MARCH 2006 MA XIMUMPC 41
Admit it: Looks matter. If they didn’t,
Britney Spears would be a convenience
store clerk in Louisiana and more people
would drive Volvos. The same principle
applies to computers. Although Macs
have many positive qualities these days,
what do you think is the number-one
reason cited by people who switch from
Windows? Yeah, that’s right: “The iBook
is soooo cute!” And on the software side
of things, let’s face it: Windows XP’s Luna
theme was attractive and modern back in
2001, but this is 2006, folks.
You probably won’t have much luck
convincing the folks at Dell and HP to stop
designing ugly computers, but you can
overhaul the appearance of your operating
system with minimal effort. Our favorite
OS-skinning application is Stardock’s
WindowBlinds ( $20, http://www.stardock.com ),
which lets you revamp the look of your
entire GUI—Start menu, program windows,
desktop icons, the works. WindowBlinds
boasts a collection of literally thousands
of community-created themes, but the
latest version of the software also offers a
special treat. On systems equipped with a
3D accelerator, WindowBlinds 5 delivers a
few of the slick visual effects of Windows
Vista’s much-touted Aero Glass UI, such
as transparent window borders. It’s also
much less GPU-intensive than Vista will
be—we experienced very smooth per-
formance on a 4-year-old Radeon 8500
128MB videocard.
Does all of this sound too good to
be true? Well, there are two gotchas.
First, most of the skins available
for WindowBlinds are created by
amateurs, and it shows. We tested
many top-rated skins from http://www.
wincustomize.com , a popular skin
repository, and although we stum-
bled across a few gems, the vast
majority of the skins we found were
downright garish. Sadly, as we
were writing this article, a particu-
larly stylin’ skin that impeccably imitated
Vista’s Aero Glass UI was removed by its
author on Microsoft’s request.
The other major catch of WindowBlinds
is that, like any low-level OS modifi ca-
tion, it has the potential to screw up your
system. Our own experience was
positive, but we’ve heard of cases
in which WindowBlinds caused
problems ranging from sporadic
program crashes to the corruption
of Windows XP’s icon fi les. As such,
we understand that many folks won’t
be comfortable installing such an
invasive program.
If that describes you, you can still
make Windows XP look a bit more
modern. When Microsoft shipped
Windows XP Media Center Edition
2005, it served up a new theme
called Royale, which has since
been made available (for free) to all
Windows XP users. Royale is essen-
tially a sleeker, more contemporary
version of the Luna theme. Because
it’s made by Microsoft, it’s a safe
choice for those who don’t want to
mess with third-party
window managers. To
get it, head over to http://www.
microsoft.com and search
for “Royale”; it should
come up under the title
“Desktop Backgrounds
for Windows.”
It’s worth noting that
aesthetics and productiv-
ity sometimes go hand-
in-hand. An example
of this is the venerable
Alt-Tab feature, which by
default simply displays a
list of icons representing
the programs you have
running. Alt-Tab is handy
as it is, but wouldn’t itbe even better to see a small snapshot
of each program, so you could easily
choose between the six instant messag-
ing windows you have open? We sure
think so. Luckily, the Alt-Tab Replacement
PowerToy (visit http://www.microsoft.com and
search for “powertoys”)
does exactly that. It’s
not quite the same
as the Mac’s Exposé
feature or the Flip 3D
view of Windows Vista,
but it’s defi nitely an
improvement.Tired of Windows XP’s bubbly UI? A chic black
desktop theme might be just what you need.Now we’ve added some much-needed features to Windows
XP, but what can we do to make it look better? With a new
theme or skin you can give Windows a hip new look!MAKEOVER
The Alt-Tab Replacement PowerToy improves
both the form and function of Windows XP, with
handy previews of the windows you have open.Keep the holiday spirit alive all year long with a
WindowBlinds Christmas desktop theme.Microsoft’s Royale
theme for Windows XP
is a slightly sleeker and
more modern take on
the Luna theme.