Click Apply, and say hello to the menu layout you know and love. Click Change Start menu to Classic view, and then choose the Classic Start menu option. Open the Control Panel, and type start menu in the search box. This $20 utility lets you tweak just about every aspect of Windows’ appearance or choose from hundreds of user-designed themes–including the aptly named Windows XP Style, a veritable doppelganger of XP’s classic Luna theme complete with a big green Start button.Ĭhange the Start menu to Classic View to revert to XP’s menu layout.Now that you’ve rolled back the overall theme, it’s time to revert to the classic Start menu–the one with a fly-out program list instead of Vista’s cramped, scrolling list. For maximum XP-ness, call in outside help: Stardock’s WindowBlinds. Stardock’s WindowBlinds includes an excellent Windows XP-style theme, but for a price.Careful observers will note that the above option implements more of a Windows 2000 look than a Windows XP style. When it’s done, you’ll see a familiar-looking Start menu, taskbar, and so on. Wait a minute while Vista undergoes its XP transformation. In the ‘Color scheme’ box, choose Windows Standard, and then click OK.

Head to the same Window Color and Appearance option as in the last step, and click the link marked Open classic appearance properties for more color options. The Windows Standard theme is more Windows 2000 than Windows XP, but at least it’s not Vista, right? Don’t like Vista’s fancy-schmancy colors, buttons, and fonts? You can easily switch back to a more XP-esque theme.

Presto: solid, XP-like windows and a zippier PC. Clear the Enable Transparency check box and click OK. Next, click the Window Color and Appearance option. Start by right-clicking any empty area of the Desktop, and then clicking Personalize in the context menu. To make your machine look and feel more like XP, and to improve its performance in the process, you’ll have to break through the Glass. Disable Vista’s Aero graphics to speed up Vista and make it more XP-like.Sure, Vista’s much-ballyhooed Aero Glass environment makes the OS look pretty, but at what cost? To XP die-hards, the translucent windows amount to little more than system-slowing eye candy.

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