Make XP look like Mac

Have you ever wanted to make your XP (or Vista) look like a mac?
this post will explain how to dress XP up so it will look and partially behave (not really) like a mac.

the reason i wanted to do that is: i wanted to enjoy the beauty of mac on my XP at work, unfortunately i couldn't convinced my boss that Mac is the correct platform for development :-)

Change the Boot Screen
so first things first, lets change the first screen we see when we launch the XP/vista the boot screen. in order to do that we need to download the application that replace it, and the Apple boot screen:

1. Stardock BootSkin
2. Apple Boot Screen for XP

the result of the boot screen looks like this:

Granted its not a mac with the round circle but its better then XP boot screen.

Change Logon Screen
next thing you would like to change is the Logon Screen, this also done using Stardock utility, note that this is a Tiger logon screen, but i guess you can create easily a leopard logon screen, you can download it here:

1. Stardock LogonStudio (for XP or Vista)
2. Mac Tiger Logon screen

Here is how it looks on my XP:


Change Explorer to Finder (overall look and feel)
next part i wanted Explorer to look like Finder, and start menu bar like leopard menu bar, there are several ways to achieve that, the most popular is Windows Blinds again a Stardock product, but fortunately there is also a free option called FlyAKiteOSX (this one is actually taking care of everything logon screen, logoff screen, explorer, start menu etc. but as Tiger)

1. FlyAKiteOSX home page (you got to see this site)
2. Stardock WindowsBlinds (change the visual style of Windows XP)
3. A Full Leopard Visual Style for WindowsBlinds
4. Mac OSX Tiger Skin for WindowsBlinds
5. and another skin of Tiger for WindowsBlinds (better one IMHO)

Here is the WindowsBlinds Configuration Window: (at the bottom you see the available visual style and a preview in the middle)

After you download the skin, you can import it using the "Add Visual Styles" button on the left, and after choosing the style press "Apply my changed" button on the left.

Install Apple Applications
next you would like to do (even if you will not change anything) you got to download the apple Safari browser and iTunes music player, beside making it more apple like OS these are very good (free) products that apple released for the Windows environments, they are not as good as on the mac (far from it) but still windows boring UI get some Mac injection of beauty. also if you would like to have a program like iPhoto then you should download Google's Picasa (if you haven't already)

1. Apple Safari
2. Apple iTunes
3. Apple QuickTime
4. Google Picasa
   

Change Icons and Wallpaper
the obvious part is the leopard or tiger wallpaper that will complement the windows rigged OS, and a set of icons to replace "My Computer", folder, Control Panel etc. icons. if you are using FlyAKiteOSX that will make a complete makeover to your windows and you will not need any thing else (for a tiger look and feel), but if you have decided to try to achieve the full leopard look and feel then you will need Stardock IconPackager that will allow you to change every icon on windows.

1. Stardock IconPackager
2. Leopard Wallpapers
3. Leopard Icons pack (press the Download link from the upper menu)
4. Another Leopard Icon Pack (better one)

Sorry but didn't made screenshots for this part.

Install Leopard 3d Dock
Last but certainly not least, the Dock, what Leopard Mock up can be complete without a shiny sexy 3D dock. also here there is an option from Stardock named ObjectDock, but i think that the free RKLauncher is by far more beautiful and if you get the iVista version (yea, yea get that one) of RKLauncher you get the Grid and Fan Stacks like.

1. Stardock ObjectDock (nice, have a free version and a leopard 3D look as well but no stacks)
2. RKLauncher (O' Natural)
3. RKLauncher iVista version (get this one! in order to download press the image, and there is a video displaying the Dock behavior)

here are my screenshots Dock:


Fan (note the Drawers icons):


Grid stack (the stack background is transparent just like in leopard):


Add Expose and Spaces
lastly we need to add some behavior and to invest a little in the feel and not just in the look,
there are two more additions i used: one is the Expose like for windows and the other is the Spaces like for windows.
now this one was a little hard to choose since there are a lot of them, but i will not include all of them, but here are some i tried:
Expose:

• http://www.oxygen-inc.com/premium/InsaniSoft/iEx.htm
• http://onlinetoolsteam.com/WindowsExposer/Download.asp
• http://www.otakusoftware.com/topdesk/index.html (the one i chose)
• http://www.reflexvision.net/
• http://www.anthasoft.com/anthabounce-windows-tools.php

Spaces:

• http://www.codeplex.com/vdm/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=6819
• http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/
• http://www.free-soft.ro/desktop/desktop.html
• http://www.dexpot.de/ (the one i chose)
• http://update.docs.kr/entry/Download-Summary-en (3D Cube)
• http://www.otakusoftware.com/deskspace/index.html (3D Cube)

