Serious Windows XP SP3 help wanted: how do I change appearance bac

  • Thread starter Thread starter dougjk
  • Start date Start date
D

dougjk

i swear, this is a tough one. a while back when this was still my parents
computer (they got it back in '07 w/ Windows XP professional SP2 [now its XP
pro SP3]). well just last year (sometime back in early or mid 2009) their
appearance for Windows and buttons (under appearance tab in Display
properties) went to classic view and got stuck there. now it's our computer
and it's doing that automatically to all the user accounts when someone 1st
makes one. I hadn't tried a system restore b/c it only goes back to feb 2010
and we just got this computer up & running again (remember i said its been
stuck in classic view since early [or mid] 2009) also I don't wanna do much
until my mom is done w/ all her files & stuff moving them to their other
computer and backing them up. we also tried backing up all our files &
deleting the other user accounts (don't worry their in flash drives we can
put them back later when we recreate our user accounts) but anyway with that
I also switched to classic logon (because than when you logout it usually
should go back to Windows XP default look. it actually didn't. but not
Windows Classic either. its actually kinda like both so idk what else to do i
need someone very smart at this to help me fix the appearance prob plz. i
need advice. and i don't have the Windows XP professional disk and do not
feel like making another 1 because pirating is illegal and i don't go down
that road. sorry but I just don't like classic view and the fact that its
stuck is a problem. i wasn't sure but i did this because my parents said we
could now that its ours so i removed a program on here called "webshots"
because even though i kinda doubted it i thought that might be part of the
problem. i wonder now b/c it's still active on my computer but says it's
uninstalled already when i try to uninstall it. if you wanna help me fully
uninstall that also thats fine but i also already removed the "kiwee" stuff
that went with it. The only thing I can think of is pressing F8 at startup
and selecting "last known good configuration" but again i need to wait and
i'm not sure if that would work. plus if it does theres some programs i'm
pretty sure we might not have discs for.

Additional Details
list of programs that i'm worried about from above: bonjour, cleanup,
hijackthis, Intel RSX 3d, ipix active x viewer, all the microsoft .net stuff,
microsoft compression client pack for WIndows XP, microsoft usermode driver
framework feature pack 1.0 (which may go with the fear of losing my drivers
for scanner, printer, etc), all the microsoft visual C++ 2008 redistributable
software, realtek AC'97 audio software, shockwave software, via platform
device manager, via rhine- family software, and via s3g display driver (also
might go with the fear of losing my drivers for scanner, printer, etc)
also a heads up i'm not even sure what a lot of this is/does and etc

don't worry i have some pics in on flickr pics if any1 is confused:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629711790/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629684788/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629684782/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4636837996/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4636251853/
ya, i also commented on most (if not all) of the pics too

plz don't answer with its just looks, it don't matter, etc. & plz leave
serious answers only this is important to me
 
Try downloading and installing the one and only "theme" for XP that
Microsoft made.

It is based on the XP-style theme that was introduced as an "advancement"
on the old Win98 grey-boxes now called the "classic" look.

But rather than the default XP theme of blue taskbar / titlebars and a
green start-button the "Zune" theme has a black taskbar / titlebars and an
orange start button (a bit like Vista's black taskbar).

Obviously, it may be that you just want your blue XP theme back...

But my thinking is this ; if you run / install the new "Zune" theme, then
it just may well stand a very good chance of "bumping" the registry out of
what ails it (or whatever else has been blocking the way out of being stuck
in classic" mode).

After which - you (in theory) would be free to change the theme back to the
default XP theme.

Remember to start the installation of the new theme in the profile that has
the problem.

