Well, if you’re interested on having WindowsVista style on your XP without having to install Vista, the following tutorial from TweakGuide might be helpful.

If you don’t want to try the new Windows Vista Beta 1 on your system, but you’d like your Windows XP desktop to have a nice-looking Longhorn/Vista theme, here’s something you might want to try. This is something I did on my machine tonight and I like the results, so for those of you who haven’t tried it yet, follow these steps. Note, this is done at your own risk:

1. Download the free tool UXTheme Multi-Patcher, and the theme Longhorn 5203. Note that you can use the tool WindowsBlinds to do this more easily, but it is not free.

2. Make sure to backup your uxtheme.dll file in your \WINDOWS\system32 directory.

3. Run UXTheme Multipatcher and follow the prompts. Your uxtheme.dll file will have its Windows File Protection removed and will be patched to allow custom themes, then you should reboot as required.

4. Extract the contents of the ‘Longhorn 5203′ archive to sit directly under your \WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\ directory.

5. Go to Control Panel>Display and select the Appearance tab. Under the ‘Windows and Buttons’ scroll box, select the new Longhorn theme. Then under ‘Color Scheme’ select one of the variations of the theme which suits you, and click the Apply button to see how it looks on your Desktop.

6. If you want to change the font used select a new font under the ‘Font Size’ box, and to further refine the colors, border sizes etc. used click the Advanced button and go through the options for each screen element.

7. Your icons will not change using the UXTheme Multipatcher method. Also, if you want to use the new wallpaper which comes with the theme, it can be found under the \WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\Longhorn\Wallpapers directory.

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