How to Make XP Look Like Windows 7

Tnkernut Windows 7 Windows 7 launched on October 22 and the media has been buzzing about it since the release was first announced, but what if you are one of those tried and true XP users that was so scared by the release of Vista but nothing can tare you away from your trustee XP machine. Well now you can have all the comforts of Windows 7 without switching to it. Here’s how you can make Windows XP look and act like Windows 7. The first of little disclaimer, “I did not create any of these files so I don’t support them but all of them have been tested to be virus free. Keep in mind that installing extra programs on your computer has a potential of slowing down your computer. So please set a system of store point before installing any of these programs so that you can restore if necessary.” Try and make this process easier. Group all of the programs that will be covering into 115 megabyte download that you can find at this point. Once you have a downloaded and extracted you will notice seven folders that each represent a different step, the first photo will install the Windows 7 visual theme so open up that folder and then open up the them folder inside of it. Double click on theme.exe and run through the installation process. When the theme is installed you will notice that your task bar and the background will have changed. Now go back to the step one folder and then open up the styler tool bar folder. Double click on first installme.exe to install the styler program. When it’s through double click on thenrunme.exe to install the Window 7 style. Now go to start all programs styler and start the styler program and this should put a styler icon in the task bar. Now double click on the icon and then double click on the Windows 7 visual style and this should make your computer theme look a lot more like Windows 7. Another Windows 7 teaches that the task bar only shows icons and not text so to add this functionality go back to the step one folder and open up the iconize task bar hat forward. Then click on install.reg to add a registry hack for showing only icons. Then once it’s installed log out and then log back in to your account and you should see the new icon feature. The remaining two folders in the step one folder are for font and a hack for a common task, you can install these if you want but I’m going to skip over them for this tutorial. Now go back to the main folder and open up the step two folders, this folder is for changing the icons to match Windows 7. So double click on the icon theme folder and then double click on firstinstallme.exe to install the icon tweak or program. Next double click on thenrunme.exe and it should watch the icon set. Click apply and okay and you should see your icons change from Windows XP to Windows 7 icon. The steps there and four folders install Windows 7 and Window functionality called arrow shake and arrow snap. First open up the arrow shake folder and double click on arrow shake.exe. When it’s through installing it should put an icon in the task bar. Now all you have to do is shake the current window in and all other windows should minimize. Next go into the step 4 folder and double click on arrow snap to install it. Once it’s still installing you can go ahead and launch and now you should be able to drag your Window to either the left or the right side of the screen and it will snap to that side of the screen. You can also drag it to the top of the screen and it will maximize the window. The step five folder installs a program that mimics the way Windows 7 allows you to drag and drop items in the task bar to reorder them. Just double click on TS2.5 to install it and after you’ve got it installed and launched you should be able to drag and drop the taskbar icons to different locations. In the step six folder you will find an application that changes the Windows XP hard drive icon so that they have a percentage bar that shows how full they are. Just double click on Vista drive icon 1.4 to install it. Then launch the program and open your My Computer icon and you should now see a percentage bar underneath your hard drive. The last step adds the Window 7 show desktop feature to the task bar. Double click on show desktop.exe to install it and it should add a button to the far right of your task bar that acts as the show desktop button and when you click it, it should minimize everything to the taskbar. Now what I’ve just covered shows some of the more basic ways to convert Windows XP to look more like Windows 7 but if you visit the link that I have provided in the video description you will find a lot more customization options that require a little bit more computer no how. If you have any more tips feel free to leave them in the comments below otherwise that’s it for this tutorial and for more go to tinkernut.com.