Download the "Zune" theme from Microsoft at :
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...e-473e-85fe-dcde7472e644/ZuneDesktopTheme.msi

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




dougjk said:
i swear, this is a tough one. a while back when this was still my parents
computer (they got it back in '07 w/ Windows XP professional SP2 [now its
XP
pro SP3]). well just last year (sometime back in early or mid 2009) their
appearance for Windows and buttons (under appearance tab in Display
properties) went to classic view and got stuck there. now it's our
computer
and it's doing that automatically to all the user accounts when someone
1st
makes one. I hadn't tried a system restore b/c it only goes back to feb
2010
and we just got this computer up & running again (remember i said its
been
stuck in classic view since early [or mid] 2009) also I don't wanna do
much
until my mom is done w/ all her files & stuff moving them to their other
computer and backing them up. we also tried backing up all our files &
deleting the other user accounts (don't worry their in flash drives we
can
put them back later when we recreate our user accounts) but anyway with
that
I also switched to classic logon (because than when you logout it usually
should go back to Windows XP default look. it actually didn't. but not
Windows Classic either. its actually kinda like both so idk what else to
do i
need someone very smart at this to help me fix the appearance prob plz. i
need advice. and i don't have the Windows XP professional disk and do not
feel like making another 1 because pirating is illegal and i don't go
down
that road. sorry but I just don't like classic view and the fact that its
stuck is a problem. i wasn't sure but i did this because my parents said
we
could now that its ours so i removed a program on here called "webshots"
because even though i kinda doubted it i thought that might be part of
the
problem. i wonder now b/c it's still active on my computer but says it's
uninstalled already when i try to uninstall it. if you wanna help me
fully
uninstall that also thats fine but i also already removed the "kiwee"
stuff
that went with it. The only thing I can think of is pressing F8 at
startup
and selecting "last known good configuration" but again i need to wait
and
i'm not sure if that would work. plus if it does theres some programs i'm
pretty sure we might not have discs for.

Additional Details
list of programs that i'm worried about from above: bonjour, cleanup,
hijackthis, Intel RSX 3d, ipix active x viewer, all the microsoft .net
stuff,
microsoft compression client pack for WIndows XP, microsoft usermode
driver
framework feature pack 1.0 (which may go with the fear of losing my
drivers
for scanner, printer, etc), all the microsoft visual C++ 2008
redistributable
software, realtek AC'97 audio software, shockwave software, via platform
device manager, via rhine- family software, and via s3g display driver
(also
might go with the fear of losing my drivers for scanner, printer, etc)
also a heads up i'm not even sure what a lot of this is/does and etc

don't worry i have some pics in on flickr pics if any1 is confused:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629711790/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629684788/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629684782/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4636837996/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4636251853/
ya, i also commented on most (if not all) of the pics too

plz don't answer with its just looks, it don't matter, etc. & plz leave
serious answers only this is important to me
Click to expand...
 
thanks that sounds like it most likely sould work. I just have a couple more
questions on this. please read these carefully, thanks :) 1st off what if the
problem is in all the user accounts? (which it is) and also it automatically
goes to classic view everytime you make a user account and you can't change
it (which it does) should we back up files, delete our user accounts (except
keep 1), and download it on the user account it originated on (the one wed
keep)? (like i said this used to be our parent's computer they had a user
account [just 1] and 2 years later [sometime back in '09] is when the problem
started on there [at the time only] user account) or should I do an install
of the zune theme per each user account. or will 1 download on any user
account go to all of them? also my last question is will it bring back all
the regular XP theme colors (default [blue], olive green, and silver) if this
plan works because I wanted the the regular XP theme but in the olive green
color and my sister wants the same but in a silver color

Tim Meddick said:
Try downloading and installing the one and only "theme" for XP that
Microsoft made.

It is based on the XP-style theme that was introduced as an "advancement"
on the old Win98 grey-boxes now called the "classic" look.

But rather than the default XP theme of blue taskbar / titlebars and a
green start-button the "Zune" theme has a black taskbar / titlebars and an
orange start button (a bit like Vista's black taskbar).

Obviously, it may be that you just want your blue XP theme back...

But my thinking is this ; if you run / install the new "Zune" theme, then
it just may well stand a very good chance of "bumping" the registry out of
what ails it (or whatever else has been blocking the way out of being stuck
in classic" mode).