Add Dashboard
download and install one of the many dashboard like applications, there is the Google Desktop that displays the gadgates on a SideBar and you can drag the gadgates out of the sidebar to anywhere on the screen (and auto hide the SideBar). but it will not allow you to hide them all and display all on demand using a hotkey, only from the tray icon or sidebar

this is where the Yahoo! Widgets come in to the game, it displays the widgets in a SideBar (optioanl) that shrinks down when idle, and can be removed or auto hide, the widgets also display on the desktop and can be right cliced->hide and revealed when moving to "Heads Up" mode, you can right click the side bar or tray icon and select "Heads Up" or you can use the HotKey associated with This mode. this mode show all the hidden widgets at once and darken the screen just like in OSX (no kinky animation but stil...), just dont forget to choose "" from options so the blue background will disappear and replaced with the darker glass. (see the screenshots and movie at the end of this post). another cool faeture is that it can put widgets in 3 modes:

1. normal like any other window
2. always on top (always show the window in the foreground on top of other windows)
3. always in the back (as if it lives on the desktop)

Dashboard:

• Yahoo! Widgets (First press "get started" and then you can run it in "Heads Up" mode
• Google Desktop + Gadgaets download page
• DesktopX (another good dashboard like application)

another application i suggest to use is "TransBar" which allows you to make the XP bar transparent, this way you can edit your wallpaper to display the OSX bar and when clicking on the apple - the start menu appear (tacky i know)

and here are some screenshots of the end results:













Enjoy.

Sticky Windows - keep your screen sorted

Sticky Windows is a utility that helps you keep your screen clear,
the application dock your windows to the edges of the screen and turn windows into tabs,
this way you can decide which window to see and the others (docked) will minimize to their tab,


to be fair, this is kind of the windows icon function in the start bar, only funkier, more then that it allow only one window active at a time (unless you choose manual settings then it really act like windows bar), so it auto minimize, and since we don't want to clutter our dock (and we can't have multiple docks (or can we?)) then it is the next best thing.

1. download the utility from here
2. double click the install icon, it will install the preference pane
3. it will open system preferences and the Sticky Windows panel
4. check the lower check box to activate Sticky Windows
   
5. press settings and make sure you like the defaults or set your tab corners, colors, etc.
6. a magenta line will run from the bottom of your screen to the top to indicate activation
7. drag a screen to one of the edges (top edge is not enabled by default)

as with dock you can drag the tab away from the edge in order to remove it (you will see the puff cloud like in the dock).

all in all it is a nice feature, help organize your screen and keep it tidy, it just give me another dilemma when moving from window to window, should i use spaces? rely on expose and leave the screen as is? minimize to dock, or click on the next window with Option (Alt) pressed so the window will hide? ... but thats what i like in mac all these options and freedom to choose.

the utility is not memory or CPU consuming i have been monitoring it though it uses 0.1-0.5 from the CPU every 5-10 sec (what for i am not sure), its eye candy and even mac geazers will wonder whats that on your screen.


up side:

1. organize your windows, remove window clutter, can see the desktop again
   
2. simple to use just click to appear and drag to organize or convert to tab
3. support non tabbed windows (old school)
4. you decide where to tab (all 4 edges supported)
5. automatically minimize window if not in focus (configurable)
6. fast, small on disk, no CPU/Memory consuming, nice minimize/maximize effect
7. if application needs focus it gets maximized
8. if you keep holding window on the edge spaces switch trick is working (didn't damage it)
9. support drag and drop from window to window
   

down sides:

1. the nagging shareware warning makes you wait between windows transfer every 5-10 transfers (so buy it)
2. if you use full screen windows the tabs might cover some parts of the screen you need (there is no way to avoid always on-top) but you can drag the tabs and move them around and also move from left to right or down edges.
3. you don't control the size of the tab, you can't decide if it will display text and icons/ only text/ only icon/ or even your own text
4. no 10.5.2 translucency feature on these tabs
5. is not spaces aware (all spaces have the same tabs)

Shareware Nag Screen:


I give this utility a 4 out of 5.

Enjoy.

Interface changes (Mac Themes)

is there a possibility to tweak Mac theme? (why would you like to?)

well, according to many articles there is no way to do it since OS X has released.

up to Mac OS 9 mac OS was a UI tweakers paradise, but since OS X was released all tweaking abilities, API, and related utilities was discarded, not supported, hidden using private access etc. (example for such article), later when Leopard arrived even OS X applications that some how managed to work (mostly by accessing unsupported and private APIs) stopped working.

