Craving for improving the world around is supposed to be a positive personality trait. Taking it into account, I start improving my Windows XP looks.

Usually I am completely satisfies with the decoration set by default, and only time from time change wallpapers and screensavers. But why not undergo artistic development and change a Microsoft product for the better? To help me I chose XP Visual Tools. And it was a real bummer!

Theoretically XP Visual Tools completes 4 tasks:

1. Changes Start Menu and Taskbar transparency.

2. Applies different visual styles to files and applications.

3. Gives us the opportunity to use multiple XP logon screens and automatically swap between them at specified interval.

4. Changes wallpapers, in general or at specified periods of time.

Half-transparent objects look stylish. The main point is to know when to stop. Transparent Taskbar does not give additional advantages, but causes eye strain. XP Visual Tools lets us apply a desired level of transparency, from 10 up to 70%. I chose 40. Taskbar did well. Start Menu kept its primeval look: what had been hidden underneath stayed hidden.

It turned out to be the beginning of the 50/50 way. XP Visual Tools works with so many abnormalities that sometimes it is difficult to differentiate bugs from features.

For example, it helps to apply wallpapers, but none scheduling can make it change them at specified periods of time. The same is the situation with logon screens. The program's built-in pack counts one logon screen. But even when I downloaded (from the site recommended by XP Visual Tools) quite a pile of them, no automatic swapping took place.

These were the examples of bad, but working. Here comes the most thrilling description of the program functioning: several words about applying different visual styles to files and applications. Visual style support can be added to a single file or application, or we can "process all Program Files folder". First of all let me cite what the program developers write about the option in the Help section. "Automatically process all Program Files folder... Selecting this feature may produce some damages to one or other programs. Just select it and press "Add" button to process all files."

It would be funny it were not true. Some of my programs did not work after adding Visual Styles Support. But even this was the half of surprise. Except damaged programs, no other changes were obvious: no set of themes to choose among, no new looks. I went further, downloaded pack of XP themes (from the site recommended by XP Visual Tools). They worked well, but without XP Visual Tools assistance. So, what IS the program's mission stayed the biggest mystery of the day. To give XPVT its due, damaged programs were restored after removing Visual Style Support.

To sum it up, if you do not know how to change wallpapers with the Desktop Properties Window, I recommend you to buy XP Visual Tools. Otherwise, download other programs (there exist a great many of them) intelligible, comprehensible and able to change the world around…for the better.

XP Skins keywords: visual style support, xp skins, xp themes, windows xp themes, xp logons