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By George RoseInformation Systems

Looks like Vista!

Do you like the looks of Microsoft Vista's newly revamped GUI (Graphical User Interface)? It definitely does have an attractive interface, but many are still unable or hesitant to upgrade. Some because of its massive system requirements and some because of all the negative feedback about it. Whatever your reasons are for not switching, you can get a Vista, like look on your Windows XP system. Below are some of the better free tools that can help you to make your Windows XP look like Vista. Just make sure you got a bit of spare RAM.

Vista Start Menu – www.vistastartmenu.com

Vista Start Menu turns XP's Start menu into one just like in Vista. Not only do you get a better look but also many new features that are normally not there. These include: resizable start menu, zoom in/out, program launcher, desktop search, power buttons, tabs, and more. Another noteworthy aspect, Vista Start Menu does not change your system settings, thus making it easy to install, as well as remove.

Vista Transformation Pack – available for download at www.download.com

VTP changes XP's interface, including the Start menu, the Control Panel, system dialogs, icons, and more, to Vista style. Also includes a transparency function to mimic Vista's Aero Glass functionality. Here are some of the notable changes that will be made to your system.

• Boot screen / Welcome Screen / Logon Screen.
• New desktop, file and toolbar icons.
• Progress Dialogs.
• New System Tray icons.
• New Sounds scheme.
• New interface visual styles.
• Windows Media Player Skins.

RocketDock – www.rocketdock.com

RocketDock is a portable, memory-friendly, smoothly animated, alpha blended application launcher that sits on your screen. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization. Some features that are worth looking at include: Minimize active windows to the dock, drag-n-drop interface, Dual-monitor support, Auto-hide and Popup on mouse over, and Running application indicators.

VistaMizer – available for download at www.softpedia.com

VistaMizer modifies about 400 of your system files, and when you reboot your system after installation you won't remember how your old desktop looked. It's highly customizable and changes a lot of stuff. What's really good about is that it will keep backup of all the changes (so that you can easily revert it) and won't replace/overwrite anything that would risk destabilizing your system.

My 2 cents worth:

I have been working with Vista for a few months now and am getting to like it. It is important to remember however that it is a slug if your pc or notebook does not have enough horsepower. I don't recommend upgrading any computer to Vista. If it shipped with XP it is probably not powerful enough for Vista. If you want Vista, buy a new computer with decent cpu and lots of ram. Even the entry level computers available new today are under powered for Vista!