For all you folks out there still bound to Windows XP for work and games, there is a number of ways to make look less ugly. You can install some 3rd party themes, or an explorer replacement, but they require messing with DLLs and I’m lazy. I hated the silver theme, so I turned it off and went back to Windows 2000 looking dullness. Well I finally got around to installing the Royal Noire (aka Zune) theme released last fall for Windows XP. After tweaking the Royal theme for the media center, MS finally released a decent looking theme. It is easy on the eyes, and very usable. You can download it from MS here Or preview it here: 