9. Flip 3d

Now who will do what ...

1. Vista Bricopacks:
Download from Here - (size= 38.39 MB)

What will this do ... this is a shell pack so basically it will change the icons, and default window images to resemble the ones by vista ... note as this is a shell style it is not a resource hogger

and u will get:

*img253.imageshack.us/img253/8219/th2130oq0.th.jpg

2. Windows Blinds:
I dont think application needs any introduction it ia the best theme manager for XP and is a beauty ....
Unfortunately this not being free u will have find ur own way of obtaining it
Please note only versions 5.5 above support aero-like interface

For more info ... Go Here

3. Vista Theme:
now this theme has not been made by me but i have edittd it so i am giving links to both ... u can use which ever u feel is better major difference between both is that vista has a search bar in the start menu and in the windows ... so the original creator of the theme included that but unfortunately u cannot search it is just an image which i did not like so i edited and removed it and some more minor tweaks to give it the exclusive vista feel

Edited Theme - Download
Original Theme

All credit to him for creating such a meticulous replica of vista

4. Stardock Logon Studio:
As the name says it will change the default logon of windows xp to look like vista
Price: Free
Size: 1.82MB
Download
Download Page
Info

Now once downloaded and installed use this logon screen as it is almost similar to the one with vista:
Download This logon
Info .... Thanx to Vishal for this it was posted in his tut

U can also try this
This logon

5. Vista Drive Status Icons:
Now 1 feature that i like about vista is that when u open my computer u get ur hard drives with a status bar below the drive which tells u how much of the drive is filled ... now this package does the almost the same ... the results are pretty close
Download

6. Bootskin:
Now to get the boot screen that vista has ... download this software:
Price: Free
BootSkin
Download This Boot screen

7. A patch:
Now in vista when u click on the start bar u get log off and shut down as text next to the buttons but vista doesnt have this text and that is what this patch does ... it removes the text it even allows u to restore it if u wish to
Download

8. Vista Sidebar:

There are 2 ways of getting this

Method 1:

Download this zip file and extract under ur program files in sidebar named folder
In the folder mentioned above, run the file named Patch (and do as it says).

Screenshot of my desktop:

*img128.imageshack.us/img128/272/04ku4.th.jpg

Method 2: (im using this) coz like the vista sidebar this also blends itself to the desktop
Obtain DesktopX: unfortunately this also not being free u will have to find your own way of obtaining it

Download this widget here (screen shot on the page)

Screenshot of my desktop:

*img61.imageshack.us/img61/9496/05fw7.th.jpg

9. Flip 3d (im not using this so cant give u screenshots of my desktop however images are there on the info link)
Well 1 of the most time pass feature of vista that i enjoy is the flip 3d ... its brother for xp ... thanx to amitava82 (a member of our forum) for posting this on thinkdigit forum
Download
Info

.... a long tut that is 1 reason y i had not written it earlier ... i have compiled all this by myself its my copyright ... wanna share it do so but just give me some credit

Also this is not resource hog like the vista transformation pack ... that being a resource hog i took all this trouble to make my xp look like vista

please note that if u put ur pc under a lot of pressure then u will have to be patient

 

[prateek_san]

cool man.......this awesome stuff...... didnt knew about Vista Bricopacks its cool....

 

[Third Eye]

Nice tut mAV3

 

[rakeshishere]

Good one ...There is also another one by Vishal

 

[blueshift]

Good yaar!

i too want to try Vista and feel the wow

 

[Pathik]

nice one manan.. But i prefer to use vista instead..

 

[iMav]

Good one ...There is also another one by Vishal

vishal's is a shell style and doesnt have the aero-like interface ... and thanx for the appreciation all of ya'll ... pathiks ... original toh original hai

first post edited ... sidebar and flip 3d also added

 

[Choto Cheeta]

@mAV3

gr8 one bro.. u deserve a Pat on Back to get the time out to write one



Unfortinatelly there is no REPs to give

 

[iMav]

an appreciative reply goes more than a rep

 

[sabret00the]

this is a very kool thread!!!

 

[ctrl_alt_del]

A vey detailed one. How about a few screenshots of what your desktop looks like after having done all this?

 

[rakeshishere]

A vey detailed one. How about a few screenshots of what your desktop looks like after having done all this?

I was about to point that out!

 

[anandk]

really nice mav3 !!! *www.smileycons.com/img/emotions/88.gif nice title too.

 

[aryayush]

A vey detailed one. How about a few screenshots of what your desktop looks like after having done all this?

And the speed of your PC too?

 

[iMav]

screen shots i want to but will do it as soon as i boot into xp ... may b by today evening ...

and arya speed there are no lags on my 512 ... but if u add say something like windows fx then the system will slow down while opening windows and hings like that ... but as far as this is concerned on my 512 i did not find any considerable lag ... when using my PC normally and not having photoshop, moviemaker, media player, firefox and explorer open at the same time ... sidebar is good but i did not personally like flip3d wala thing

 

[ITTechPerson]

What is ur commect on the Vista Transformation / looks Pack ver 6 - is tht doesn't able to give a closer looks to vista ?
The only nagetive feature of ur "copywright" is the Win Blind 5.5 - it's not free & the demo will not give what u want.

But I must congratulate u Mav3 - it's amazing work

I am looking forward to ur coments bcos I want to have a better looks of Vista on my XP Home.

 

[aryayush]

i did not personally like flip3d wala thing

Which rational and sane human being does! It does nothing apart from looking pretty.

 

[iMav]

^^ arre not in vista but the 1 for xp ...

and screenshots hav been added ... and ittechperson ... well every1 has his own choice but wat i felt was tht the transformation pack hogs a lot of system resources hence i found these ways to overcome it

screenshots added

 

[saurabh kakkar]

GOOD WORK MAN
GO THOURGH THIS TUTE ALSO
TRANSFORM XP TO VISTA

 

[Vishal Gupta]

Very nice tut. What rakesh mentioned is this tut of mine:

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49141