Honestly, it depends on how far you're willing to go. I've gone through a ton of desktop themes and each one takes up a different amount of system resources. There are some that literally change everything about the way Windows works--they can emulate Mac or Linux perfectly, for instance. The one I currently have (
here ) doesn't bog me down at all, but it's real limited. There're a number of things that go into it, if you wanna look them up.
Avedesk - Does the desktop shortcuts. There, I got Baby Drive (C
) and Beat Drive (F
). The Recycle Bin acts just like a recycle bin and changes when it's full. The original icons were gray, but Avedesk lets you colorize them. They glow back to their original color when I mouse over them. Avedesk can do a lot, so if you like desktop icons, get it.
Style XP - A bunch of people dog this application because it's real basic. I used to have a different desktop that used WindowBlinds (
here) which looked cool, but took away a
lot of resources. Style XP is basic, but effective, and can let you make your taskbar transparent as well as change pretty much everything about your GUI.
Cursor XP - Just changes the look of your cursor, not much else. Mine doesn't even match the theme, but I love it.
LClock - Changes the look of your clock. I got it set to military time, and I changed it so the start bar is gone. Clicking on the clock itself brings up the bar.
There's a lot more in it, but I'm really too lazy to do all of it. Basically, just find out what you wanna do to make your computer look better, and there's probably a program out there that can do it.
A good website to get started is
Customize, although it's a little intimidating. If you want a more user-friendly introduction, check out
WinCustomize, it's how I got into it.
If you need any further help or anything, you know how to find me through AIM.
Linear Mode
