If you have made the move to Windows Vista, whether you got it by buying a new computer, or took the actual "plunge" and bought a copy, then you might be wondering how you change the default Aero look to something more your style.  Now I will admit it, Aero was nice for the first week, but after that I needed a change, I needed my desktop to look different than everyone else using Vista.

So I'm going to show you how to easily change the visual style of Windows Vista, without having to hack or modify the system files.  I'm going to do this using WindowBlinds 6, which the beta is currently available for subscribers to Object Desktop.  There is a trial of the current version available, but I wanted to show some of the upcoming features of WindowBlinds 6.

Once installed, you will notice the new user interface which gives you access to the variety of options that WindowBlinds offers.  Just browse through the list of installed skins, and there are thousands more available at WinCustomize in a variety of styles that you can download and use.

Once you find the visual style that you want to use, simply press "Apply" and your Windows desktop will be changed.  You could stop there if you want and still have a great looking desktop, but WindowBlinds 6 offers much more flexibility to customize the visual style even more.

You can change the color of the visual styles, along with the fonts, and you can even change the skin of the Windows Sidebar in Vista.  One of the best new features, and my personal favorite, is the ability to adjust the transparency levels of your visual styles.  This feature can give older visual styles, and imported XP .msstyles a whole new life and look.

As you can see in the screenshot below, the Vista desktop has dramatically changed from the standard Aero look I had before.  I used the new Diamond skin for this example, and changed the sidebar skin as well.

I created a video showing these features "in action", so you can get a better idea of how to use WindowBlinds.  You can view the video here.  The WindowBlinds 6 is currently available to Object Desktop subscribers, but anyone who purchased WindowBlinds after February 1st, 2007, will receive the WB6 update free.