Try all of the directional arrows to see what works on your machine After making any changes be sure to restart your computer after saving any new settings If you are a fan of the Mac interface but prefer the Windows operating system this should be in your must try list of software An alternate solution is to use the recovery discs that come bundled with Windows XP The one piece of software you shouldn t consider pirating is the OS now more so than ever Vista Inspirat Shell Pack is a complete custom shell pack for all Windows XP consisting of modified icons and a new themed appearance for Windows XP Once the brightness level has been adjusted to your liking power down the computer and reboot There have been three major updates to Windows since Windows XP but XP still remains one of the most heavily used operating systems in the world Its your choice to install the customized version of MSN Messenger Outlook Express or Windows Media Player 66 or not Join 975 555 subscribers and get a daily digest of news geek trivia and our feature articles You can adjust the screen brightness using the computer monitor buttons along the front of the monitors or the Control Panel menu can change your settings for your screens If you are tired of the monotonous looks of Windows XP and even jealous of your friend 8767 s Windows Vista then there are some easy ways you can transform your Windows XP visually to something that is more appealing and interesting In fact in most cases we think it wouldn t even xxs possible At its BUILD developer conference this month Microsoft unveiled the Developer Preview version of Windows 8 revealing details about the Metro tile based UI the compatibility with Windows 7 applications the ease of building Windows 8 apps and the different zp and form factors that Windows 8 will run on xq buy it or on a new PC you ll already have it While Internet Explorer is the default browser for XP most Web professionals consider Chrome to be faster and more importantly much safer for browsing on Windows XP Editor 8767 s note These 8775 theme packs 8776 will automatically make a large number of changes to your system including hacking Windows to enable custom themes You should make sure you have backed up your system before attempting any of these and they gz 8767 t for everybody advanced system tweakers only If your Windows XP computer is a laptop simply hold down the Function Fn key while using the arrows on the keyboard to adjust the brightness But for Windows XP holdouts ready to side step Windows 7 for the upcoming Windows 8 OS you are risking a gap in support stresses research firm Gartner in a new first take analysis of Windows 8 migration in the enterprise It is important to note that this method erases any data on the hard drive Then click on Control Panel to open the Computer Settings application This makes the choice of browser important for those who choose to stay with XP as Internet Explorer for XP will no longer be updated What impact Windows 7 will have on netbook pricing isn t clear Even if Microsoft meets that very aggressive timeline independent software vendors and enterprises will likely need nine to 68 months to obtain and test supported applications and plan deployments the Gartner report states It originally launched in 7556 and was supported by Windows for 68 years While Windows 7 requires a 6 gigahertz processor with 6 gigabyte of RAM for a 87 bit system and 7 gigabytes of RAM for a 69 bit system Windows XP only requires a Pentium 788 megahertz processor with 69 megabytes of RAM which is between 8 and 6 percent of the resources used by Windows 7 As of April 8 7569 support iqv updates for Windows XP are no longer available An alternate method for adjusting screen brightness is found in the Windows XP Control Panel Alternately the computer may have a recovery partition on ie hard drive Chris has been a tech journalist since 7558 and during his time at Pocket lint com has sat in the Reviews Editor job before taking the chair as Editor Users can press the F65 key as their system boots up to either access the recovery partition or the recovery disc to initiate system recovery What Microsoft does not do is provide an easy mechanism for removing newer operating systems so that they can be replaced with XP Windows XP is very efficient and common applications typically run more smoothly on Windows XP than on Windows 7 The best Web browser to use with Windows XP is Google 8767 s Chrome browser The main disadvantage of the operating system is security The final option is to reinstall the operating system completely using the recovery disc That means that most organizations would not be able to start deploying Windows 8 until the end of 7568 Users may need to re enable this feature if it has been disabled and may need to use other methods of restoring Windows XP if this method proves overly difficult Microsoft plans to continue offering Windows XP for netbooks after the release of its next generation operating system Windows 7 Windows XP has a built in feature called System Restore which restores the operating system to its factory conditions by rolling it back to a previous state This is a lengthier alternative to the system recovery option and can only be used if the user has access to the recovery discs The distribution of the RC is one of the last steps before the Windows 7 code is locked down and sent off to manufacturers ahead of its commercial release Since this software is a visual enhancement it will greatly reduce your PC 8767 s performance if you don 8767 t mind lagging your PC performance a bit this is the best visual enhancement you could find Nash declined to comment on Windows 7 pricing even in relative terms You 8767 ll also want to note that they are sometimes flagged by certain spyware anti virus applications and we can 8767 t necessarily vouch for them although they usually are false positives The Vista Transformation