When I first started running Windows XP, I had heard all the hype about being able to add new themes to the o/s. The way I look at it is, if I'm going to stare at something for hours every day, I don't want it to be gray. A little colour never hurt anyone. Heck, look at those eternally perky Apple users.

To my disappointment, it turns out that while XP has native support for themes, it is a bit more complicated than just going to your Display Properties and swithching. You either need a third-party theme manager, such as StyleXP ($19US); or you need to do a little hacking of your XP installation.

The good news is that once you do that, you can choose from thousands of free themes from sites like ThemeXP.

The option to modify your XP installation to support Themes for free is the way to go— if you're an 'advanced user'. I have done it several times myself, but to be honest, it sometimes takes me a few attempts to get it right. If you are a bit squeemish, you might consider creating a system restore point before beggining.

If you have Service Pack 1 installed, download these files. Otherwise, grab these ones. In either case, you will find the instructions in a text file.

Oh, and one more thing: I've had these files on my computer for a while, and I can't remember where I got them from. Please be aware that you may proceed at your own risk.

My favorite themes are Longhorn (screenshot) and Corona (screenshot).