How to Make Windows XP Look Like Windows Vista, Installing Windows Vista SideBar on Windows XP.

To make Windows XP look like Windows Vista you may choose many theme installers. The best one with true transparency effect is windowBlinds from Stardock Software. But because I had few issues with the stardock software, and also the theme is not applied to sub windows and forms, also is not native windows theming engine, I used some other customization software STYLE XP. It utilizes same themeing engine as Windows XP. It can be used to just install the themes and can be un-installed later.

PART 1: INSTALLING WINDOWS VISTA THEME

1. Download Style XP from TGTSoft. (Trial version is sufficient, if you need it you may purchase it)

2. Download the Vista Theme from here. (It downloads a zip file named vista.zip)

3. Launch StyleXP from Programs –> TGTSoft –> StyleXP

4. It is the Main Window

5. Go to VisualStyles Option and click on add a new style

6. Select the above downloaded vista.zip file. click Open.

7. Now Select the Option Vista CG, Take a GLASS OPTION and CLICK Apply Style to current Theme.

8. Now the Windows Looks like Vista.

PART II : INSTALLING WINDOWS VISTA SIDEBAR on Windows XP

Installing Sidebar is not straight forward as above. Follow the steps.

1. Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package from here.

2. Install .Netframework 3.0, get it here. (Original Link : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=10cc340b-f857-4a14-83f5-25634c3bf043&displaylang=en)

3. Install Internet Explorer 7. Get it from here.

4. Install Windows Media Player 11. Get it from here.

5. If you have already installed Items in Step 2 , 3 and 4 you may directly proceed to next step.

6. Install Wireless Lan API from Microsoft. Get it from here.

7. Then, install VAIOXP; If you have Windows XP, Get it here or here. If you have Windows Server 2003, Get it here. The system might ask you to restart. Please restart if it does so.

8. Install the fonts. If you have installed Office 2007 you might have some fonts inside this fonts package. Get it from here. To install the fonts extract the fonts from the ZIP file and just copy all and paste in C:\WINDOWS\FONTS (Generally or to your fonts folder).

9. Download the Sidebar installation Files from here.

10 After you have downloaded the sidebar installation files just extract ZIP FILES and place it in a folder.

11. You may find several files, image files , sidebar.exe, sidebar.manifest and so on..

12. Ignore all the files.

13. LOOK FOR SIDEBAR.INF. RIGHT CLICK ON SIDEBAR.INF AND CHOOSE INSTALL.

14. When you install it will ask for file path regsvr32. Click browse and select C:\windows\system32 (or your windows system32 folder)

15. Again it will ask for file missing. Now you got to choose your original folder where you extracted files in STEP 10.

16. Now the setup will proceed to install Sidebar Files. It will be installed in C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar

17. Please Restart the system.

18. Go to the path and run Sidebar.exe

19. System tray showing Sidebar

 

20. You can Add Gadgets by clicking on Add Gadgets.

Installing new gadgets available from Windows Live Gallery.

All the gadgets from the Windows Live Gallery site can be installed. But they are not as easy as just click and install as in Vista.

1. Download the gadget from Windows Live Gallery.

2. Rename the Extention to RAR.  If you downloaded a clock gadget, it will be like clock.gadget. So rename to Clock.RAR. (To extract RAR files you may need Winrar or 7-Zip Archive Tool)

3. Extract the files to a folder and name that folder as Clock.Gadget.

4. Copy this folder and Put it inside the GADGETS Folder in your C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar Folder.

5. Now you can add Gadget through add Gadgets as usual.

 

Enjoy the Sidebar in Windows XP.

Screenshot of Gadgets on Sidebar.

 

Screenshot of Gadgets Detached from Sidebar.

Enjoy Vista on XP.

BARATH.

Is it Real ?

Is it Windows Vista ?

No…..Look Again.. It is Windows XP, with the theme applied.

In last post I wrote about why the consumers are not willing to shift to vista. It is also one of the reason. You may able to bring the technologies of Vista to Windows XP. So why upgrade ? But even though you transfer, it is not 100 % Thus still go for Vista..

The Sidebar is the SIDEBAR OF WINDOWS VISTA. It is installed on Windows XP. I will post how to install sidebar on XP later or you search for it in google/live search. You may install all the gadgets from Windows Live Gallery.

 

Is it Mac ?