After which - you (in theory) would be free to change the theme back to the
default XP theme.

Remember to start the installation of the new theme in the profile that has
the problem.

Download the "Zune" theme from Microsoft at :
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...e-473e-85fe-dcde7472e644/ZuneDesktopTheme.msi

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




dougjk said:
i swear, this is a tough one. a while back when this was still my parents
computer (they got it back in '07 w/ Windows XP professional SP2 [now its
XP
pro SP3]). well just last year (sometime back in early or mid 2009) their
appearance for Windows and buttons (under appearance tab in Display
properties) went to classic view and got stuck there. now it's our
computer
and it's doing that automatically to all the user accounts when someone
1st
makes one. I hadn't tried a system restore b/c it only goes back to feb
2010
and we just got this computer up & running again (remember i said its
been
stuck in classic view since early [or mid] 2009) also I don't wanna do
much
until my mom is done w/ all her files & stuff moving them to their other
computer and backing them up. we also tried backing up all our files &
deleting the other user accounts (don't worry their in flash drives we
can
put them back later when we recreate our user accounts) but anyway with
that
I also switched to classic logon (because than when you logout it usually
should go back to Windows XP default look. it actually didn't. but not
Windows Classic either. its actually kinda like both so idk what else to
do i
need someone very smart at this to help me fix the appearance prob plz. i
need advice. and i don't have the Windows XP professional disk and do not
feel like making another 1 because pirating is illegal and i don't go
down
that road. sorry but I just don't like classic view and the fact that its
stuck is a problem. i wasn't sure but i did this because my parents said
we
could now that its ours so i removed a program on here called "webshots"
because even though i kinda doubted it i thought that might be part of
the
problem. i wonder now b/c it's still active on my computer but says it's
uninstalled already when i try to uninstall it. if you wanna help me
fully
uninstall that also thats fine but i also already removed the "kiwee"
stuff
that went with it. The only thing I can think of is pressing F8 at
startup
and selecting "last known good configuration" but again i need to wait
and
i'm not sure if that would work. plus if it does theres some programs i'm
pretty sure we might not have discs for.

Additional Details
list of programs that i'm worried about from above: bonjour, cleanup,
hijackthis, Intel RSX 3d, ipix active x viewer, all the microsoft .net
stuff,
microsoft compression client pack for WIndows XP, microsoft usermode
driver
framework feature pack 1.0 (which may go with the fear of losing my
drivers
for scanner, printer, etc), all the microsoft visual C++ 2008
redistributable
software, realtek AC'97 audio software, shockwave software, via platform
device manager, via rhine- family software, and via s3g display driver
(also
might go with the fear of losing my drivers for scanner, printer, etc)
also a heads up i'm not even sure what a lot of this is/does and etc

don't worry i have some pics in on flickr pics if any1 is confused:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629711790/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629684788/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629684782/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4636837996/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4636251853/
ya, i also commented on most (if not all) of the pics too

plz don't answer with its just looks, it don't matter, etc. & plz leave
serious answers only this is important to me
Click to expand...

.
Click to expand...
 
also i'm definatly going to try that, so thankyou so much :)

Tim Meddick said:
Try downloading and installing the one and only "theme" for XP that
Microsoft made.

It is based on the XP-style theme that was introduced as an "advancement"
on the old Win98 grey-boxes now called the "classic" look.

But rather than the default XP theme of blue taskbar / titlebars and a
green start-button the "Zune" theme has a black taskbar / titlebars and an
orange start button (a bit like Vista's black taskbar).

Obviously, it may be that you just want your blue XP theme back...

But my thinking is this ; if you run / install the new "Zune" theme, then
it just may well stand a very good chance of "bumping" the registry out of
what ails it (or whatever else has been blocking the way out of being stuck
in classic" mode).

After which - you (in theory) would be free to change the theme back to the
default XP theme.

Remember to start the installation of the new theme in the profile that has
the problem.

