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- atdigg, on 11/28/2007, -28/+144One of these tools should slow it down to make it _work_ like Vista.
- geekchic, on 11/28/2007, -21/+113The first thing I do with a new Windows XP machine is switch the user interface to "Windows Classic".
Not everyone considers the big colours and curves everywhere to be an "upgrade". - Atomike, on 11/28/2007, -0/+44Really? Make it look like a machine playing Crysis.
- joerod, on 11/28/2007, -13/+53now all they need are some tools to make vista work like xp
- thewump, on 11/28/2007, -2/+36You could also draw a "Allow / Deny" dialog box on your screen with sharpies.
- rmetzger, on 11/28/2007, -3/+28cracked uxtheme.dll ftw no performance loss and i can have a "windows classic style" .. but still have something that looks good.
http://uneasysilence.com/how-to-use-unsigned-theme ... - ApokalypseNow, on 11/28/2007, -3/+25You don't need a tool for that, just take out half your RAM.
- ncc74656m, on 11/28/2007, -10/+27Yeah, Leo LaPorte said "It's Windows 2000 with a Fisher Price GUI."
- jhshukla, on 11/28/2007, -0/+17norton?
- Cadius254, on 11/28/2007, -8/+24What about all the security and stability features that has made my vista experience so much more enjoyable then my time using xp?
I have XP laptop, a Vista based desktop with Ubuntu on a secondary HDD. I have tried OS X Tiger in the past, as well as some other Linux versions. I am by no means narrow minded. I just enjoy Vista the most with Ubuntu 7.1 in a very, very close second. - tonicboy, on 11/28/2007, -7/+20Amen. I did the same thing for Vista. All the bells and whistles just slow down the computer and don't even look good (i.e. translucency for translucency's sake is pretty lame)
- Cadius254, on 11/28/2007, -3/+16How am I "drinking the kool-aid" when my desktop runs far more stable and secure in vista then in XP? I used to get a crash in XP about once every week or two. Since upgrading to Vista, I haven't had a single Vista crash (or Ubuntu for comparison sake). Sure there is a performance drop, but its negligible and has had no real impact on any of my day to day use of the system.
- ncc74656m, on 11/28/2007, -4/+16The ONLY feature I want for XP from Vista is ReadyBoost.
- spect3r, on 11/28/2007, -4/+16Window Blinds???? Nooooooooo!!! Don't do it!
- himynameiskevin, on 11/28/2007, -2/+14This is retarded. All those Windowsblind stuff and everything.
All you really need if you wan to make your windows looks like Vista is a .msi there, called Vista Inspirat 2.
http://www.crystalxp.net/news/en181-vista-inspirat ...
here is the link! You simply have to install it, and right click on your desktop, go in the Theme tab and apply it, good old fashion way, so easy, RAM saving and really good looking. Been using that one for months now and very satisfied, - sonstone, on 11/28/2007, -6/+18Learn the rules *****! You aren't allowed to speak positively of Vista on Digg. WTF!!!
- passedoutghost, on 11/28/2007, -9/+20Why would I want my XP to look like Vista? There are other of visual styles better looking when you've got a patched uxtheme.dll file.
- geekoid, on 11/29/2007, -0/+10Come on, admit it... you're an engineer!
- ir6c, on 11/28/2007, -0/+9or upgrading to an older more familiar os?
- and303, on 11/28/2007, -2/+11After a YEAR of reading a daily dose of constant anti-Vista banter here and everywhere else (which I'm sure has more to do with the prescribed Apple culture than it does anything technical or half-relevant), I finally broke down and used it.
Well actually, I bought another laptop for use in live performances that had Vista preinstalled. The first time I booted the thing was with an XP disc inside, only to later find out that most of the hardware didn't have XP support! Ugh!
After endless customer service calls and web searching, I broke down and reinstalled Vista. It turns out every piece of software and hardware I use currently supports Vista, luckily, as some of this stuff is really exclusive. Of course I disabled Aero and all the other bubbly crap...and honestly...it is performing much better and more stable than XP did.
Then I installed an old version of Alcohol 120%, a program that emulates a CDROM drive by essentially tricking the OS with a fake driver. It crippled my system...wouldn't even boot without a bluescreen. So I ran the recovery mode from the boot menu and after about a minute of scanning, Vista booted with a write up telling me specifically what the problem was, and even pointing me to a new version of the driver that works.
Granted I'm sure this can be hit or miss, but damn, I feel like a putts for listening to a bunch of people slam Vista, when most of them have probably never used it before. Someone find me a major OS that has less computing requirements than it's previous version, because I simply don't know why its such a shock to see Vista requiring more power...just like every new version of everything that comes out. You can't play Halo on Gameboy.
So maybe instead of using a bunch of clunky apps that'll cripple your XP system anyway, why not just try Vista out for a month or two and make YOUR OWN opinion. It's not like dual booting is a challenge for novices anymore. - bratterscain, on 11/28/2007, -3/+12Vista's performance is really not that bad. Benchmarks done using the same hardware only show Vista, overall, as just negligibly slower than XP, even considering more background tasks going and the more resource-costly interface. http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=29 ...
