Make Windows Look like a Mac

Microsoft Windows is inherently uncool.

Sorry, its the truth.

But you can tweak your PC to make it look like a perfect blend of the Windows and Macintosh graphical interfaces.

First, you'll need Neowin's UXTheme Patcher. This patches the Windows dynamic link library file that relates to "themes," or visual styles.

For clarification, to change between themes that come pre-installed, right click anywhere on your desktop and select properties. Make sure the Themes tab is checked.

From this tab, you can switch between the themes that come pre-installed with Windows - a Windows Classic interface that resembles Windows 98 and Windows 2000, or a new Windows XP theme.

Now, back to the UXTheme Patcher. This will alter Windows to accept themes that it normally would not accept - themes that are intended for third-party desktop altering software like WindowBlinds. The difference between this technique and WindowBlinds is that we aren't installing any unnecessary software - we are simply tweaking our PC.

After downloading and running the Neowin UXTheme Patcher, we will go download a cool theme. I prefer the Mac OS X Panther theme version 1.5. It is a very nicely done theme.

Download this theme, or any other theme you'd like from sites like WinCustomize.com. Now, its time to install our theme.

Unzip the theme and place the contents in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes. Now, go to your desktop and right click. Select properties and ensure that the Themes tab is selected. From the drop down box, pick "Browse..." and navigate to the folder you extracted the files to. Find the ".theme" file and double-click it. Your new theme should now appear in the drop-down box. Select it, and click okay.

You should see the magic start to happen.

One the process is finished, you have a nice new desktop interface. Very cool.

But do you like the task bar at the bottom or top? I prefer top. To move yours to the top, right click on the taskbar and ensure that "Lock the Taskbar" is not checked. Then left-click and drag the bar to the top of the screen.

On Macintosh systems, the bar appears on the top, but its really just a matter of preference.

A view of my Windows XP desktop looking like a Mac.

Credit: Matthew Nelson

Copyright: Matthew Nelson