The Start menu is supposed to give you quick access to programs and files, but it often ends up being a real mess. This is the time when you need some alternative like Executor.

Despite its scary name, Executor is a nice, useful application that enables you to open files and launch your favorite applications and websites just by typing the keywords you have previously assigned to them. What's more, as the program auto-completes each entry, the first few letters are usually enough. The program also includes some built-in keywords for the most common tasks, such as performing a Google search or opening the Control Panel.

Executor features an extensive configuration menu that enables you to customize every single detail. It also has support for skins, but the included skins are generally very dark and hard to read. Luckily enough, you can create your own personal color combination and save it as skin.

Download Executor 0.98b 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

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

Let's admit it: Windows Vista does have some graphical eyecandy that many of us would like to enjoy too, that is, if we could have it without having to give up on our beloved XP.

Well, who say we can't? Here's the trick: download TrueTransparency, copy it to any folder on your hard drive (no installation required) and you'll be able to add a sleek transparency effect to your windows. It's as easy as that! Just bear in mind that it may not work with all your apps (during my tests, for instance, Winamp didn't get the Vista look) but most system windows and standard applications will show off a shiny transparent look.

Like I said, the program doesn't require installation and hardly uses any system resources. From the little icon displayed on the system tray you can change between two different skins, set the program to be run on Windows startup and also close it when you grow tired of so much transparency and want to go back to traditional Windows XP windows.

TrueTransparency is a very quick, simple way to have the Vista transparency effect on your XP windows.

Download TrueTransparency 0.9.3 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

If you've been disillusioned by Vista and wish that you'd bought a Mac (since that's what Vista is trying to emulate anyway) then you might be impressed by Vista OS X V3.

Vista OS X is a transformation pack for the 32-bit editions of Windows Vista. The installation is very simple and gives you full control over what elements you want to install, change or modify in Vista. These include features such as the look and style of Vista, the folder and Explorer styles and skins for various applications. Often with these programs, there is a concern that it may change fundamental aspects of Windows Vista that can cause conflicts. We can't guarantee this won't be the case for you but the good thing is that the program creates a restoration point during installation so if you do suffer any problems, you can easily roll back. If you prefer, you can install Vista OS X V3 on a partition so that your original installation of Windows is not affected in any way.

This is a very impressive Vista-Mac transformation pack which gives a realistic Mac feel although there's no guarantee that it may not start to cause conflicts within Vista after prolonged use.

Download Vista OS X V3 in Softonic

The term ‘widget’ has traditionally been used to describe some kind of contraption or piece of technology that improves the overall functionality of a particular product. Mac OSX and Microsoft Vista users will be all too aware of how software widgets can bring more power to your desktop, as they now come as standard on these operating systems. For the benefit of the uninitiated, a widget is basically a small application that provides you with easy access to a particular function. These applications are docked on a ‘dashboard’, and you can add as many widgets as you like, giving you instant access to anything from a simple clock to a weather forecasting tool.

Yahoo! was one of the early pioneers of widgets, and this application is likely to intrigue anyone who hasn’t come across the technology before. The package sits on your desktop and allows you to download and install widgets from the Yahoo! site. There’s a healthy range of widgets available here (almost 4,000), each of which are installed automatically as soon as they’re downloaded. Although this helps to keep things simple, it’s frustrating that you cannot change the destination folderwhich folder the widgets are stored in here.

While it all runs from the same package, each widget is actually its own application. In previous releases of the Widget Engine, this had a tendency to tie up your system rescoursces when using multiple widgets. However, tThis issue has been better addressed in this version, and it seems much less memory-intensive than before. Having said this, it’s not a good idea to keep more than about 10 running at once, as you do start to notice it then.

In terms of the widgets themselves, it would obviously be impractical (and quite frankly, boring) for us to review all 4,000 here, but needless to say there are some very useful ones, along with some downright pointless ones. For instance, we can’t really see the benefit of having a dancing skeleton on your desktop , yet there are tools for checking stock quotes, accessing iTunes, organizing your Flickr images, checking your WiFi signal and getting the latest travel news, all directly from your desktop. Graphically, the widgets are very impressive and each of them floats over the screen without the constraints of traditional window borders, ensuring they don’t intrude on your other activities.

We like the fact that you don’t need to register a Yahoo! account in order to use widgets but Yahoo! still doesn’t allow Desktop Widgets to be included on My Yahoo! pages, overlooking something both Microsoft and Google already allow. Although the program doesn’t really add anything you won’t find in Vista’s built-in widgets system, it’s perfect for XP users who want a taste of what they can expect when they get around to upgrading to the new version of Windows.