Pack is for Windows users who want to replicate the look and feel of Windows Vista on their Windows XP The disadvantages are that it has compromised security as Microsoft has stopped support for XP it is difficult to buy and Microsoft has made it almost impossible for anyone to remove newer versions of Windows from a computer and replace them with XP Cearley and Stephen Kleynhans acknowledge that for organizations running late with Windows 7 it is tempting to forego the OS but with support for Windows XP ending in April 7569 organizations would be cutting it close The software bundles a variety of individual tools to add additional Mac functionality such as colored folder icons taskbar dock and much more Look first on the front of the monitor or try sliding your finger along the bottom edge to feel for buttons Also the physical software is becoming difficult to find although Microsoft still sells a user a license and activates XP upon request This doesn t affect our editorial independence Microsoft has discontinued security updates for XP rendering it vulnerable to new virus and spyware attacks We have selected some of the best software that can change the visuals of Windows XP entirely into something more appealing and interesting And five or six months after that Windows XP goes off life support When you purchase through links in our articles we may earn a small commission To that end Gartner presents four recommendations for Windows iy ujs holdouts that are at a crossroads in their deployment strategy After using this desktop enhancement to modify your Windows interface to look like Windows Vista no one will notice that you 8767 re using the same old Windows XP operating system Previously mentioned Flyakite OSX transforms your Windows XP visually into Mac OSX including cursors sounds visual styles login screen and other details A majority of enterprises have migrated to Windows 7 or are planning to do so Chris is responsible for the editorial content of Pocket lint working across all sections of the site and contributing to all aspects of the site s direction Nash declined to say when Windows 7 will be commercially available despite the fact that Microsoft is making the final beta version called a release candidate RC available to testers today During the installation it is possible to choose specific objects to be installed Note Before launching the installation you must restore Windows ujt original state dll Without any shell packs Editor 8767 s Note These theme packages will typically only work on XP Service Pack 7 so if you 8767 ve upgraded to SP8 already you 8767 ll need to wait until the authors update their packages OEMs that are using Windows XP on netbooks will have the ability to install Windows XP for one year 67 months after Windows 7 general availability said Mike Nash swd vice president of the Windows product management group at Microsoft during a conference call with reporters Some examples of new or enhanced enterprise features in Windows 8 according to Microsoft s Reynolds gje efficient use of Direct Access a networking feature in Windows 7 that lets mobile workers connect to corporate networks without the use of a VPN BitLocker encryption is streamlined in Windows 8 so that only sectors of the hard drive that contain data will be encrypted and will do the task while you are working in addition Windows 8 will introduce a feature called Secure Boot which prevents malware from booting up before the OS boots up It s been a long time since we ve had a version of Windows that will actually run better than the previous version on the hardware that most customers have Nash said This final step ensures that the new settings remain in place The continued availability of Windows XP during a transition period after Windows 7 s release will reassure users who have avoided upgrading to Windows Vista and may be wary of the new operating system Adjust the brightness using the plus and minus bar as a guide The current available Version 8 5 6 includes the ability to save transforming information and to detect the strength of your gjf to give suggested setup configuration it is better to remove obsolete dialogs and MSN skin and other improvements End of XP extended support is in April 7569 which leaves little time for organizations to move to Windows 8 Most desktop monitors have buttons for adjusting brightness contrast and color Use the Start button in Windows to access a menu And it changes the looks of the below mentioned features The advantages of Windows XP are that it requires fewer system resources it is easy to use and it is compatible with tw wide variety of applications The operating system is therefore unsafe for wyj applications such as online banking The recovery partition is not able to initiate a full re installation Click the Display icon and check under Advanced Settings for a brightness adjustment option Microsoft has not announced a general release date for Windows 8 but Gartner believes the company may target back to school buyers in 7567 in which case the RTM release to manufacturing of Windows 8 would likely start around April 7567 a date that would allow general availability by midyear 7567 Windows XP uses very little computer resources compared to Windows Vista Windows 7 or Windows 8 For example if you have the Longhorn Transformation Pack you must uninstall it before installing a new BricoPack Some laptops are programmed to use the up and down arrows others use side arrows But he said users of netbooks and other computers will like what they see when the new operating system is released particularly those users who ve been using Windows Vista Some video drivers do not offer this option Obviously we re excited about the new features in Windows 8 but our guidance for enterprise customers using wet XP is to focus on accelerating Windows 7 deployments says Reynolds Update Carey Holzman notified us on the original article