If you’ve had enough bad experiences upgrading your Microsoft products, you’re too poor to upgrade to Vista or you just refuse on principle, you can always customise Windows XP to make it look like Vista. The Windows Vista customisation pack gives you all the flashy features of Vista without having to shell-out a few hundred dollars for the original. It’s certainly proved a hit with Softonic users so far who have made this pack one of the site’s most popular downloads.

The pack includes a booty of Vista features including transparency of the windows, 3D Vista style icons, mouse cursors, boot screen, login screen, and a whole host of Vista themes to name a few. After installing the pack, you’ll be asked to restart, when you’ll find that your system has been through an impressive transformation although the fact that Windows Vista isn’t actually that radically different from XP, shouldn’t be held against this pack.

Amongst the major differences you will notice are some jazzy changes to your systems icons, skins and toolbars as well as new enhancements to your desktop such as a dock bar or if you prefer, a totally different system tray clock. Transfer file progress dialogs are transformed with swanky new 3D graphics and the sounds scheme has been beefed up to blow you out of your chair. Microsoft certainly spent lots of time designing these features. It was recently reported that they spent a year and a half just coming up with the start-up music alone.

Other changes include Windows Media Player which also receives a facelift although nothing worth getting excited about. The colours have been changed to a metallic-blue and the drop down menus have been replaced by an invisible menu which pops up when the mouse is waved over it. However, this feature actually becomes increasingly annoying with regular use and is best deactivated.

Whilst initially impressive, after a while these changes can cause problems. Users have reported that the new schemes not only slows down their PC’s but also cause it to crash randomly. It can also be a pain whenever there’s a problem with your PC. Since you are running a somewhat modified version of XP, normal troubleshooting guides may not work. You’ll subsequently have to uninstall the pack to make sure that it isn’t causing the problem. Fortunately however, the pack comes with an uninstaller that makes reverting back to XP simple although in time honoured Windows style, you’ll have to restart the computer.

For anyone who doesn’t add or remove programs regularly, we’d recommend this pack as it does an impressive job at emulating the $200+ Vista look. However, for those that make regular changes to their PC, the pack can end up being more hassle than its worth as the changes made can conflict with interfaces of other programs.

Download Vista Customization Pack 3.6 in Softonic

For many people, the only reason worth upgrading to Vista if for the look since the functionality and basic framework really don't differ that much from XP.

If you think the same way, then you'll be more than happy with Vista Transformation Pack. Once installed, the program makes superficial changes to XP that give it the Vista look. The main changes are that it "Vistarises" your start-up screen, cursors, sounds, screen-savers, tool bars, clock, etc. The transparent effect in Vista is hard to emulate on XP machines but by combining with Windows Blinds, Vista Transofrmation Pack does a surprisingly impressive job. Be warned however that some users have complained the program changes driver DLLs in XP which make it difficult to remove, or at least, it leaves problems behind when you do so.

To be fair to them, the developers advise you to view their user discussion board before installing to be warned of any potential problems as they readily admit that they are not aware of all the bugs it may cause. Note that if you're simply updating Vista Transformation Pack, there's no need to uninstall the original - just install the patch. They've also added a user selection feature whereby if you log onto your PC as a different user, you can select whether you want to transform your XP desktop to Vista.

This is probably one of the best transformation packs out there although be warned that it's likely that you'll suffer conflicts with programs from time to time, and may have problems with XP when it's uninstalled.

Download Vista Transformation Pack 8.01 in Softonic

Unless you’ve been living in a hut in the Gobi desert for the last few months, you’ll know that Microsoft Windows XP is no more, having being replaced by Vista. The new Operating System brings about a bevy of changes, including a revamped desktop environment, designed not only to look good, but also to improve your productivity. One of the key new features is the Sidebar, which replicates the Dashboard in OS X and allows you easy access to certain tools, such as news, web searching and your digital photos.

If you haven’t got the money (or indeed, the inclination) to upgrade to Vista, then you can recreate the Sidebar with this popular application. Despite a rather strange installation process, which fails to provide an auto-run function, the app can be set up and configured pretty quickly and comes with four useful preset ‘widgets’. The tools are a search function, image preview window, RSS feed and a rather elegant analogue clock.

