I've been using Windows XP for a while now but I'm getting increasingly tired of the default Windows XP Style. I am aware that Microsoft offers "Silver" and "Olive Green" as alternatives to the blue, but both of them just don't cut it for me. I am also aware that there are programs available such as StyleXP and WindowBlinds that allow you to add more skins but I'd rather avoid that if I can. Which brings me to my question: does anyone know of any places that allow me to change the colours of my Windows XP skin without the need of any programs? I'd much rather just let Windows handle the skins rather than an unnecessary program. The possibility of this looks slim but I thought I would ask. If anyone could help, I would appreciate it.

By the way, I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I've found this place very helpful several times before and I hope that I can help others in the future. I'm sorry if this post is in the wrong section, also.

Hi, welcome to the forum

You can try these sites if you like:

http://www.themexp.org/

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,20542,00.asp

Enjoy

Wicked

you want to use non-m$ themes on your box without third-party apps, eh?

not too difficult to do. google "uxtheme patch"

this patch'll allow you to use different themes and styles without stylexp. windowblinds skins won't work with this method.

I've used this method back before sp1, but had to stop because they didn't have an updated patch for sp1. however, I'm looking at the search results and it looks like they updated the patch finally.

alternatively, you could look into a shell replacement. I prefer this method, as I hate the way xp's shell is layed out. Blackbox is a pretty good one. I'm using it now. takes a little getting used to, but I like it much more than the xp shell


$.02