The default Windows 7 theme is pretty cool and you can even personalise it by changing the glass colours. In fact there are plenty of cool themes available online for Windows 7. However, sooner or later you are bound to get tired of the default Windows 7 Aero theme and its numerous variations. Fortunately for us, the modding community has already started developing unique Visual Styles for Windows 7. Here are some of the best Windows 7 Themes or Visual Styles (scroll down for installation instructions):
1. Luna Royal
2. Ribbon VS
3. SlanXP 2.0
4. Gel XP Blue
5. NEXTlevel
6. Slate
7. Lumens
8. Red Ice
9. ThaImpact
10. base
11. Leopard OSX
13. SiCo
14. Aero Hilled
15. M7 Remix III
16. Vista
18. AeroReloaded
19. Soliq 7.1
20. Gersmaero
Usage Instructions
In order to use the above themes you will need to patch the Windows Themes sub-system. I recommend UxStyle by Rafael for patching the system files. If you are not comfortable with modifying core system files you can use AveStyler (it implements in-memory patch).
Most of the themes are available in ZIP or RAR archives. Extract the theme to C:WindowsResourcesThemes(where C: is the partition with Windows Seven). The .theme file should be reside in the Themes folder and not in a sub-folder.
Many themes contain additional files such as explorer.exe. You will need to replace the original explorer.exe file (present in C:Windows directory) with the modded file. There are a couple of ways to do this. Here is the simplest way to do it:
Take ownership of the file.
Rename it to explorer_bak.exe.
Copy-paste the modded explorer.exe file.
Kill explorer.exe using the Task Manager.
Click on File->New Task(Run) and launch explorer.exe.
You can also use Replacer for replacing system files. Although it is no longer under active developement, it still works on most occasions.
Thank you for the information. They are really cool themes. I will try each one.
Before installing the theme I would like to ask that does these themes have any adverse effect on system performance?
No. All of these are visual styles which makes use of Windows Theme Engine. In fact some of them might be lighter as they dont have glass effects and stuff.
Alas! I don’t use 7. The Seven Aero Shine Blue theme looked wickedly cool.
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These are really very nice and cool themes. I will try these. thanks for this info.
I don’t understand why MS does not allow themes signed by other providers? When others are so evidently doing a better job than them!
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Never used any themes but will have to look into these. Can’t wait for my copy of Windows 7 now!
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Really cool themes!
thnkx for sharing ! =)
part of these themes are for Vista and not 7.
You are right. There are a couple of Windows Vista themes in there. My mistake. Will replace by tommorow.
Good themes. instantfundas made another beautiful collection
http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/12/32-gorgeous-and-unique-windows-7-themes.html
you can get even more great themes from:
http://www.bestwindows7themes.com
and pop in and say hi in our forums
http://www.bestwindows7themes.com/forums
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Can I use theme ThaImpact with Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit??
Hi Im looking for a cricket theme for windows 7. I would love to find a themepack with heaps of different cricket pictures of players from around the world and team and action photos. Is it possible to change the start icon to a cricket ball? that would be cool. Anyway i fear there is no such theme around at the moment so I was hoping you might be able to give me instructions on how to create my own theme in windows 7 Ultimate 64bit?
Thanks in advance for any help
Dan