[BEHOLD MY NEW DESKTOP! Yeah yeah, I know it's one hell of a change in just one day, but I just felt my desktop was freaking neutral and yucky, so I invested 4-5 hours of my time to LITERALLY PIMP MY DESKTOP.

I'm willing to share everything if enough people ask me how I did it >:3]


~TUTORIAL/GUIDE~

1.Okay, first off, you need an XP theme. But it's not as easy to just right click and "select". You need some steps done before doing so.

a)Go to [link] and look for a theme you like. This is one of the best pages to look for skins in general, a really good choice if you're looking for a change!

b)To instructions of how to install the XP theme, go to [link] . The tutorial is extremely well explained, and its totally secure to download the program. (I personally recommend UXTheme Multi-Patcher).

When you've already installed UXTheme Multi-Patcher, executed it, and installed the XP theme, then move to step 2.

2.For the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, I used a program called "Rocketdock". It's awesome for this kind of things, very flexible and customizable. Download it at [link] , and then install it and place it at any point of your screen by changing the "dock properties" (it's the little hammer, or so I remember).

Now, if you want the icons to look as mine, go to the awesome aportation from a fellow deviant at [link] , and download it. All you have to do to change the icons is:

-first off, extract the files.
-right click an icon>icon settings>"+" sign>look for the file's location.
-select the folder and then hit "ok">change the default icons to the new ones>browse>find the most suitting icon>hit "ok"

Done! now repeat with every icon you like.

The fan effect is a little tricky to do, but luckily there's a video where they explain it pretty well, here [link] . (Note that you don't need to extract the file as they do, you can just extract it in the same location and then copy/paste it in the right folder.)

3.The pc's status are awesome. They look extremely cool and they are very, very useful. There's a program called "Rainmeter", and that's the one I use.

You can download it here: [link] . Don't get confused with the whole "this isn't supported" thing. You can still download it. Just click in the "Rainmeter 0.14 (32bit)" option, download it, install it, and taraaa! You have now your very own rainmeter. Too bad the default skin sucks, so that's where customize.org comes to save the day again.

You can find a LOT of really cool skins for the rainmeter here: [link] . (If you're looking for the one I use, it's "Hud Vision".)

I'm not even gonna explain how change the rainmeter's skin, as it's uber easy.

Then, you just select the info you want by right clicking the rainmeter's little icon near the clock, and you can drag them wherever you like. If you want it to stay where you left it, then:

-right click the rainmeter's icon>click the module you want (it should be right there)>click "draggable".

I use cpu, network, batterie, IP, system info, among others.

4. ALMOST RIGHT THERE. Then, all that is left is to remove that annoying "recycle bin" shortcut from your desktop. How? This page explains the magic: [link] .

It says you don't have to reboot it to see the results, but I had. Actually, I recommend to reboot your pc everytime you make an important change so you can see what you're doing, and also export the \"{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\" key before doing something you might regret later.

Then all you have to do then, is to find a fitting wallpaper for your brand new, pimp'd desktop. :3

Hope you found this guide useful! Please post your results and any questions you have! Remember, I lasted 5 hours because nobody explained it to me, so you may end pimpin' your desktop in waaaaay less time.

Add-ons and stuff that weren't mentioned in the guide, but may become useful for some people:

[link]
[link]
[link] (anime skins for rainmeter and rainlender)
[link] (this one changes your current shell to a veeeery cool and stylish one, but unfortunately I don't know how to use it. Execute at your own risk.)












--EDIT--
Rainmeter got renewed to a better version. It still works pretty much the same, and the link provided takes you to the google's download page.

Download and install as usual, change skins by adding them to the 'skins' folder, everything's the same. It's just a new interface and a cooler looking default skin.

Download the new version here: [link]

(the links are at the right, they have both 32bit/64bit windows versions)