The default Windows XP theme is called Luna. This is the rather disgusting blue taskbar, program title bars/borders and the big green Start button. It looks awful.

Luna can be changed to either Olive Green (equally disgusting) or Silver (the only which looks good out of the set for Luna).

Many people can’t stand Luna and switch to the “Windows Classic” theme. But wouldn’t it be great if there was a theme in between Luna and Windows Classic that feels “just right”? HmmXP is it. It’s got the perfect blend of form and function as far as an XP theme goes.

HmmXP works for Windows 2000 (will not work in 2000), Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. I guarantee you will like it.

The video below shows exactly how to get it installed and running. It only takes a few minutes and it’s easy.

Ordinarily I am very, very against "skinning" a web browser because it usually makes it perform like absolute crap. Usually what will happen is that some internal menus won’t work and sometimes it even interrupts web site loading.

However, when I saw that Personas was actually developed by Mozilla Labs themselves (i.e. the guys and gals who made the browser), I gave it a try.

Said honestly, it works great.

When you first install Personas and restart FF, you get this:

(click for larger)

I like the fact that right as you restart you notice a difference and it looks good. At the bottom left is a small fox icon that it tells you to "click to get started". When you do, a menu pops up where you can instantly change the look without restarting the browser – and that’s very much appreciated because restarting just for a theme/skin change is annoying.

Not all the skins look good obviously, but some are pretty snazzy like the "Firefox Robot" one from Firefox:

 
(click for larger)

Side note: If you want a hidden easter egg for Firefox where you see the robot, type about:robots in the address bar, press enter and watch what happens. Mozilla has a thing about robots.. whatever.

This is a nice fun way to customize Firefox’s look without breaking anything, so I definitely give it the thumbs up, and marks the first time I’ve ever recommended a "skinner" for a browser.

And by the way, yes you can create your own skins – and easily. Go to Persona’s Preferences, check off Show Custom Persona in Menu, click OK, click the fox icon, click Custom Persona then Edit. Start your edits from there and customize however you like.

For a while now I’ve been using the Zune Windows XP theme (download). That one is by Microsoft and a complete theme compared to Royale which is incomplete (there are "rough" spots here and there).

I like the "Classic" XP theme but it’s a bit too bland. However there is an alternative called HmmXP. It is not by Microsoft and requires a DLL hack to get it to work.

Before explaining how it’s installed, this is what it looks like:

Above: The Start Menu is modified so "Start" is gone and replaced by a small flag icons, words are eliminated to show icons only. This is called the "Compact Menu".

Above: This is the "Normal Menu" view. Still minimal but more in line with how XP usually looks.

Above: HmmXP has several options on how the theme can look.

Above: With "Codename Whistler" selected, the top right of windows get a pixelated fading look.

Above: Applications in the taskbar do not have dividers, but it’s still easy to select anything you want.

I personally give this theme a thumbs up and have switched off the Zune theme to use this. It’s sort of like a "Classic Enhanced" of sorts. Looks very nice and is very functional.

HmmXP Download: http://fugacious.deviantart.com/art/HmmXP-2-0-1-5514034

But yes I did say this requires a DLL hack to get it to work.

The tool required to install this hack is  Uxtheme Multi-Patcher 6.0. You must run it, follow the instructions carefully and slowly, then reboot once.

Once you do that, you extract the HmmXP theme into the following directory:

C:\WINDOWS\RESOURCES\THEMES

This is what mine looks like:

"Luna" is the standard Windows XP theme everybody is familiar with, as is "Windows Classic". "Zune" is the one I downloaded prior from Microsoft, and the new one is HmmXP.theme along with its HmmXP folder that came with the archive file.

The archive file is a RAR file. You can extract with WinRAR or the freely available 7-Zip to "unzip" the file so you can extract it to the proper folder.

After the Uxtheme installation, the reboot and the extraction of the archive to the themes folder, you will be able to select it from Display Properties.

Final note: If this doesn’t suit your fancy and want to undo what Uxtheme did, just run it again and it will restore your old DLL for you.