So you've got Windows XP and it has only 3 looks: Blue, Green, and Silver.  And you want to add more. How?

There are two commonly used ways to do it.  You can patch Wndows XP to support applying Microsoft's .msstyles format. Or you can use Stardock WindowBlinds  Both ways have their own pros and cons.

MSStyles / UXTHEME

When it comes to using .msstyles you need to patch uxtheme.dll to use them. There's roughly a thousand msstyles out there (though many of them are just the default Windows XP style with the color changed somewhat).

.msstyles is the skin format that the default Windows XP theme is in. But Microsoft made it so that you can't use uncertified MSStyles. Some people have gotten around this by patching Microsoft's skin engine DLL (uxtheme.dll). By disabling the digital signature checking, you can then use those third party msstyles (or you can use SkinStudio which will import them automatically into WindowBlinds).

If you decide you want to use .msstles, beware that some companies are trying to sell programs that do little more than simply patch uxtheme.dll.  Don't be fooled by slick marketing. They'll be the ones trying to tell you that their programs use "no additional resources" or "0 footprint". Worse, people have been led to believe that these programs are what are doing the skinning. They're not. UXTheme is something that's on your system. It was written by Microsoft. And contrary to what some have claimed, Microsoft has not condoned doing this.

But as a free method for users who are reasonably tech savy who like msstyles, patching uxtheme.dll and downloading msstyles is a viable way to skin Windows XP -- just don't pay someone to do it.

Also, beware of claims like uses no extra memory or "won't slow down your computer".  The fastest way to run our computer is to run Windows classic.  UXTheme.dll is a skinning engine that installs a system wide hook to intercept paint calls and injects skin data. It will take longer to do that than to un classic. But fear not, on a modern computer, you shouldn't notice the difference.

So to sum up what we have so far, uxtheme.dll in Windows XP is Microsoft's bundled skinning engine that can applies .msstyles. A svchost.exe pocess runs to manage the skin.

The advantage of .msstyles running via uxtheme is that because the included skin (Luna) uses it, it should have a high degree of compatibility. Hence, other .msstyles should be relatively compatible.  It also has the advantage of being free if you find a good uxtheme patcher.

WindowBlinds

WindowBlinds is the most popular way to skin Windows. It has its own skinning engine called wblind.dll.  Because it was designed to allow third parties to create skins for it, it has a much larger library of skins and a lot more features. The skin format for it allows skinners to make a huge variety of skins.

WindowBlinds uses lightly less memory than uxtheme because the WindowBlinds skin format is more memory efficient. In truth, however, the differences are tiny.

The avantage of WindowBlinds is that it has vastly more features and is very user friendly to get up and running. The downside is that it's not free for the enhanced version and that poorly made skins can potentially be incompatible with some lesser known programs. At the time of writing this, every third-party skin released (including ones from Microsoft) have chosen WindowBlinds for skinning.

A few other comments on uxtheme

Some people have referred to MSStyles as "Style XP themes". This would be like calling MP3s "Winamp songs". Style XP is one of those programs that charges money for patching your uxtheme.dll so that you can run MSStyles (that's not all it does, but that is the main selling point).

But if you want to patch your uxtheme.dll, there's no need to pay money to do it. There are plenty of places you can go to download your own uxtheme.dll patcher for free. But there are some caveats to patching uxtheme.dll -- you are, after all, patching a core system DLL of Windows XP. So every time you update Windows XP in any significant way you're likely to find yourself either unable to boot or at best, finding that your skins don't work anymore (this is true whether you pay money for the uxtheme patcher or not). The other problem is that you're probably violating your Microsoft EULA by modifying Microsoft's DLLs.pack.

But you can do it as long as you know what you're doing. Just make sure you know which build of Windows XP you have.

Either way though, don't let yourself be fooled into believing that patching your uxtheme and running skins that way uses no resources. That's simply a falsehood that's been repeated so often that non-technical people now believe it. Skins have to be painted. Painting requires a program. Programs require memory. Neither WindowBlinds or Microsoft's UXTheme engine use much memory or resources. But they do use some.

Here's a list of the 3 methods and the general features of both.

Feature WindowBlinds FREE WindowBlinds Enhanced UXTheme Patch Allows Windows XP users to add more visual styles Visual Styles support Changing XP Theme Aware controls Number of Native Visual Styles ~3000 ~3000 ~1000 Visual Styles support Changing XP Start Bar Supports .MSStyles visual style format * * Supports .UIS visual style format   Supports adding more controls to the title bar/border (roll-ups)   Supports multiple border/title bar sizes     Supports per-application skinning     Works on Windows 98, ME, 2000   Visual styles support animation   Visual styles support sound   Visual styles are scriptable   Visual styles support enhanced hardware acceleration   Users can control what mouse button clicks on title bar do   Certified by Microsoft   Visual styles can be made grayscale or have their brightness/contrast changed on the fly     Visual styles can have their color changed on the fly     Visual styles can change Windows program dialog animations (copy, move, delete, etc.)     Visual styles can change Windows toolbar icons     Visual styles can skin the Windows XP command prompt     Visual Styles can also skin changing XP NON-Theme Aware controls       Purchase N/A $19.95 N/A Download  Download Update  Download

* Requires SkinStudio to convert .msstyles to .UIS

So now matter what you choose, have fun and get skinning!