Download the "Zune" theme from Microsoft at :
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...e-473e-85fe-dcde7472e644/ZuneDesktopTheme.msi

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




dougjk said:
i swear, this is a tough one. a while back when this was still my parents
computer (they got it back in '07 w/ Windows XP professional SP2 [now its
XP
pro SP3]). well just last year (sometime back in early or mid 2009) their
appearance for Windows and buttons (under appearance tab in Display
properties) went to classic view and got stuck there. now it's our
computer
and it's doing that automatically to all the user accounts when someone
1st
makes one. I hadn't tried a system restore b/c it only goes back to feb
2010
and we just got this computer up & running again (remember i said its
been
stuck in classic view since early [or mid] 2009) also I don't wanna do
much
until my mom is done w/ all her files & stuff moving them to their other
computer and backing them up. we also tried backing up all our files &
deleting the other user accounts (don't worry their in flash drives we
can
put them back later when we recreate our user accounts) but anyway with
that
I also switched to classic logon (because than when you logout it usually
should go back to Windows XP default look. it actually didn't. but not
Windows Classic either. its actually kinda like both so idk what else to
do i
need someone very smart at this to help me fix the appearance prob plz. i
need advice. and i don't have the Windows XP professional disk and do not
feel like making another 1 because pirating is illegal and i don't go
down
that road. sorry but I just don't like classic view and the fact that its
stuck is a problem. i wasn't sure but i did this because my parents said
we
could now that its ours so i removed a program on here called "webshots"
because even though i kinda doubted it i thought that might be part of
the
problem. i wonder now b/c it's still active on my computer but says it's
uninstalled already when i try to uninstall it. if you wanna help me
fully
uninstall that also thats fine but i also already removed the "kiwee"
stuff
that went with it. The only thing I can think of is pressing F8 at
startup
and selecting "last known good configuration" but again i need to wait
and
i'm not sure if that would work. plus if it does theres some programs i'm
pretty sure we might not have discs for.

Additional Details
list of programs that i'm worried about from above: bonjour, cleanup,
hijackthis, Intel RSX 3d, ipix active x viewer, all the microsoft .net
stuff,
microsoft compression client pack for WIndows XP, microsoft usermode
driver
framework feature pack 1.0 (which may go with the fear of losing my
drivers
for scanner, printer, etc), all the microsoft visual C++ 2008
redistributable
software, realtek AC'97 audio software, shockwave software, via platform
device manager, via rhine- family software, and via s3g display driver
(also
might go with the fear of losing my drivers for scanner, printer, etc)
also a heads up i'm not even sure what a lot of this is/does and etc

don't worry i have some pics in on flickr pics if any1 is confused:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629711790/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629684788/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4629684782/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4636837996/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31555240@N03/4636251853/
ya, i also commented on most (if not all) of the pics too

plz don't answer with its just looks, it don't matter, etc. & plz leave
serious answers only this is important to me
Click to expand...

.
Click to expand...
 
Sorry for not replying, but was enjoying the (bank) holiday weekend...

Anyhow, about your questions, I can't really tell you any exact answers,
because I just don't know!

I'm going more off intuition here, than anything else...

My thinking was that maybe some application extensions (.dll files) were
perhaps damaged, and this installation might repair both any damaged files
and any obscure settings in the registry that may have "got in the way" of
loading the XP-style themes.

Also, I had not realised that the "damage" was so widespread in the
system - that is; being present, not only in every profile, but also in
newly-created profiles - which *is* a very bad sign....

Still, one can only experiment, and, since this particular installation is
made by Microsoft, it's totally safe to try....

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)


P.S. the download link once again :
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...e-473e-85fe-dcde7472e644/ZuneDesktopTheme.msi
 
P.S.

This group is being closed, and, to my knowledge, is being
discontinued tomorrow....

This means that, unfortunately, I won't be able to follow-up on your
problem.

Unless you post to :
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

.....as, I think that that group may be carrying on for a little while
longer.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)
 
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