Windows vista look like windows 7

If you are using Windows Vista and want to transform Windows Vista into Windows 7, this tutorial will definitely help you.

Windows 7 provides lots of new features along with a newly designed interface. It looks very similar to Windows Vista but there are many GUI changes like redesigned taskbar, Explorer, new boot screen and login screen, etc.

After following this tutorial, you’ll be able to make your Windows Vista look-like Windows 7. Following is a list of things which are going to be changed after following this tutorial:

• Windows Theme or Visual Style
• Boot Screen
• Login Screen or Welcome Screen
• Taskbar
• Wallpaper
• About Windows Box
• Extras like “Aero Shake“, “Aero Snap“, “Aero Peek” and “Calculator“
• A Few Other Mods…

NOTE 2: If you get “Cannot create file” error message while saving the file, please check this tutorial.

So here we start our transformation tour:

1. Windows Theme or Visual Style:

Windows 7 provides a new refreshing look which includes redesigned taskbar and start menu, Windows Explorer and a few other small changes.

You can get the same look by using an excellent theme created by our friend “DJ Gx“.

Download Windows 7 Theme for Windows Vista

2. Boot Screen:

Windows 7 contains a new animated boot screen which shows animated items/balls that come together to form Windows logo.

You can get a similar boot screen in Windows Vista:

Download Windows 7 Boot Screen for Windows Vista

3. Login Screen or Welcome Screen:

Windows 7 login screen looks similar to Vista login screen except the new background image and the text displayed at bottom.

Download Windows 7 Login Screen for Windows Vista

4. Taskbar:

Windows 7 taskbar has been highly redesigned. It doesn’t show opened program’s name in their taskbar buttons, instead it only shows their icons. Also the taskbar buttons are a bit large in their size.

You can get the same behavior in Vista by using following tutorial:

Get Windows 7 Iconized (Icon Only) Taskbar Feature in Windows Vista

Or you can use following small utility which can do the task automatically:

Taskbar Iconizer: Utility to Iconize Taskbar in Windows Vista

To increase the taskbar buttons size:

Get Windows 7 Like Large Taskbar Buttons in Windows Vista

You can also use following tool to get Windows 7 look-like Superbar in Vista:

ViGlance: Get Windows 7 Look-Like Superbar in Windows Vista

Windows 7 taskbar also allows you to move taskbar buttons to change their positions, you can get the same feature in Windows Vista by using “Taskbar Shuffle” utility:

Taskbar Shuffle: Move Taskbar and System Tray Buttons in Windows

And if you want to get the small “Show Desktop” rectangle at the end of Taskbar just like Windows 7, please visit following topic:

Get Windows 7 “Show Desktop” Taskbar Icon in Windows XP & Vista

5. Wallpaper:

You can get Windows 7 Desktop wallpaper using following link:

Download Wallpaper (via thevista.ru)

6. About Windows Box:

You’ll need to change the top logo in the About Windows dialog box so that it can look like Windows 7:

Download the required BITMAP files from here:

Download About BMPs

Now go to “C:WindowsBrandingBasebrd” folder and look for a file “basebrd.dll“.

Once you find the file, take its ownership using following tutorial:

Add Take Ownership Option in File / Folder Context Menu in Windows Vista

Now open this “basebrd.dll” file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the downloaded BMP files:

Bitmap -> 100 -> 1033 (replace with About_Windows.bmp)
Bitmap -> 101 -> 1033 (replace with About_Windows.bmp)

Bitmap -> 110 -> 1033 (replace with About_Windows_Separator.bmp)
Bitmap -> 111 -> 1033 (replace with About_Windows_Separator.bmp)

Save the file and you have done.

Windows 7 provides 3 new features which are called “Aero Shake“, “Aero Snap” and “Aero Peek“.

“Aero Shake” is quite useful. Suppose you have more than one windows opened and you want to minimize all other windows except the window which you are working on, then you have to simply shake the current window with your mouse and all other windows will be minimized automatically. Shake it again and all minimized windows will be maximized again.

Using “Aero Snap“, you can minimize, maximize, resize windows by just dragging-dropping them to the screen corners.

“Aero Peek” has replaced the old “Show Desktop” button. It can be found as a small rectangle present at the end of Windows 7 taskbar. When you hover the mouse cursor over it, it allows you to peek behind all open windows by hiding all windows and showing only outlines of all windows.

There are several 3rd party software available to provide these features in Windows Vista. You can find them at following link:

Ultimate Collection of Free Tools to Get Windows 7’s Aero Snap, Aero Shake and Aero Peek Features in Vista

Windows 7 also contains a new redesigned Calculator which has new GUI and new options.

You can get the same calculator in Windows Vista using following link:

Get Windows 7 Calculator Working in Windows Vista

8. A Few Other Mods:

1. Windows 7 shows 2 extra options in Desktop context menu ( i.e. when you right-click on Desktop). The 2 extra options are:

• Screen resolution
  
• Gadgets

“Screen resolution” shows the graphics card settings page where you can change the monitor and resolution settings.

