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You may be getting tired of the default theme in Windows Vista, and luckily for you there is now a uxtheme.dll patch for Vista. Visual styles kept XP alive for me and many others over the years, so I’m looking forward to a new generation of themes. Unfortunately there aren’t too many themes for Vista currently, but in time there will be.

Are you tired of Vista’s Aero theme?
A patched uxtheme.dll gave you the freedom to use un-signed custom visual style in Windows XP but in Windows Vista you have to replace three dll files to use third party visual styles.
Those three files are uxtheme.dll, shsvcs.dll and themeui.dll

Downloads and detail install instructions can be found at Lis Killer’s blog

Download: Windows Vista uxtheme.dll Patch

Microsoft’s newest Windows release, Vista, has been out for a few months now, but most users will still be using Windows XP for some time to come. For some this is due to financial considerations, but for most this is due to a distaste for Microsoft Vista.

XP was released more than five years ago, however there are still things to be learned about XP, which is why I’m happily reporting to you a great Windows XP Optimization Guide. I must admit that most of the information won’t come as anything new to experienced power users, but for beginning to intermediate users this guide will be a great help.

As the site explains it:

Clean Spyware and Viruses + Optimize Windows XP to improve home, work and gaming performance safely. Windows XP’s default configuration is far from optimized. This Free guide will help you improve your overall system performance without having to manually edit the Registry. I avoid using or recommending “all-in-one” Windows XP Tweak programs since many blindly adjust settings that have no affect on performance and can cause future problems.

Even if you are confident in your XP mastery and don’t feel the need to check out the XP Optimization Guide, you should still visit the site as it is home to a few other interesting guides such as XP Freeware, XP Myths, and XP Secrets.

One of the more limiting features of most taskbars is the complete lack of interaction with them, outside of the standard click to minimize, click again to restore. I have yet to come across any system where the user could drag and drop the apps in the taskbar to any location they desired in the taskbar. Luckily for me, and any others who would enjoy this feature, I came across a great Windows app that does just that, known as Taskbar Shuffle

From the site’s description:

• No hotkey, no extra steps, rearrange the programs on your Windows taskbar by simply… well, dragging and dropping them! Neat concept, huh?
• No need to get all nervous when a program crashes or if you wanna reboot; you can reorder the programs/buttons on your taskbar exactly how you like.

Again the program is called Taskbar Shuffle, and can be downloaded directly
here. Hope you enjoy.