Download Yahoo! Widgets 4.5 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

If there's something positive about Vista, that's its visual appearance. The Aero style, packed with jaw-dropping 3D effects and transparent windows, makes an eye-catching operating system. And now you can add that style to Firefox too!

Simply install this theme and select it from the Tools - Add-ons menu, and you'll tweak the browser's interface so that it perfectly matches the Vista design. In fact, the skin uses IE7 buttons, which I must admit suits Firefox well. However, I didn't like having all those extra Favorite buttons on the tab bar and not being able to remove them.

Needless to say, you can use this theme even if you don't have Vista, but it doesn't look quite as nice.

Download Vista-aero Theme 2.0.0.8 in Softonic

WallAgent is a Wallpaper Changer which changes your desktop wallpaper automatically like a slideshow or desktop changer. You can select wallpapers from either a remote server or your own computer. To take the hassle out of it, it's best to use auto mode which means that WallAgent will select a category and download all wallpapers for your desktop. The problem with this is that the quality can be very dodgy as it doesn't seem to discriminate between resolutions.

It's really nice though to be able to set your own photos such as holiday trips or family celebrations and watch them roll. It also has a very good looking Vista style skin which gives it an extra touch of class. Although it uses few system resources, I did find it very slow to respond however when I wanted to use the computer. Overall though, much less hassle than having to change your desktop background all the time.

Download WallAgent 0.2.0.80 Beta 3 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

View images in countless formats, and apply a variety of effects with this small, fast, and powerful application. Dimin Viewer incorporates unique visualization ideas, like Panoramic Photographs Tool and Big Image Navigator. It also features multi language interface to feel yourself at home!

Take a look at what this program can do for you:

• Thumbnail view with cache
• Easy Read/Write multi-page images e.g. TIFF, GIF
• Multi-monitor support, full screen monitor selection
• Skin support
• Smart sorting methods for Play List and Thumbnails
• Slide show with different effects
• Multi folder file manager tool, very convenient for fast image organizing
• Batch conversion and file rename tools
• Advanced filter scripting
• Advanced zoom tool allows perform most common operations using only your mouse Zoom, Hand move, Walk on Play List, etc.
• Really cool modern user interface naturally blending with Windows XP and Windows Vista
• Supports many image formats, including popular such as: JPEG, GIF, TIFF, JPEG-2000, also supports many Digital Cameras RAW formats and provides RAW image size guessing function
• Advanced Metadata support, including EXIF, IPTC, GeoTIFF, GeoJPEG-2000, Fluoview TIFF, etc. Embedded IPTC viewer/editor, read/write support for EXIF, GeoTIFF and GeoJPEG2000, cross conversions and enhanced metadata preview

Download Dimin Viewer n5 5.2.5 in Softonic

This awesome clock is a desktop extension - it will stay on your desktop ignoring all mouse and keyboard input, so it won't interfere with any other application. The communication with the clock, including changing the size, position, transparency level ,alarm hour and more, is done using the clock's tray icon.

Analogue Vista Clock is fully configurable, it allows you to change it's appearance - it comes with two outstanding Vista-look skins, but registered users can download more or make their own skins! It let you choose 5 build in alarm sounds but you can use it to play any file you want or even randomly play sound files from selected folder/directory. You can define which days of the week alarm should be played. Furthermore, if the alarm is set and the clock is running, it will wake up the computer if it is hibernated or in standby mode.

Download Analogue Vista Clock 1.0.7 in Softonic

If you’re yearning to experience the dapper new Windows Vista interface but don’t fancy splashing out for an upgrade yet, then VistaXP is the perfect antidote. There’s no doubt that the XP styling is well past its sell-by date and this Visual Style provides a classy alternative modelled on the new OS.

Although VistaXP takes a bit longer to apply than most Visual Styles, you’re rewarded with a very accurate recreation of Vista’s window bars, taskbar and Start Menu. The style applies a sleek gun metal shell to your windows and program icons in the taskbar glow a brilliant deep blue when rolled over. Likewise the Start button turns a gorgeous green when you hover over it.

Unfortunately the visual style doesn’t include a Vista background or any of the innovative new desktop features of Microsoft’s latest operating system. However, by installing the Vista wallpaper and Vista Sidebar, you can get a true feel for the OS. Of course, you won’t get access to the fancy new file management tools, but it’s sure to raise a few eyebrows when your friends and colleagues pass your computer.

Download VistaXP V3 WB 3.1 in Softonic