“Gadgets” opens the Add gadgets window so that you can add new gadgets to your sidebar.

You can get both these options in Vista desktop context menu:

Get Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu in Windows Vista

2. One of new redesigned features in Windows 7 is new “Window Color and Appearance” tab in Desktop Properties. When you right-click on Desktop and select “Personalize” and then go to “Window Color and Appearance” tab.

You can get the same Windows 7 “Window Color and Appearance” tab in Vista using following tutorial:

Get Windows 7 Like “Color and Appearance” Tab in Windows Vista

That’s all for now. After following all the above mentioned steps, you’ll get Windows 7 look-n-feel in Windows Vista.

UPDATE: We are pleased to announce that this tutorial has been featured in official Windows magazine.

Gettng tired of the look of your Vista desktop? By using MSStyles, a wallpaper change, a simple change to your Sidebar and a small registry change, you can have your Vista looking like the Windows 7 interface.

To make things simple (and to maintain a transparency effect when your windows are maximized), download and install VistaGlass as described here.

Theme:
1. You need to download the Windows 7 for Vista theme by giannisgx89 at Deviantart.

2. Make sure that you are running Aero.

3. Open export the Windows M3 directory from the RAR file to C:WiondowsResourcesThemes.

4. Open the Windows M3 directory and double-click on Windows M3.msstyles.

5. When the Appearance Settings window appears, select Apply and then click the OK button.

Wallpaper:
You can find the wallpaper at istartedsomething (either 1600×1200 or 1920×1200).

Desktop Gadgets:
To hide your Sidebar, but keep your Gadgets, follow these quick steps:

1. Drag any Gadgets you wish to use, from the Sidebar to the desktop.

2. Once the Gadgets have been moved, right-click the Sidebar and select Close Sidebar.

To change the Taskbar to show icons only for open applications:
Vishal Gupta at AskVG.com shows you how to modify your registry and add a WindowMetrics value to gain the effect.

Just unzip the reg file, right-click it and select Merge.

After the registry has been changed, log off your system. When you log back on, the effect will be in place.

When you are finished, your Vista will go from looking something like this:

to something like this:

Here’s a closer look at the Taskbar:

The release of Windows 7 is just around the corner, and while I’m confident Windows 7 will be a big seller, there are people who are still hanging on to Windows XP.  XP is still a fantastic operating system, but you can make XP look just like Windows 7 without much trouble at all.

This is what your default Windows XP desktop looks like.

Changing that desktop into one that looks very much like Windows 7 will take just a few minutes in all, and the result will be surprising!  First thing you need to do is download WindowBlinds.  This lets you change the themes, or skins, of Windows to one of thousands available for download on a variety of sites such as WinCustomize.com. 

After you get WindowBlinds installed, you will need to find a great looking Windows 7 theme to use.  There are plenty available, and you can find one that looks exactly like Win7, or one that modifies it with different styles.  Either way, it’s your choice.

The two themes I recommend are Windows 7 Ultimate RC3 by saorpirbd and Windows 7 – Build 7057 by butch123.

Once downloaded and installed, just open up WindowBlinds and you will see a list of pre-installed themes, and themes that you may have downloaded yourself.

All you have to do now is browse through your installed skins, and select the one you want to use.  You will see a preview before you apply the theme, and there are several features available that will let you recolor your skin, or add and adjust transparency and blur.  When ready, just click Apply.

Now your desktop should look much like this.

Looks great, huh?  You might have noticed the icons in that screenshot look like Windows 7 as well.  I changed those using IconPackager, which changes all the Windows icons at once.  You don’t have to stop with just the desktop theme and icons, you can also change the logon screen with the free application LogonStudio.

With very little effort we took the boring, standard look of Windows XP and turned into a near identical look of Windows 7.  The best thing about using WindowBlinds to get this look is you can just as easily change it to look like anything else, including tons of custom created themes. 

I did all of this on a Windows XP system, but you can get similar results on Windows Vista as well.  For more information, visit www.windowblinds.net.

Let’s be realistic: Windows 7 is pretty much going to be like Windows Vista with a fresh coat of UI paint and a few needed bug fixes.

Granted, some of the new interface tweaks are pretty slick, which is why software developers have already started cranking out copycat tweaks for Windows Vista (and, in some cases, XP).

If you don’t feel like waiting until the end of 2009, you can trick out your current version of Windows to look and act much like Microsoft’s lucky 7.

(Note: Some of the homebrew utilities mentioned below are unsupported and/or still in their beta-testing stage. I’ve used them all successfully, but proceed at your own risk.)

User Account Control

Vista’s most vilified feature, User Account Control, will be a little less obnoxious in Windows 7: You can choose from four security levels that dictate how often UAC will bug you.

Norton User Account Control, a free (and “experimental”) download from Symantec’s Norton Labs, extends similar courtesies to Vista users, replacing the stock UAC with a version that delivers fewer duplicate intrusions, a ‘Don’t Ask Me Again’ option, and useful details about the nature of the security alert.

Alternatively, check out UAC Snooze, a system tray utility that puts Vista’s UAC to sleep for a designated period of time–helpful if you’re planning to do some system tweaking and you don’t want to be bothered every step of the way.