Visually, all these widgets are pretty faithful to the Vista sidebar, although they lack they customisation options that you get with the new OS. For instance, the image tool doesn’t allow you to set the folder from which to display pictures, merely picking photos at random from your hard drive . All the tools are locked within a transparent bar that runs down the right-hand side of your desktop, which gets annoying after a while as there’s no way to minimize it and it ends up squashing any application window you open. Nevertheless, it represents an accurate taste of the instant-access functions you can expect in Vista.

Download Vista Sidebar XP 1.0 in Softonic

I'm about to convert to Mac myself but if I wasn't, I would definitely use Mac OSX Tiger Theme 1.3 to at least feel like I'd converted.

The skins feature the classic Aqua and Graphite schemes and the newly introduced Platinum scheme which you can find in the System Preferences and Mail programs in Mac OS X 10.4. They've also included Brushed with over 20 substyles added for good measure. The Apple menu is unfortunately, not an exact copy of the original but it's pretty close. It's basically a stripped down Start Menu that has been made to look like the Apple menu in Mac OS X. In addition, there are also left and right handed titlebar buttons for those that want their PC to look like a Mac but at the same time keep their right handed Windows buttons. The look and feel is remarkably Apple although Windows keeps creeping through especially with it's annoying sounds sometimes to spoil the illusion. If you have any widgets installed, you may also find that they don't show with this installed.

A great skin for those that either can't afford a Mac or those that simply prefer the elegant Mac look and style.

Download Mac OS X Theme 1.3 in Softonic

So you want to have Windows Vista, but you don't want to give up Windows XP yet and – of course - you don't want to spend a single cent on it. Believe it or not, we have the solution!

The answer to your prayers is called Vistamizer and it's a complete theme that will transform your current Windows XP system into a brand new Vista with all the 3D effects, transparencies, shiny icons and other eye candy. Don't worry, Vistamizer is just a Vista disguise for XP; the system core files and backbone will still be XP.

After trying a few Vista themes for XP, I was really glad to find Vistamizer, just because it's so easy to install! Unlike other similar tools, which demand external applications, third-party libraries and other strange elements, Vistamizer includes just about everything you need to have it up and running in no time. Installing it is a question of pressing on the "Next" button a few times, rebooting and you're done. Uninstallation is also very easy: as the program creates a restoration point, you won't have any problems to go back to the good ol' XP if you ever grow tired of Vista's style.

Vistamizer lets you select exactly which elements to install and which ones not. The list includes not only Vista graphical elements, but also some extra apps that reproduce Vista's features such as the sidebar, the toolbat tooltips or the 3D effect to switch between running applications. Note that if you want to uninstall any of these later on, you'll have to open the Control Panel and start the Vistamizer uninstalling process, as there's no visual interface from which to manage installed components.

On the downside, I noticed some icons don't show properly, for instance in the Start menu and My Documents folder. But in my opinion these are just minor flaws in a full featured theme that can transform Windows XP into Vista in a couple of clicks.

Vistamizer is one of the best Vista themes for Windows XP available today: it's very easy to install, lets you choose what elements and apps should be included and the final output is pretty much the closest you can get to Vista in Windows XP.

Download VistaMizer 2.2.10 in Softonic

Creating the look of Vista on XP has become something of a cottage industry, mainly because most people know that Vista IS XP just with a few fancy skins on.

VistaXP v2 VS is an excellent Vista skin for XP which gives you all the benefits of the Vista look, without paying hundreds of dollars for the upgrade. The package is inspired by the original Windows Vista look (Codename Longhorn) and the package contains two Visual Styles - Black and Silver. The Start menu (which incidentally I hate in Vista) is very realistic and manages to compact all your programs into a shorter Star menu bar than you usually get with XP. There are only 3 different fonts to choose from which surely could have been increased although fonts are not the most important thing when it comes to the look and feel of your operating system. However, it does feature the original Segoe UI font although the wallpaper is limited to the now rather dated Vista Beta 1 wallpaper. It's a shame the developer chose not to include any widgets in this pack as that would really have made it much more realistic but combined with another Vista skin pack, this could make a really impressive Vista look.

A very good Vista skin for XP although it lacks realism in some aspects but for free, you can't complain.

Download VistaXP v2 VS in Softonic

If you'd like to switch to Mac but haven't made up your mind yet, you can have a sneak peek at the operating system with the LeopardXP BricoPack.

LeopardXP BricoPack is a visual theme for Windows XP that completely transforms your old Microsoft OS into the brand new Apple system in just a couple of clicks. Unlike other visual themes that need certain libraries and drivers, or require you to install third-party apps on your own, LeopardXP BricoPack includes everything you need and is incredibly easy to install: click on the Next button a few times, wait for a while, restart and that's it.

LeopardXP BricoPack is obviously not like the real thing but it does quite a good job in trying to make Windows XP look like the Leopard OS. Not only does it install new skins, wallpapers and icons, but it also adds new functionalities such as a Mac OS style dock bar, a Spotlight clone (which by the way doesn't seem to work properly), a top toolbar and a similar file explorer. All of these are included in LeopardXP BricoPack as extra tools and you can choose not to install them. Also, LeopardXP works fine even in systems with low resources.

On the downside, there are still a few areas in which LeopardXP BricoPack could be improved: for example, there are some Windows icons that the theme doesn't replace and don't really fit in, like the Windows logon and switch off screens.

LeopardXP BricoPack is an attractive visual theme that completely transforms Windows XP into Mac OS Leopard. It includes everything you need and is extremely easy to install and uninstall.

Download LeopardXP Bricopack 1.0 in Softonic

The Royale Theme is a slick black theme for Windows XP which originally leaked out of Microsoft and onto the web in 2005.

There's no way to know but it seems to have come out of the new version of Windows Media Centre that Microsoft developed for XP. The Royale theme is remarkably similar to XP's default "Luna" theme but is a much sleeker shade of black. If you are tired of the default theme then you'll surely find something that appeals in Royale. It's also a remarkably small download at 2MB so there's no need to worry that it's going to slow down your machine although it does take up slightly more RAM so if you're on a slow machine, you might want to think twice before installing it. The installation is very simple - simply download the theme and run the EXE and it will ask you automatically where you want to install it. If you choose C:\WINDOWS path the files will automatically be placed in the Resources Folder on your computer. Once it's installed, you'll still need to activate the theme by right-clicking on you desktop, selecting Properties, then Appearance and finally Windows and Buttons. Select the Media Center Style option and click apply and the screen may go black while the theme is applied.

If you're bored with XP's default theme, this is an excellent free way to spice up your desktop and Windows itself.

Download Royale Theme for Win XP in Softonic

Since its launch about a year ago, Windows Vista has been widely criticized for several reasons: security restrictions, poor usability, lack of actual new features when compared to XP…

But what nobody complained about was the cool eye-candy included in Microsoft's new operating system, such as the 3D system to switch between active applications. What's more, this particular Vista feature has been turned into a software tool that enables you to enjoy that same 3D window switcher in Windows XP.

WinFlip is very easy to use. Simply unzip the file (no installation required), launch the program and you're ready to go. If you want to use it instead of the standard Alt+Tab, press the Windows key+Tab combination. All your active apps and opened windows will be displayed in an attractive 3D environment, where you can flip among them by pressing Tab repeatedly or choose a certain window by pressing the key associated with it.

WinFlip worked fine during our tests, although sometimes the content of some of the windows turned to complete white or complete black while flipping through them. I guess it's just a matter of further development.

WinFlip is an easy, simple - and above all, very cheap - way to have the 3D Flip function in Windows XP.

Download WinFlip 0.42 in Softonic

You may not like the way Vista works, but you have to admit it does have some nice features. One of them is the new Start menu with an embedded search field that enables you to open any file or application by just typing the first few letters of its name.

This convenient function has now been replicated for Windows XP in Vistart, a small app that requires no installation and emulates Vista's Start menu in Windows XP. Vistart is perfectly integrated in XP and works very well, although we missed some other Vista features such as the ability to move up and down the menu with arrow keys or having support for right clicking.

Try it in combination with any of the Vista-inspired visual themes available at Softonic and you'll be able to enjoy a fully Vista themed Windows XP.

Download ViStart build 2489 in Softonic

If you're someone who listens to your music collection in Windows Media Player then now, thanks to Lyrics Plugin for Windows Media Player you can enjoy the words to your songs within the player as you listen to them. As long as you're connected to the Net the program will automatically search for the lyrics and display them in real time.

Unfortunately, probably due to my rather eclectic taste in music, the application failed to provide the words to many of my tracks. However, there is a neat facility for quickly adding lyrics to a particular song so over time more songs will have lyrics attached to them as people continue to upload them. Of course, mistakes may creep in but you can always correct these yourself.

Download Lyrics Plugin for Windows Media Player 0.3 in Softonic

Some time ago Microsoft launched Royale Theme for Windows XP, a slick, elegant blueish theme that many people adopted immediately. A new Royale theme appeared after that, this time in a very elegant black. However, this dark Royale was apparently not finished and you could tell it clearly needed some polishing. The same happened with the Zune theme created by Microsoft to celebrate the launch of their MP3 player. It seemed someone had leaked them without having tested them properly.

Bearing that in mind, an independent designer has finished the job on his own and now presents Royale Remixed, a theme for Windows XP that fixes all the bugs in the Noir and Zune themes and adds everything the original themes lacked.

Royale Remixed will not only change your desktop wallpaper and windows appearance, but it will also replace your system icons, mouse cursors and system sounds with new files. The result looks like a completely new system with a really attractive design.

That said, note that Royale Remixed is not as easy to install as it seems. If you have problems installing it, it's probably because you need to patch a DLL file (see Notes). I had this issue and it took me some time and a few Google queries to find out what was happening. Also, if you want to customize the shutdown window to match the rest of the system, you'll have to modify another couple of DLL files. Fortunately, this process is very clearly explained in a TXT document included in the program's ZIP file.

Customize Windows XP with this shiny, elegant black design.

Download Royale Remixed Theme 1.47 in Softonic

Would you like to interact with any version of Windows in a 3D desktop, without loading up the system resources? Actually, there are lots of applications that allow you to do so, but they take to much system resources. Bottom line, they are useless.

However, there's a nice tool that makes 3D desktop possible under Windows 2000/XP without hogging your whole system. It's called Madotate and works pretty well. Its 3D desktop management helps organizing your work a lot. Besides, it only takes a peak usage about 5 MB of RAM.

To install it, just create a folder on your hard drive, unzip all files and run it. It also includes a plugin that adds a button on every window to make it 3D/2D.

Download Madotate 2.02.02 in Softonic

Windows Vista has some really nice eyecandy that I wouldn't mind having on my computer as well - that is, if that didn't imply changing my operating system. As long as there are apps like Vista Drive Icons, I can have some of that Vista graphic treats while keeping Windows XP.

In this case, Vista Drive Icons replaces XP drive standard icons with Vista-themed icons, including a nice blue progress bar, which enables you to see how much space you're using - and how much you have left - at a glance. It's really useful to get an idea of space management without having to open the Properties dialog.

Pity this tool doesn't work with networked drives. It will only display the bar for your local hard drives.

Add a Vista-like progress bar to your hard drive icon and see how space is being used.

Download Vista Drive Icons 1.3 in Softonic

If you're a Windows Vista user you'll no doubt be enjoying all those cool sidebar gadgets. But if you don't you can always make do with tools like Thoosje Vista Sidebar.

With Thoosje Vista Sidebar you can have a completely customizable gadgets sidebar on your desktop even if you have Windows XP. Simply run it and start adding any gadget you want by clicking on the little cross button on the top. The gadgets are quite varied and cover different needs: from the PC resources meter to the photo slideshow, from the RSS mini-reader to the weather gadget. Bear in mind that when you select gadgets for Thoosje Vista Sidebar they appear on your desktop – not on the sidebar itself – and you have to manually drag and drop them on Thoosje Vista Sidebar.

Once ready and customized with all your chosen gadgets, Thoosje Vista Sidebar looks really beautiful on your desktop. Plus, it includes some background skins to make it fit perfectly with the image you have as wallpaper. The downside to this graphical beauty is that it may slow down your system. Also, Thoosje Vista Sidebar seems to be a bit slow when opening menu windows. But the main drawback is undoubtedly the fact that you can't download new gadgets – you must stick to the ones the author provides you with in the program's configuration.

Thoosje Vista Sidebar looks beautiful on your desktop, but it may slow down your system. Also, not being able to download new gadgets is really frustrating.

Download Thoosje Vista Sidebar 2.5 in Softonic

Working with Windows all day every day I feel like I know the XP interface better than I do my own body. Although I don't want to upgrade to Vista just yet, I'm not averse to the idea of doing so in the near future, so I thought I'd give Vystal a try to escape the world of XP and experience what it might be like to work within a more modern desktop environment.

The application is designed to emulate the Vista desktop, taskbar, Start Menu, and Windows programs. When I came to run the program (which requires no installation, incidentally) at first nothing changed at all and I was beginning to wonder if the whole thing was just a big prank. However, gradually the appearance of the Windows apps was transformed as I opened them, and I was pretty impressed with the results. The window frames looked gorgeous, the transparencies were stunning and transitions smooth and seductive.

Despite the program's faithful reconstruction of the Vista interface, there were a couple of things that bugged me about Vystal. Firstly, it chews up a fair chunk of memory, occupying 10 Mb of RAM when even slightly customised. Secondly, it's pretty difficult to get rid of once it's running and I eventually needed to go into the Task Manager to shut it off. Putting these niggles aside, Vystal manages to provide a realistic simulation of the Windows Vista experience.

Download Vystal 2008 Beta in Softonic

So you want to impress your friends with your singing skill, but they only like to listen to those boring old top-40 songs; and that brand new Karaoke machine you just bought is broken. What can you do?

AnalogX Vocal Remover works on the same principles that the hardware removers do - that in most instances vocals are equally mixed in both channels, and can identified and therefore removed by simply changing the phase on one channel by 180 degrees. While this won't remove vocals in all instances, it does work in many cases, and can sometimes be used to remove bass or breakbeat sections as well, which I find to be GREAT for sampling! Depending on the effects used on the vocals, sometimes the reverb or ambience of the vocals is left.

In order to use the DirectX Vocal Remover, your application must support DirectX Audio Plugins, and must also support either realtime or non-realtime processing (such as Paris, Cakewalk, WaveLab, CoolEdit, etc). Vocal Remover requires a stereo sound streams, and supports either 16bit or 32bit data types.

Download Vocal Remover 1.03 in Softonic

The Vista sidebar was one of the most popular new features included in Microsoft's operating system, and it still remains as a very attractive way to display information bits in the shape of customizable gadgets. Now, with Windows Sidebar Styler, you can customize it even more and take advantage of all its possibilities.

This neat tool includes several skins (called "styles") to change the sidebar's appearance, as long as the ability to freely resize it. It will also allow you to run more gadgets because it supports WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).

Windows Sidebar Styler is easy to install, but I had some problems while testing it. The styles didn't seem to work, the program displayed a "installation successful" message but nothing changed. After reading the develeoper's blog, I found out that you may have to change permissions in the folder AppData\Windows Sidebar Styler directory and make it writable, or just restart your sidebar completely.

Customize your Vista sidebar with styles and more powerful gadgets.

Download Windows Sidebar Styler 2.0.6 in Softonic

FlyakiteOSX is a transformation pack. It will transform the look of an ordinary Windows XP+ system to resemble the look of Mac OS X. The installer simply automates the process of replacing critical system files, setting registry tweaks, and installing extras such as cursors, sounds, visual styles, etc.

In case you are not happy with the results of FlyakiteOSX, everything is completely removable. Just run the uninstaller from the Start Menu or from Add/Remove Programs. FlyakiteOSX does not contain any spyware or ad-ware of any kind. All files needed for FlyakiteOSX are stored in the Windows directory in a folder named 'FlyakiteOSX' that is hidden by default.

Download FlyakiteOSX 3.5 in Softonic

If, like many, you´ve been sucked in by the horribly addictive Sims video game on the PC then you´re sure to love this fully featured theme. It includes a wallpaper featuing some of the characters from the game, plus some clever icons that are made out of objects that you´ll recognize from playing.

Download The Sims PC Game - 2 Themes in Softonic