TIPS! - Turning Your Windows Vista to Windows 7 Theme

Experimenting changing my Vista laptops to use Windows 7 Theme, and so to make it work more like Windows 7. The following steps work with me, probably will also work on your Vista:

Two files you need. Download them to your computer.

• Universal Theme Patcher -http://soft3.wmzhe.com/download/deepxw/UniversalThemePatcher_20090409.zip
• Window 7 Theme - http://www.deviantart.com/download/102269037/Windows_7_Style_For_Vista_by_giannisgx89.rar

Steps:

1. Run the Universal Theme Patcher, depending on your Windows version run the -x64 (for 64bit OS) or -x86 (for 32bit OS)
2. Press the 3 "Patch" buttons to patch the needed files. (you can always restore these files back)
3. Copy the Windows 7 Theme files to your c:\windows\resources\themes. Remeber, you should have a folder "Windows 7" and a file "Windows 7 (Windows Theme File)" under the ...\themes folder.
4. Right click on your desktop, choose Personalize and then Theme. Under Theme, browse to "c:\windows\resources\themes\Windows 7" (the file)
5. Start and run Regedit, change or add this registry key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowsMetrics\MinWidth". Gives its value 56 (String REG_SZ, value)

You will need to reboot your computer when going through these steps. Here's the final look of my Windows Vista laptop!

Show Desktop Rectangular button - The Show Desktop button at the bottom right corner of Windows 7 is a handy shortcut. To add this function to Vista, download this little tool to your computer and create a shortcut to it in program startup:
http://www.deviantart.com/download/133022210/Show_Desktop_by_CeIIular.rar
Of course, there're more ways to further customize your Windows Vista to make it more like 7...