The Taskbar

Windows 7 has drawn raves for its overhauled taskbar, which sports big, inviting icons and lets you “pin” frequently used applications and documents. Well, guess what: You can get an almost identical taskbar in Vista with just a few clicks.

For starters, right-click the taskbar and then click Toolbars, Quick Launch. You’ll see a batch of small icons next to the Start button.

Next, make sure the taskbar is unlocked by right-clicking it again and clearing the check mark next to Lock the Taskbar. That action adds a handle to the right side of the Quick Launch toolbar; drag it to the right to make more room for icons.

Finally, make the icons larger and more 7-ish by right-clicking the taskbar a third time and choosing View, Large Icons. (Make sure to click in an open area, not directly on an icon.) To add programs, folders, or even documents to your new and improved taskbar, just drag and drop ’em.

You can take one last, optional, step: When you mouse over a taskbar icon in Windows 7, it produces a pop-up thumbnail preview of the corresponding program (if that app is running, that is). To get the same effect in Vista, install EnhanceMyVista Free, click Customization, Taskbar, and then enable Iconize your Taskbar.

The Taskbar, Part 2

Speaking of “iconizing,” Windows 7 uses nothing but icons on the taskbar, even for programs that are currently running. If you like the idea of doing away with the text that traditionally accompanies taskbar program icons, a simple Registry tweak will make it happen.

1. Click Start, type regedit, and press Enter.

2. Find and click the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl

PanelDesktopWindowMetrics value.

3. In the right pane, right-click in an open space and choose New, String Value.

4. Name the new string MinWidth, and then set the value to -255.

5. Exit the Registry Editor, and restart your system.

Presto! Now you’ll have only icons in your taskbar. If you don’t like the look after all, return to the Registry and delete the newly created entry.

Shortcuts

I love keyboard shortcuts, and Windows 7 brings a bunch of new ones to the party. For example, you can press Windows-Space to make all your open windows transparent or Windows-Home to minimize all windows except the one you’re using.

Sound good? Then grab the tiny Windows 7 Shortcuts utility, which adds half a dozen of 7’s best shortcuts to XP and Vista. Here’s what you get in addition to the two mentioned above:

• Windows-Up Arrow: Maximizes the current window.

• Windows-Down Arrow: Minimizes the current window or restores it to its previous size if already maximized.

• Windows-Left Arrow: Docks the current window to the left side of the screen.

• Windows-Right Arrow: Docks the current window to the right side of the screen.

A Versatile Calculator

Windows 7 sports a seriously spiffy new calculator. The number-cruncher includes Programmer, Statistic, and Scientific modes, and comes with handy templates for figuring stuff like mortgage payments and gas mileage.

To take the new <a href=”http://www.box.net/shared/y7tdnm9y2a#Windows7-calculatorWindow Tricks” target=”_blank”>Calculator for a test drive in Vista, just extract the .zip file and run calc.exe–you have nothing to install.

Windows 7 makes window management much easier than any previous version of the OS has, starting with docking: Just drag a window to the left or right side of the screen to “dock” it there at half the screen width–a terrific option in these days of wide-screen monitors. (You can drag the window away again to restore it to its former size.)

AeroSnap brings this desirable capability to both Vista and XP. It even maximizes windows dragged to the top of the screen, just as Windows 7 does.

The upcoming OS also promises to give users the shakes: When you click and “shake” any open window, all other windows automatically minimize. Shake the lone window again, and the rest pop back open. Lifehacker’s AeroShake utility lets Vista and XP users get their shake on, too, though the implementation isn’t quite as smooth.

Finally, you can try Aero Peek, which mimics Windows 7’s new “show desktop” feature: Mouse over an icon in the system tray, and all your open windows immediately turn transparent.

Aero Peek doesn’t give you that transparency, and you have to click to activate it, but it does leave behind “ghost” images of where your windows were. (A second click restores them.)

Personally, I’m just as happy with pressing Windows-D, which minimizes and restores all open windows in much the same way, but if you want a more Windows 7-esque experience, Aero Peek is your answer.

The ‘Shut Down’ button

When you click the Windows 7 Start button, you’ll see an actual ‘Shut Down’ button rather than a cryptic icon–which, by default in Vista, puts your system to sleep instead of turning it off.

Though you can’t easily change the look of the button, you can change its function. Here’s how.

1. Click Start, type Power Options, and press Enter.

2. Click Change plan settings for your selected power plan, and then click Change advanced power settings.

3. Expand the ‘Power buttons and lid’ tree, then the ‘Start menu power button’ tree.

4. Change the setting from Sleep to Shut down.

5. Click OK, and then close the remaining windows.

Now, when you click Vista’s little power icon in the Start menu, it will truly shut down your PC.

ISO-Burning Capabilities

Windows 7 can burn ISO images to CDs, so you can crank out your own bootable discs. To do likewise in Windows XP or Vista, just install ISO Recorder. It’s free, and it offers more features than Windows 7’s burn tool does.

Source: PC World