Give XP (Linux/Mac) Looks and shame Vista
Have you tried Windows Vista only to find that your productivity software isn’t fully compatible, your old software doesn’t work, your old hardware doesn’t work usually due to lack of drivers, and that your games actually run slower and more buggy than before? Are all of these problems worth having just for the “Areo effect”? I doubt it.
Have you tried MacOS, Linux, Unix, or BSD only to find that it is hard to administer for less than the tech savvy, most games don’t work, and wireless is virtually useless?If your looking for the ease of use of a Mac, the stability and speed of Linux, the looks of Vista, and the wide manufacturer support of Windows XP then I have the solution for you. Using all Freeware products, I will show you how to achieve the ultimate PC operating system.
The great thing about these freeware tools are that you will have a better looking, faster, stable, easier to use, and less memory intensive system. Below is a list with all the links to these tools. It will take you longer to configure these tools than it will to actually install them.
- Emerge Desktop - LINK
- A replacement windows “shell” (the desktop environment normally provided by Windows Explorer) for Windows 2000 and Windows XP (Home and Professional). In order to replace Windows Explorer as a shell, it provides a system tray (the area that collects the icons collected at the lower right corner in Explorer), called emergeTray. It will also provide access to the users programs (normally accessed with the windows “start” button) via a right-click on the desktop, via emergeCore.
- Yod’m 3D - LINK
- Yod’m 3D is a virtual desktop manager with the fashionable effect : the cube. (Extremely similar to the cube in Linux “Beryl” and newer Macs.)
- RocketDock - LINK
- A smoothly animated, alpha blended application launcher. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization. With each item completely customizable there is no end to what you can add and launch from the dock.
- Y’z Shadow - LINK
- Adds shadowing and transparency to windows and menus for that 3D look.
- UberIcon - LINK
- creates a more customizable atmosphere on your desktop by extending Windows to perform new effects when you launch your icons and folders. The effects are plugin-based to give you control over the look and feel. The name translates to “OverIcon” which will begin to make sense from the moment you see your first icon fly towards you.
Installation:
Download each of the packages to your “My Documents” folder for easy retrieval.
Emerge:
Run the Emerge installer. This will remove explorer as your system shell and make Emerge your new system shell. A few things will be different after install. You will no longer have desktop shortcuts, and you will no longer have a taskbar. You will also notice a rather ugly system tray which I will tell you how to correct. To access your start menu you will have to right-click on the desktop.
To correct the system tray hold CNTL, and right click on the system tray. You will have a menu, choose to load the default scheme. Then choose to edit the current scheme. You will now be presented a notepad document. Remove the “;” from all of the lines below the comments at the top. Next, save the file. Hold CNTL and right click on the system tray again and reload the default theme. You will now see that your system tray is trasparent and looks much better. You may with to resize, and move it as well. To do this hold down your ALT key and it will allow you to move it around the screen and it will allow you to grab the sides to resize it.
RocketDock:
Run the RocketDock installer. Once it is installed, run the program. This will serve as your main taskbar. Right-click on the RocketDock and choose “dock settings”. Under General, make sure you have “Run at Startup” checked and “Minimize Windows to the Dock” checked. You may also change the way it looks by going to “Style” on the left.
Yod’m 3D:
There is no installer for this program. You will have to extract the files to “C:\Program Files\yodm3d”. Once extracted, run “Yodm3D.exe” from that folder. The program will then start. After it starts you will see the Yod’m 3D icon in the system tray. It will look like two blue desktops one behind the other. Right-click on the system tray icon for it and select options from the menu. Make sure “Start with Windows” is checked. You can also tweak more settings in here but I will leave that part up to you. To use the cube, hold your CNTL and SHIFT keys at the same time. You can then rotate with your mouse or arrows. You can also drag applications from one desktop to another by holding down your left mouse button on the application window then holding down the hot keys. If you want different wallpapers for each desktop, just change them as you would normally through the control panel.
Y’z Shadow:
This program also doesn’t have a installer. You will have to extract the files to “C:\Program Files\Yz”. You then have to run the file named “YzShadow.exe”. This program doesn’t have the option to start with windows so you will have to create a shortcut by right-clicking on “YzShadow.exe” and choosing “Create Shortcut”. You will then want to copy this file to the following directory to get it to start automatically “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup”.
UberIcon:
UberIcon is easy. Just run the installer and when it finishes it will be running in the system tray. Right-click on it and choose “Run at Startup”. There are some neat built in plugins in this menu i suggest trying.You will notice these when selecting icons in explorer when you go to”My Computer” or “My Documents”. It will cause your icon to do cool animations when clicked.
DONE!
You will notice that people will ask you what it is, and they will be suprised when you answer Windows XP. Enjoy!