OS X Tiger 10.4.x had several applications like: WindowShade X, ShapeShifter, FruitMenu, ofcource no application is worth without a good theme/visual style/icons... collections.

here are some sites to support these applications:

Max Themes

Interface Lift

Win Customize (although mostly for windows still icon is icon, wallpaper is wallpaper)

what about Leopard?

since Leopard is built out of applications such as "Dock.app", "Finder.app"..., and the applications are folders and can be browsed using "Show Package Contents", you will find in almost any application (or kext or bundle or action or ...) a folder named "Resources", it will contain images, plist XML files, Strings, etc., color, font, size definitions, sounds, icons etc. will reside here as a resource.

if you change many of these OS characteristics you end up with a different look and feel or theme of leopard.

for instance you can check the content of resources folder found at Finder like this:

1. goto folder "/System/Library/CoreServices"
2. right click file: "Finder.app"
3. select "Show Package Contents"
4. from the new finder window go in to folder "Contents"
5. enter folder "Resources"

you can find and replace the file "burnableFolder.icns" with other icon

from that point on your icon will display differently.

but since we don't like to work manually, we need some theme tweaking apps/utils, luckily that is exactly what i am going to cover.

CandyBar

first application is CandyBar the most popular application that knows how to change icons, dock icons, system icons, browse icontainer, etc.

you open up a window that display icons that your current system has and icons that you can replace to. you can add icons of your own, downloaded, you can at any time restore the default icon of each changed icon, it knows to relaunch the dock/finder application when needed (if you allow it), there is a trial version, and it is really easy to use.

you can change the look of your dock for instance as displayed in this post.

here is my resulting Dock:

here are several example of my tweaked icons using CandyBar:

DockColor

next is DockColor, a very very straight forward application, it doesn't get simpler then this.

it is a color picker with a image displaying the Dock surface, you choose the Dock color you want and press apply, thats it (beside of allowing by entering your password).

take a look at the result:

Palette

another good application to change the dock colors is "Palette" it has the ability to control the dock colors with more details such as color opacity, surface image opacity, if the dock frontline is colored with the same color etc.

Palette can also change gradually the translucency of the menu bar (10.5 and 10.5.1 only), use round corners for the menu bar, and change stack icons. the only annoying thing is that the trial version leave text on the dock (i would prefer time period limit) so it is unusable for this purposes.

here are several dock examples:

LeopardDocks

"LeopardDocks" started as a site that display how to tweak the dock and then uploaded many examples and designs, then they came out with LeopardDocks application (was written by "William Spong") that allows you to change the dock look and feel, by downloading a zip file from the "LeopardDocks site" and plug them into the application and change your dock.

one more thing you can do with LeopardDocks is to add a separator between running applications and permanent dock icons, well actually it is an icon that is invisible so you can move it around and even drag it out side of the dock in order to remove it from the dock.

Stacks Drawers

if we are talking about the dock then you need to take a look at the "Add Drawer to Stacks" post that display how to add drawers to the stacks. also i stumbled on this post that is very detailed on the graphical side of creating the drawers.

Displaperture

this application is very weird, its probably for Mac veterans, way back when apple display screen had round corners, not sure if on purpose or outcome of old technology, well if you are one of the old mac users and miss your screen round corners, or just think it's funky then download it from here, run it, choose the corners you would like to be round, scroll the slider to the amount of roundness it needs to be, and press quit. next time you run the application the round corners appears and the application window will not. if you want to setup or quit, just double click the application icon again and the window appears.

what about some content?

well there are a lot of sites that supply icons, wallpapers, stacks icon and application pimping sets. here are some examples:

VeryIcon

WebShots

Inner Mind Media

Apple Icons+ScreenSavers

McDo Design

Louie Mantia

GUI Styles

Free Wallpapers

Icons.cx

Dockulicious

Pixel Girl Icons

set of icons

UsingMac

we can also add some command line defaults tweaks:

remove Finder Buttons background

write in terminal:

defaults write "Apple Global Domain" CUIAllowDebugPrefs 1

defaults write "Apple Global Domain" CUIDisableArtFile 1

killall Finder

instead of this:

you should see this:

if you decide to do that you can manually change colors of Cocoa applications in mac (like Finder, Safari, etc.)

you need to go to the folder:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AquaUI.bundle/Contents/Resources

and you can edit and change colors of PNG files especially with the word Material in the files name, the previous written terminal commands cause the mac to work using the vector graphics engine that draws its resources from this folder, the material files help mac to decide how a certain color looks if light is dropped in front of an object and what gradient color to use in each corner and angle, also other files used for layers and transparency (alpha) etc.

look at this example called Milk-Like look and feel created by another user on this post:

also look at this example a more darker look and feel (notice the close resize minimize buttons):

Note: this will hit your performance badly.

Change Finder Background

1. open Finder Window
2. right click an empty area
3. choose "Show View Options"
4. from the lower part (Background) choose Color (or image)
5. click on the white color box and choose color
6. press "Use as Defaults"
7. close the popup

Note: this will work only in Icon View!

Change Selection Color

1. from the apple menu goto "System Preferences"
2. enter "Appearance" tab
3. change "Highlight Color" to whatever you want

Example of two results i got:

Enjoy the colors.