Vista Transformation Pack will give to your Windows XP system the new and cool look of Microsoft's future operating system: Windows Vista. The pack changes most of the system icons, skins and toolbars and also adds new enhancements to your desktop such as a dock bar or a different system tray clock. It is free and does a great job of giving machine a look similar to Vista.
It does have uninstallation options in case you decide you want to get rid of it, so there really isnt anything to lose. However, when you install the software it has to overwrite some system files (it modifies things like the boot screen) so Windows will prompt you stating that your system files have been changed. It will ask whether you want to change them back or leave them, so just leave them if you want the system to function properly.
Features of "Vista Transformation Pack": Boot screen Welcome Screen / Logon Screen New msstyles files (visual styles) New desktop and file icons New toolbar icons Progress Dialogs Sounds scheme System Tray icons New Wallpapers Windows Media Player Skins
Vista Transformation Pack 9.0 Keynotes:
New 3rd-party applications ViSplore - Vista Glass explorer simulator Vista Drive Icon - adding free space percentage in your drive icon like Vista explorer Vista Rainbar - Lightweight Vista sidebar based on Rainmeter that even consume less resources than real Vista Sidebar
Improved 3rd-party applications ViStart - Files indexing for documents search, improved reliability and compatibilities ViOrb - Improved graphic and reliability (C++ re-written) TrueTransparency - Improved reliability with improved AeroStyle's glass border WinFlip - Improved stability and reliablity
New functionalities Setup personization - Allow customizing Vista experiences upon installation without access to Welcome Center Windows XP Service Pack 3 compatibilities - Now you can enjoy Vista themes after installation with Windows XP Service Pack 3 x64 compatibilities - More secured x64 installation without getting hurt by incompatibilities
There're also a lot of bug fixes and refinements in the program but let's just keep it simple with these for now. You can experience the rest later by yourself.
Changes in Version 9.0 -Added Gavatx's Vista Rainbar 4.3 (Slim) in place of Thoosje's Vista Sidebar -Added large icon resizing option for high resolution monitors -Added Personalization setup screen for configuring current user account before installation -Added running ViStart, ViOrb and ViSplore to WindowBlinds and TrueTransparency's exclusion list (prevent stability issues) -Added ViSplore project (Vista Glass Explorer for Windows XP/2003) -Added Vista Drive Icon in place of Vista Windows Drive Icon -Added Windows XP Service Pack 3 uxtheme patching compatibilities -Fixed automate 3rd-party applications optimization requirements -Fixed graphic driver detection issues in transformation package for cases that doesn't use the first slot of driver -Fixed OS detection incompatibilities with Windows Vista -Fixed possible errors when auto-configuring user account during installation without "Express Mode" -Fixed Thoosje Sidebar's auto-configuration bug on some resolutions. -Fixed uninstallation script to terminate newly added applications such as WinFlip, TrueTransparency, etc. -Fixed Vista orb positioning in "System Properties" dialog -Fixed WindowBlinds' installation detection bug in configure user account dialog -Updated Aero Style's glass border for more visibility and less distortion for both WindowBlinds and TrueTransparency -Updated AeroStyle's glass border in TrueTransparency to simulate "little-blurring-like" WindowBlinds -Updated boot screen to traditional ones without Vista flag -Updated configure user account's installed components and applications UI -Updated "Glass" sounds scheme from Windows Vista's Ultimate Extras -Updated installation branding bar image -Updated TrueTransparency to version 0.9.4 -Updated ViOrb to version 1 (C++ re-written) |-Added start orb's right click menu |-Fixed hook recovery when explorer shell is reloaded |-Fixed always on top visibility issues with some applications including ViStart |-Updated start orb graphic to for all sides compatibilities -Updated ViStart to version 2.0 build 3467 |-Added font customization feature in settings.xml |-Added indexing file search support like Vista (you can search for extension with .ext) |-Added "Reset Shell" in menu option to reload explorer along with ViStart |-Added multi-DPI Support |-Fixed Chinese characters issue with Recent Documents |-Fixed hook recovery when explorer shell is reloaded |-Fixed start menu's hooking reliability with full screen and resolution changes |-Fixed strange ActiveX errors -Updated Visual style's top taskbar background to have the same image as bottom's like Vista -Updated WinFlip to version 0.50 -Updated wording in some areas for easier understanding -Updated x64 operating systems compatibilities