I read the thread below on windows themes, and someone mentioned the idea that it could slow your computer by a lot. I was just wondering if anyone has skinned or used a windows xp theme; if so, then how fast does your computer run now as compared to before the theme was applied? Also, is WindowBlinds the better application to use to install XP themes. Just curious, because I am kinda bored of the same ol' XP theme, and some of those themes at deviantart look pretty nice.

For linux users: While I'm on topic, how hard is it to install a linux theme? Can someone offer a link to some good linux themes.

I'd appreciate some advice.

no, but it just drags down the speed a lil'

xboxrulz

It depends how fast your cpu is and how much ram you have. But the built in windows themes should slow down your pc much. I think what would slow it down is the theme programs like style xp, those will slow down your pc a bit more than the ones in windows.

stylexp, doesn't really drag your machine alot, but all Windows theming software will anyways.

xboxrulz

i used to use stylexp with a different theme and i noticed only a slight performance decrease, with windowblinds i noticed that it sometimes stuffed up and you would have to restart your computer to fix it.

i use alienGUIEs it has alot of alienware themes for windows and i lyk invader its very kool and i have no technical problems wif it. Great program

It depends on you machine (as Poy already mentioned). Slower machines will lag due to heavy themes, whereas the difference in speed will reach nearly zero of you go to infinite pc speed.

I don't feel the difference on my pc (barton3200+/512Mb ram) and I use windows themes w/ uxthemepatch.

How much custom themes could slow down your machine depends on a variety of factors: your PC hardware (processor and RAM), the software (both your OX and the theme software), and the theme itself. I've tried a variety of custom themes, and while most have slowed my PC down considerably, there were a few that didn't.

My current theme (screenshot below) is the much downloaded Brico Pack Vista Inspirat, courtesy of CrystalXP.net. It's a really cool theme, and one I'd generally expect to slow down my computer. But to my surprise, my PC runs just fast as it did with the default XP theme. Sometimes it ran even faster than it did with the default theme—and that's on a PC with only 120+ RAM to boot! =^^=

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