Hey everyone. I've been reading the forums for awhile, and just recentley signed up today.
Right now I have a plain windows classic theme going with my PC, but I want to be Aqua-tized.... I lub MACs!
So, my question is where should I start. I was hoping this thread could be a kind of tutorial for other newcomers.
As of now, I have no resources or sites to go to.
So what should be the first thing I should do to start my journy of making my computer feel like a MAC?
hello, and welcome!
this thread will help you: http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/index.php?s...hl=list+of+mods
you'll need a uxtheme hack + visual style (or windowblinds, or whatever you like), a dock, maybe objectbar, to start off, and a bunch of other apps for complete emulation.
edit: also take a look at each section here. you'll find plenty of completed visual styles, themes, icons, samurize widgets, app skins, sounds, and more.
Here's my two cents.
Well, there is an easy way and a hard way. It all matters what operating system do you have. If you have XP, then you can download StyleXP, a program that uses the Windows theming engine and search for MSStyles (ext *.msstyle) and that could be a start. If you have pre-XP, then you need to get a program called WindowBlinds which also changes the GUI, you can also use it on XP. Once you get one of these programs you can look for skins. Some good resources are here (Use the search utility ^ ), www.aquaxp.com, www.wincustomize.com, www.osxp.net, www.deviantart.com among others. Look and the Link section of other sites, including this one to get more resources. Also remember to use the search utility. Members get really annoyed when people ask questions that already have answers to them laying around the forum.
first thing. decide how you want to theme your computer. i assume you're on xp. do you have sp1?
do you want to use windowblinds (it's a shareware app that will allow for more extensive theming of the system) or the uxtheme hack (a free patch that will let you use unsigned visual styles, which are also free)? it's a personal choice.
i don't know much about wb, but i can tell you about the uxtheme patch. just get yourself a patcher (i have several if you want), then patch your system. download a visual style and put it in:
C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes
then it should appear in the display properties. that'll give you the most drastic win-to-mac makeover.
Yeah, I have styleXP, but I wanted to do more then just change my theme, I wanted to change my icons, systemfiles, etc, etc...
I tried the uxtheme from TGTsoft to edit my uxtheme.dll but it didn't work, any ideas why?
there are many icon sets out there, e.g. snow.e2, which i really like. browse through the icon section, you'll find a lot of fantastic icons. if you're looking for a general set of icons, try iconfactory or tell us what kind of style you're looking for, like the snow.e2 style, etc.
if you want system files, there's pack's modded files, flyakite's, iceman's, and many more, all of which you can find here (or at least links from here). see the system files section under customizing windows gui. i use a snowe.2 shell32.dll, which is the main system file you'll probably want to change.
i wouldn't use the tgtsoft patch. there are better ones. maybe it was for pre-sp1, so it didn't work. try another patch.
Can you give me a link to a good patch
cough*www.astalavista.com*cought*search*cough
Where the heck did that come from!
Oh, it does have pop-ups, yes those kind.
here are several: http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...opic=105010&hl=
Step #1: Completed
Step #2: Pending...
Ok, I installed that patch. Now, where should I go from here?
very good. now, get some visual styles. check out the completed visual styles section here, head on over to iceman's site: http://www.jonmega.com/~iceman/ to get his visual style, or check out kol's themes at www.studiotwentyeight.com and then download those.
put those in the themes folder (the path is given above), and then you'll see them in the display properties.
if you don't see them.
1. double click the msstyles file and the properties dialog will come up.
2. rename the theme folder to match the filename. i.e. if the file is called gloss.msstyles, rename the folder that it's in to "gloss" and it'll show up from now on.
I have no idea what visual style to use, what do you recommend? I like them all!
Originally posted by Alpha@Oct 5 2003, 08:34 PMI have no idea what visual style to use, what do you recommend? I like them all!
lol, the hardest problem of them all! 
everyone makes such awesome themes, it's hard to decide. right now i'm using kol's smooth stripes gloss, but you can try them all out. 
Okey doke. I just used one of Iceman's Aqua Visual Styles, so Step #2 Completed.
What's next?
if you're looking for complete emulation, you can get objectbar from stardock (shareware) for that authentic look of the finder bar on top.
i guess now you can move on and try to get a dock working. there's objectdock (www.objectdock.com) and mobydock (http://mobydock.tk). add programs, folders, docklets, whatever you like.
you can also change your icons. grab a copy of iconphile here to change lots of icons at once. there's also iconpackager, if you prefer that.
then there's system files. check out the system files sections, but before you do, you should know the build number of your files, e.g. the shell32.dll build number. if you don't know how to replace files, check out iceman's site for an excellent tutorial, or use replacer (here) to replace your system files.
Aqua-Soft Forums
:smartass: