Changing the look of XP is something of a cottage industry and GelXP Desktop is another addition which gives Microsoft's most loved operating system a relaxed new look.

In reality GelXP doesn't make any huge differences to the use and feel of XP but rather smooths some of its rougher edges. There are two style variations to choose from - one in blue and two in black and as many XP themes tend to do, it minimizes the taskbar size so it's not so big and chunky as in the default XP.

Installation is very simple - just copy the contents of the ZIP file to the folder C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes and select GelXP as your default theme. It would have been nice to have seen something a bit more radical from this theme - the look it gives you is very slick although no more so than the Royale Theme for XP. It would have scored more highly if the developers had added something that genuinely improved the way you use XP rather than the look.

If you do get bored easily of your XP desktop, then GelXP can at least bring a fresh feel to your desktop.

Download GelXP 2.2 in Softonic

So you’ve made the leap and installed the versatile internet browser, Firefox, but are you ready to trade in your Outlook Express for Mozilla’s open source mail application? Thunderbird is Mozilla’s award winning and free solution to manage your mail more efficiently.

Thunderbird woos users thanks to its flurry of options and the benefits of an open source application. Automatic updates ensure that you have the latest version of Thunderbird, preventing any security threats and offering you new features as soon as they’re available.

The biggest worry for users is switching from one mail application to another and losing precious information. With Thunderbird the switch is painless because you can quickly import your mail and contacts from your Outlook and set up your POP3 or IMAP account is a snap. To stay well organized we suggest that you take advantage of Thunderbird’s filters. While this option is nothing new to the experienced Outlook user, you’ll come to see that Thunderbird makes filters much more accessible, thanks to a simple selection of combinations and actions. Create distinct folders for your personal and professional mail and your newsletters and associate them with filters to avoid the hassle of constantly sorting your mail. Another feature we could single out is the integrated spell checker, a blessing if you send many emails and can’t be bothered to constantly verify your writing.

Although it isn’t visible right away, Thunderbird also features an RSS reader. Handy if you need to follow the news or specialist websites, this tool fits seamlessly into Thunderbird and you could almost forget that it is a mail application. Paste in the RSS feed from your favorite news source and the main messages window will reveal a list of all the latest feeds. The message pane is used as an integrated browser window to display the selected article.

Email is the number one source of viruses, that’s why Thunderbird offers various levels of message encryption, a spam filter and support for valid certificates. We found the spam filter particularly effective. Set it to “learn” mode, and it teaches itself to separate the valid email from the rest of the junk. You have to be mindful of this option though, because Thunderbird can become too restrictive and may decide on its own that one of your friends is suddenly persona non grata. Reviewing your junk folder every now and then should avoid you accidentally losing friends. Thunderbird also automatically turns off Javascript and by default does not load remote images, a good way to defuse the risk of viruses from dodgy emails.

Another known feature of the Mozilla line of products is customization. Just as with Firefox, Thunderbird can integrate a slew of extensions and add-ons to rev up your inbox. You can also add or remove icons from the actions pane, selecting the ones you use most frequently.

The one place where Thunderbird fails, and professionals will confirm this, is the failure to integrate Microsoft Exchange support. An essential tool in any work environment, the collaborative messaging software is sorely missed in Thunderbird and seriously limits its usefulness in offices. Furthermore, we can question why Mozilla included an RSS reader yet failed to incorporate a calendar, standard in most mail applications nowadays.

While the lack of proper business minded features will limit Thunderbird’s point in the workplace, the simplicity, customizability and security make it a number one choice for home users. If you’re worried about your safety on the Internet or are just looking for a more efficient way of handling your mail, Thunderbird is probably the best solution out there.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.10 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

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

Nubs is one of those Windows applications that add Mac functions to the Microsoft operating system. In this case, Nubs replicates the desktop tab functionality provided by the Mac app Sticky Windows.

The aim behind Nubs is to save space on Windows taskbar by minimizing windows to side tabs, especially those that are opened at all times such as Outlook, your media player and others.

With Nubs running in the background, you'll be able to minimize opened windows and active apps to tabs located on the edges of your screen, either at the top, bottom, left or right sides. Tabs can be moved along the edge and also personalized with customizable skins.

The drawback to Nubs is mainly its poor documentation. The program fails to tell you how to have it up and running (simply move any window to the side of the screen until it gets "nubbed"). It doesn't explain either how to hide windows from the taskbar once they're tabbed (check the Settings menu for that option) because otherwise the purpose of the program would be totally pointless. One last thing I didn't like is the fact that you have to minimize windows before tabbing them.

With Nubs you can minimize active windows to desktop tabs and thus save space on the taskbar. However, the program lacks documentation and needs to improve its features.

Download Nubs 1.1 in Softonic

If you're not content with Windows Vista standard appearance and want to customize it in detail, this program is for you.

Vista Visual Master lets you do loads of changes to Microsoft's new operating system, mainly referring to its visual appearance and graphic design. Tweaks are organized in different categories to make them easier to find and apply. You'll find tools to customize desktop and system icons, change logon screen and boot picture and personalize the OEM information (that is, the PC owner's name) among others. There's also a special tool to patch Windows theme DLL file, in order to be able to use third-party visual themes. The program includes a restoration function as well, in case any tweak doesn't have the desired effect or you simply want to go back to the standard configuration.

What I didn't like about Vista Visual Master is the inclusion of links to other programs under the Vista Extras tab. I felt like they were trying to fool me, while I know this is clearly ads. But then again, at least they're hidden under a tab and don't disturb the program's functionality.

With Vista Visual Master you can customize every single aspect in Windows Vista, from logon screens to desktop icons, in just a couple clicks.

Download Vista Visual Master 1.0.2.0 in Softonic

If you're considering moving to Linux but haven't made up your mind yet, ClearLooks can tip the scales in favour of the open source option. This Windows theme includes two new visual styles that resemble Linux Ubuntu's appearance, with new colors and a refreshed window style.

Simply run the msstyles file and you'll be able to choose the visual theme in Display settings. ClearLooks includes a couple of matching skins for Y'z Toolbar in case you use it, and also a cursor set that must be installed one by one in the Control Panel > Mouse configuration window. However, I missed having some wallpapers bundled in the package.

ClearLooks is a Linux-based visual style that enhances the appearance of your desktop.

Download ClearLooks 2.2 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

Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook have support for stationery, which means you can add a colourful background to your email messages and make them funnier and more personal.

This Halloween pack includes a collection of 12 stationery items that you can use in Outlook to give your emails a horrifying touch. They all display Halloween motifs such as pumpkins, witches and disguised children with treat bags. Font type is selected by default, but you can replace it with your favourite one. I couldn't change the bold setting though.

One last tip: remember to use a light text color when using a dark background – that is, if you really want to be read.

Use Haunted Halloween Stationery to send the most original Halloween emails from Outlook!

Download Haunted Halloween Stationery 3.2.2 in Softonic

Spice up your PC desktop with Visual Styler. Redesign some of the desktop icons or replace icons with one of the developer's icon packs.

You can replace about 80 system icons, including "Desktop", "My Computer" or even icons for WinZip, Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel files. The program contains a powerful Package Editor, where you can create your own icon collections and even distribute them over the Internet. You can change the icon of any file and any folder, including items in the Start menu and the Favorites

This program will awaken your inner designer with the inspiring range of Windows XP themes and welcome screens.

Download Visual Styler 3.0.10.131 in Softonic

Even if you don't have Vista, the Inspirat Bricopack will make your PC look like it’s been fitted with Microsoft’s latest Operating System. Not limiting itself to one visual style, Universal Vista Inspirat is a bulky (483 MB) yet complete theme pack made up of wallpapers, icons and appearances that will give your PC a complete makeover.

We were impressed by this Vista theme pack. Not only do you get the sleek dark menu bar characteristic of Vista, but the theme also sets up a Mac-like dock where you can nest icons of your favourite applications. They even magnify when you roll over them. With the Ubericon feature you can get that magnifying touch for every item you double click. Y’s Shadow is another feature that separates Universal Vista Inspirat from other simple Vista Themes. This feature gives a cool drop shadow to your windows, which you can easily increase or decrease and even apply to your taskbar.

Universal Vista Inspirat ingeniously improves the feel of your XP menu yet we felt a little more sceptical about the cosmetic changes it applies to other Microsoft applications. Word and Outlook are given a fresher, whiter look, but we were unimpressed by how Windows Media Player appeared, with a dubious purplish hue replacing the default sleek dark feel.

Universal Vista Inspirat is an impressive theme pack filled with original features that definitely separates it from typical Vista themes. Despite a slightly lengthy installation process and bulky file size, this theme is probably the closest you’ll get to Vista without dishing out $200.

Download Universal Vista Inspirat BricoPack 2.1 in Softonic

IconPackager is a program that allows users to change nearly all of their Windows icons at once by applying "packages" of icons. A package of icons contains icons to replace most of the common icons on your Windows PC.

What makes IconPackager special is that unlike Microsoft's themes which only change a few icons, IconPackager changes hundreds of icons. Everything from "My Computer", "Recycle Bin", Folders, all the way to specific file format icons such as .doc and .xls files and any other file type a user wishes to use.

Download IconPackager 3.2 in Softonic

Providing one of the easiest ways to change Windows into a fully skinnable OS, TopThemes manager allows you to apply popular desktop themes that can completely change the appearance of Windows, especially Windows XP Service Pack-2. It changes the wallpaper, appearance, icons, cursor, sound, logo, logon UI and screensaver much more with just one click.

Top features:

• Replaces, deletes & makes the desktop themes for Microsoft Plus
• Support for free desktop themes from TopThemes.com
• Supports automatic installation & uninstallation of desktop themes
• Create and edit a desktop themes package with just a few mouse clicks

Download TopThemes Manager 2.0.0 in Softonic

Rather than navigating step-by-step through your folder hierarchy -- view your folders quickly and go directly to any location with a single click.

Explorer Breadcrumbs is an add-in for Windows Explorer which contains a contextual series of buttons that allows you to quickly see and navigate through the entire folder hierarchy without leaving the current window.

Features:

• Saves time navigating through folders and files
• Seamless integration with Windows Explorer
• Changes appearance along with Windows themes

Download Explorer Breadcrumbs 1.2.0.2 in Softonic

This special theme was created specifically for XP with the Zune player in mind. It will turn your task bar in and windows shiny metal dark and the start button to bright orange. The Zune theme also installs a cool Zune wallpaper image for you to enjoy.

Download Microsoft Zune Theme for Windows XP 1.0 in Softonic

Royale Noir is an almost exact copy of Royale except with a dark purplish tint. If Royale was day, Royale Noir is night. No doubt about it, this is a ‘dark’ theme. If you’re the sort of person who likes bright and vivid colors, stay away from this theme.

As W3bbo pointed out, there are quite definitely issues with this theme due to its incompleteness. The most obvious being, the “Start” button’s hover and active states are unchanged from Royale, inconsistent with the purple tint surrounding. However, there is even a color scheme for Office 2003 so it will not default to the blue Luna colors.

Looking at it from the big picture, Royale Noir is a welcomed alternative to the extremely small collection of verified-by-Microsoft XP themes. However being incomplete, it is not recommended for the general consumers. Enthusiasts are welcomed to try it to stand out from the crowd, but even still, you’ll feel right at home with the familiar Luna/Royale style.

Download Royale Noir XP theme in Softonic

It seems somewhat ironic that Internet Explorer’s reign should be undermined by Firefox. After all, this is a browser that rose from the ashes of the team that developed Netscape Navigator, a program which IE ousted to claim the monopoly on the web.

It’s somewhat bizarre that a non-for-profit developer should be in a position to strike fear into world’s biggest software producer, especially while still in the 1.x stage of development of its product. Yet, as many predicted, this eagerly-anticipated release represents a real threat to Microsoft’s dominance of the browser market, with the Mozilla team pumping plenty more into the program and thus upping the bar for IE7.

