Ok…So we are not all ready to move to Windows Vista because we want to stick with XP for a little longer, or because we can’t afford it. But we want the look of it.

There are plenty of software that can help us get the Vista look, so I am going to attempt to put together few of them.

Option 1

Desktop Sidebar is one of them. If you have a 15 or 17 inch screen though, it won’t look that pretty.

The Sidebar comes with pre-installed panels and lots of skins.

It uses minimal system resources (according to them) and it is a freeware.

Now that you’ve got the Sidebar, we also need some Visual Styles, so let’s go browsing through DeviantArt with the word “Vista” and see what we can find.

This skin - Windows Vista Ultimate RC1 seems to have some nice features including a sidebar ( not very rich in gadgets though).

Once you’ve picked up your style, make sure you are reading the documentation before attempting to install it.

You can also pick up Vista CG visual style from Crystalxp.net. ( I know! Crystal Xp again… but they are reliable).

Icons - You can install Icon Tweaker and download the Vista High PX icons pack.

Update - To make things look even better than in Vista, you can download and install Vista Start Menu SE freeware. 

Now you can get here a Vista wallpaper , to finish the job.

Option 2

Get Windows Blinds Windows Blinds. This is a shareware but it has a free version as well. See here.

Some extras:

You can also install (if you didn’t do it till now) Windows Media player 11, Windows Defender, Microsoft Virtual PC 2004.

That’s it…for now.

For any other suggestions, drop a message into the comment box.

Technorati tags: windows enhancement, vista look, freeware, howto, visual styles, vista styles

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