- lonnieh, on 11/28/2007, -0/+8if you can afford photoshop, you can afford a few gigs of RAM. XP is fine with 256mb.
- OswaldKenobi, on 11/28/2007, -0/+7I use ObjectDock instead of the other dock programs. It's the only one I have found that will display systray programs.
- Genma, on 11/29/2007, -0/+7what were they thinking when they released xp I'll never understand. "hey let's market win2k as a new os, we'll make it skinnable but only include one stupid fisher price looking theme, and make people buy 3rd party to get new ones." just look up uxtheme.dll and go to somewhere like neowin or deviantart and you can make xp look like vista or wetf you want, then you don't have to slow down your machine just to have a nice gui.
- loopyloopy, on 11/28/2007, -1/+8show me a tool to run directx 10 in XP, then we'll talk
- KDAY12, on 11/28/2007, -0/+7You are forgetting that not everyone just choose their OS based on its appearance. That is only a small part. So what if I want to customize my system to look however I want it to, with out making changes to its underlying functionality/compatibility/performance.
- inactive, on 11/28/2007, -3/+10Maybe its just Microsoft using everybody's computer trying to find Pi ??? I hear bill gates likes pi...
- Kratos76, on 11/28/2007, -0/+7that is the best comment i have ever read!
- lydecker, on 11/28/2007, -0/+7While this site lists Vista Transformation Pack 7, version 8 was released today. Grab that one instead.
- Syntaxis, on 11/28/2007, -1/+7Hmm.. I've never quite understood all the fuss about Vista - what's so bad about it? I have it running on both my PC's at home and 4 more family computers. Once you turn that UAC stuff off, all troubles disappear. It's pretty, it's smooth, it's just... well... good.
- ricky125, on 11/28/2007, -0/+6After switching the interface to "Classic", I install bbclean http://www.lostinthebox.com/viewtopic.php?t=2286 , a very nice clean interface based on blackbox.
- chuckbergeron, on 11/28/2007, -8/+14Really? Ya know, you can make X look like anything you want.
- radink360, on 11/28/2007, -1/+7These are cool, but you will take a performance hit using them.
- TBagwell, on 11/29/2007, -0/+6so, change the desktop image 4 or 5 times a second?
- drgruney, on 11/28/2007, -1/+6Only reason I use the XP Theme is because I can have the time, date, and day of the week on my taskbar while it's only two units high. Windows classic theme requires a task bar 3 units high.
ONLY reason.
I work nights... so I'm never really sure what day of the week it is. - praisethelard, on 06/06/2008, -2/+7I've been running XP on this computer for a while, and I get nowhere near 2 crashes a week. What the heck were you doing?
- logandurand, on 11/28/2007, -0/+51. How can you claim it performs better with Vista when you never tested the machine with XP?
2. How does it matter that Vista is more stable when XP almost never crashes anyway? If your XP machine crashes more than once every few weeks, than you really messed it up, and XP is not to blame.
3. Obviously newer OSs will have higher system requirements, but there's no reason Vista shouldn't run smoothly on 512 MB of RAM. Most of Vista's increased system requirements are because of useless eye candy, DRM, and other things that have nothing to do with an operating system. For example, Vista's audio/video subsystem is made up of 11 different modules. Of these, only two are actually needed to process audio and video - the other NINE are all DRM.
4. What are these "clunky apps" you speak of? My XP install is modded with a custom themes, bootscreen, and logon - and it's not "crippled" at all. On the contrary, it's rock-solid. - Atomike, on 11/28/2007, -1/+6All the "oooo" of a Mac, WITH the ability to use real software and games. It's win-win.
- insanebrain, on 11/28/2007, -0/+5Next time. . post in english please. ..
- IllBeBack, on 11/28/2007, -0/+4You could try TClock Light. It can show all the information on just one line.
http://homepage1.nifty.com/kazubon/tclocklight/ind ... - plizard, on 11/28/2007, -0/+4downgrade away!!!
- RickyBennett, on 11/28/2007, -0/+4my xp systems has never crashed not one time
- mezoko, on 11/28/2007, -0/+4Yeah well uxtheme.dll doesn't, nor does it cause any problems and windowblinds was pretty good when i used it 2-3 years ago (thing may have changed with windowblinds though)
- chuckbergeron, on 11/29/2007, -0/+4Yup, I'll give you that. I'm not a gamer myself so I forget about those kinda things.
- Assezdefromage, on 11/28/2007, -4/+8Eh. Myabe it will just negate your speed increase...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20071126/tc_nf/56872 - fuzzmeister, on 11/28/2007, -2/+6I like the look of Vista, but I don't care for the slowdown associated with it, and the various incompatibilities it has. So, what's wrong with just getting the look?
- malykii, on 11/28/2007, -0/+4Amen
- tim04, on 11/28/2007, -1/+5once a week? thats pretty rough, XP has only crashed once for me in the past 7 years I've used it, and it only happened because a game was incompatible with my system. maybe it's time to look into cleaning up your system and rethinking what you install on it.
- freakyrunnerguy, on 11/28/2007, -1/+5So where are the 5 tools that make VIsta run like XP?
- Assezdefromage, on 11/28/2007, -0/+4Maybe*
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