Firefox was already a class product, delivering a fast and simple way to browse the web in comfort. So much so in fact that existing users might be wondering why they even need to upgrade when the current version is so much better than anything else out there.

Picture it like sitting in business class and being offered another pillow. The app now allows you to browse the web faster and more securely than ever, while retaining the incredible simplicity of previous versions of Firefox. Cosmetically, you won’t notice much difference between this and the last incarnation, but the changes that have been made are quite welcome, if not essential.

First up, is a new-and-drop facility for browser tabs, allowing you to sort and reorder your tabs just by clicking and dragging. The Preferences menu also gets an overhaul, making the options clearer and easier to access. The developers have also tweaked the ´Back’ and ´Forward’ tools, preloading cached pages to speed up surfing.

However, the main changes to the program are all hidden within the back-end of Firefox 1.5. The app comes armed with a series of security fixes, making it the safest surfing tool on the block. What’s more, all updates and security patches, including extensions, now take place in the background, meaning that you don’t have to manually install every new release – a process which can become pretty tiresome.

There’s also a new extension management system which makes it a lot easier to manage the expanding wealth of cool plug-ins for the browser. On the down-side, the new version renders many extensions and themes redundant as they are incompatible with version 1.5. That said, we all know how keen Firefox developers can be to keep up with technology, so it shouldn’t take long for the updates to these extensions to be completed.

Of course, the application retains all of the cool features that have helped make it so popular including integrated searching (now with support for Answers.com), tabbed browsing, pop-up killer, live bookmarks and support for the latest web technology.

While the tweaks within this release are reasonably subtle, Firefox is making incredible strides towards conquering the browser market. I development continues at the current pace then Microsoft is going to have its work cut out, especially as we haven't seen a release of IE since before Osama Bin Laden went missing.

Download Firefox 1.5.0.7 in Softonic

Theme Manager s a program for Microsoft Windows that allows companies to provide branded desktops. Theme Manager OEM can change virtually every part of the Windows environment -- title bars, Start bar, push buttons, icons, wallpaper, media players, and much more.

Stardock can provide both the software technology and the art resources to turn the Windows desktop into whatever you would like it to be. Your users can optionally turn it on and off with just a few clicks. It's a great way to promote your product or service, website, film, game, or just to have a branded desktop in your company.

Download Theme Manager 2.3 in Softonic

Animated cursors are animated mouse pointers that can replace the default arrow cursor in Microsoft Windows. Such animated cursor files are given the .ani extension and are recognized by Windows and any application that handles cursors. You can get more information about the animated cursor format here.

AniTuner makes the creation and edition of these animated cursors easy: everyone can create his/her own animated cursors in a snap. You can use animated cursors not only to customize the appearance of Windows (desktop themes) but also to produce animations for your Web pages, e-mails, documents, manuals or even applications...

Features:

• Open and display any animated cursor
• Convert animated GIF and AVI into animated cursors (ANI)
• Import existing image files (BMP, GIF, PNG, PSD, ICO, CUR...) to turn them into cursors or animated cursors
• Export frames from your animated cursors to several image formats
• Modify existing animated cursors and change their color depth or size
• Convert animated cursors into animated GIF, AVI, static bitmaps or even Macromedia Flash SWF movies
• Edit frames, change their duration, modify them in your favorite image editor and save changes back to the animated cursor
• AniTuner handles all cursor sizes (not only 32x32) & color depths (from 1bpp to 32bpp)
• Special support for 32-bit cursors with a 8-bit alpha channel (partial transparency for Windows 2000/XP)
• Turn your old 16 or 256-color animated cursors into 32-bit animated cursors with a semi-transparent shadow for Windows XP
• Export (and import) animated cursors as a series of PNG files (with alpha channel optionally) for easy editing
• Create animated GIFs, small Flash movies using the Frame editor and the Import/Export functions
• Browse for animated cursors on your computer and easily preview them

Download AniTuner 1.1 in Softonic