Windows XP visual styles

Windows XP visual styles are a way to change how Windows XP looks. "Luna", "Royale", "Zune", and "Embedded" are all official visual styles made by Microsoft.[1] The default visual style is "Luna" for Windows XP Home and Professional but other versions such as Windows XP Media Center Edition or Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 come with "Royale" and "Embedded" set as their default visual style. Microsoft also allows you to download other visual styles from their website.

Custom visual styles

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Windows only loads visual styles allowed by Microsoft by default.[2] Due to this, custom visual styles can only be loaded if the uxtheme.dll file is changed to allow custom visual styles.[3][4] Microsoft knows about this and tells people with the changed file to keep a Microsoft version of the file in case problems happen after updates are installed.[5]

References

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  1. ↑ US patent 7752631, Dorn, Karlheinz; Plendl, Mario; Scharf, Christian; von Stockhausen, Hans-Martin, "Device and method for a graphical user interface", issued 2010-07-06, assigned to Siemens 
  2. ↑ Orlowski, Andrew (2001-02-16). "Compatibility woes derail Windows XP Visual Styles". The Register. Situation Publishing. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  3. ↑ Jijau, Dragos (2007-01-18). ""Hack" Windows XP Visual Styles". Softpedia. SoftNews NET. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  4. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Jason (2008-09-30). "How to Use Custom Windows Visual Styles". Lifehacker. Gawker Media. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  5. ↑ "Third-party themes programs may not work as expected after you install Windows XP Service Pack 3". Microsoft Support. Microsoft. 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2012-04-30.