 

 

No… Look Again. You move the taskbar to top. Now safari browser is available for windows as well. You may try that. It is not fully mature as FIRFOX or IE7 Yet in windows platform. But it is good.

The Dock is from StarDock ObjectDock. It is free with limited options. But is good enough.

 

Make your XP flexible and change the way it looks. You may also get other customization software’s from www.stardock.com or www.wincustomize.com .

 

BARATH………

Is Windows XP,a rival for Windows Vista ?

After the release of Windows Vista it is expected that everyone will switch to windows Vista. But even after six months debut of Windows vista still Windows XP sale is much higher than Windows Vista. Even DELL has begun to give choice of Windows XP or Windows Vista.  The question here is WHY ?

Is Windows XP is much better than Windows Vista ? or Is Windows XP is faster than Windows Vista ? or Windows Vista is not so easy as Windows XP ?

Windows Vista is a much better than Windows XP in all the means. By practical experience of me, using Windows Vista at home and Windows XP at Office I feel that Windows Vista is much stable than Windows XP.

Is Windows XP better than Windows Vista ?

No, exactly, but in a way YES. Windows Vista is much advanced platform than Windows XP. The driver database and the support of hardware platform is extremely good. Windows XP had much flaws when it released in early days and it got stabilized well only after Service Pack 2. It still has lot of performance issues. Windows Vista on the other hand is rather NEW to customers and has much more less flaws. There are performance issues which Microsoft is regularly working on updates to fix them. For instance I had SD Card access problem at first which I don’t have it now. Second, I had problems when ever I load my Media Center, but after the Media Center Update it works perfectly well. But in a way XP is much better than Vista. It is because of longer existence all most all the software’s are by default compatible with  XP where as it is not with Vista. Thus if you are working on lot of third party software’s, which we do normally in windows systems, we feel really bad with Vista. Also the some drivers developed are very buggy, for instance the driver developed for fingerprint scanning by LENOVO was not properly compatible with Vista and still has problems. Thus the user get frustrated that they cannot use all the features when they upgrade/use vista. But we can expect that all the vendors will be compatible with Vista by end of this year. There are news that Windows 7 is due in 3 years. So until then the most targeted platform is Windows Vista and hence all the software makers will eventually make it compatible with Windows vista. Many Big companies like COREL, ULEAD, PINNACLE, ACDSEE all issued patches/updates very late after the release of Windows Vista. Now all the vendors I listed here are fully compatible with Windows vista. So Compatibility issue is expected to be resolved by this year.

To add to this, Windows Media Player 11 in Vista looks better and works better than in XP. IE 7 Crashes too often in Windows XP while it does not in Windows Vista. You may go to performance tools to check your system stability monitor. Windows XP suddenly shuts down abruptly and restarts, which i have never experienced so far in Windows Vista.

Is Windows XP Faster than Windows Vista ?

Initially YES, but not LATER. I have observed this behavior with all previous Microsoft Operating Systems. When you install the OS fresh it is damn fast and everything loads v fast. But when you install with other software’s, drivers and upon usage, it becomes very slow. Even booting and shutting down is very slow. In my experience I am using less faster system at my home than my office. RAM AND MOTHERBOARD all the same. In fact RAM in my Office is higher than RAM at my home. But the booting time at my office much slower than booting at home, where I have loaded same startup items as home. Initially Windows XP was a winner. But now I have loaded more programs at my home on my Vista machine but that is much faster than Windows XP. Once you have fully compatible software’s on vista you can expect your system, not just initially but for long time. There is one real problem that I hate with windows Vista.. it takes too much time to shut down. So Vista will win in long run.

Is Windows XP easier than Windows Vista ?

Probably. But really not. Windows XP appears to be easier because we are used to it for long run. We feel very much easier to go through menus in windows XP. Windows Vista is rather easier than Windows XP. With search feature in Windows Vista everything is much faster to find Windows XP. If you want to find calculator you may just type calc, you may find it and just hit enter key to launch the application and similarly for other applications too.

 

Even with all these the sales growth figures of Windows Vista is lower than Windows XP because people fear to buy a new product. Even some vendors say their programs are not fully compatible with Windows Vista and thus arises problems for consumers. But I would suggest them to go for Windows Vista as it is going to get better and better through updates, get a more updated product than an outdating one. Now almost all hardware’s are compatible with Vista and so why worry … GO FOR VISTA..

 

BARATH..