Looking for a new theme that only changes appearance....

Are you looking for something like Windowblinds......?

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop...P2-Final.shtml

...Thy that, that way you don't have to use Windowblinds, ThemeXp, or any other 3rd party app that patches the uxtheme.dll file in realtime

just curious is that a better way SOL? is this hard to reverse if i dont like the program? thx

If you are wanting minimalistic it seems the last thing you would want to do would be install a 3rd party app to do it. I would not go the windowblinds route.

I used the theme .dll mod method and added a couple themes (actually "styles" as explained below) to my box I really like.

We are using the word "theme" here but I don't know if that is accurate. You have two different interface option groupings in XP that are often confused. The first is known as "themes" which include a visual style (the way the window's trim looks), the sounds on the machine, and the wallpaper used. The other interface change to can make is to just change the "Style". The Visual Style is what a lot of people are talking about when they say theme.

If you just want to change the general look of your windows but not necessarily all the sounds and the wallpaper then you should just get the modified .dll mentioned above and then find a .msstyles file in one of the themes you find online and put it in C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes. Then you can right click your desktop and go to the properties--> appearance (tab) --> windows and buttons (drop down menu) and select the new style from the list.

Anyway, I hope we can a least save you the $30 or whatever it is for windowblinds; I wish I had not purchased it way back when...
Good luck

Windowblinds is only 20 bucks and it doesn't use any more resources than XP's theme service--i.e., you can use WB with XP's theme service disabled. XP's theme service was developed in conjunction with Stardock, BTW.

And WindowBlinds is the only way to get truly transparent Vista glass effects--if you are into that sort of thing.
http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/wb5/

If you want to save resources and go totally minimalistic, then just use 3DCC.
http://www.customize.org/list/3dcc
http://jote.pai.net.pl/jn/3dcc/?page=4

...Yeah the only problem with Windowblinds is the conflicts it causes with some programs... Perssonally I woul drather not have any 3rd party app running & enjoy themes knowing that anytime I open a program I am opening a potential conflict.

I used windowblinds for quite a while before just switchung to the uxtheme.dll hack method. Now I have my themes & no problems to go along with them....Though I do have windowsFX that I load up on occasion....


..No it's not al that hard to reverse the uxtheme.dll method, but if you don't like the theme you load there is no need to change out the uxtheme.dll file, all it does is add the ability to use 3rd party themes.