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Geek Culture / XP looking a little dated? - so make it look like Vista!

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Van B
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 09:43
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This was posted over at the PB forums, thought it might interest some folks - I installed it and it's running nicely, certainly better on the eyes than XP.

http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/num.130.htm

We're going down... in a spiral to the ground...
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Aaron Miller
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 10:37
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Van B, I have the Vista Transformation Pack (v 6.0), I must say I am very happy with it because it supports Aero (To some extent...) and the Vista Basic theme. I also installed an Ubuntu theme... But I hardly ever use it.. In fact now, I'm using the Vista transformation pack.


Care if I share a link?


Cheers,

-naota


Nuclear Glory
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Van B
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 10:52
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Yeah post any links you like, let's make this thread about ways to improve the look of XP.

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Aaron Miller
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 11:02 Edited at: 12th Jul 2007 11:03
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Really? Well, alright then.

Edit: Screenie


Well, I believe the Vista transformation pack comes with a Sidebar, if not you should download one..

Second, you need to get some Widgets. (Should come with Vista transformation pack) Get konfabulator if you need some.

Finally, get the Vista transformation pack... Make sure to READ THE LICENSE.


WOOT! As I was writing this, I found 7.0 was out! SaweetQ. (The Q is silent )
Click here for page
Click here for download


Cheers,

-naota

PS: Have fun, and be careful. Stuff like this can indeed damage your computer... I will definately not be blamed for it! Make sure you have Antivirus, Antispyware, etc... I really do care for the safety of others, and would hope you care for the safety of yourself, and your privacy.


Nuclear Glory
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Shadow heart
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 11:22
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wow thanks dude.

haha lets rock this world.
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Aaron Miller
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 11:34
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I got around to even fixing the KB9502 problem... Transformation pack will not install unless KB9502 is not there, here: http://www.crystalxp.net/news/en187-kb925902-bricopack.htm.html


Cheers,

-naota


Nuclear Glory
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 11:36
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You also have the Zune theme which isn't an eyesore, you should be able to find it on Microsoft's website.

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Snowblind 44
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 16:58 Edited at: 12th Jul 2007 17:00
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Quote: "You also have the Zune theme which isn't an eyesore, you should be able to find it on Microsoft's website."
Yup, that one was pretty cool.
Right now I'm making XP look better with a WB skin and a new bar at the bottom (and I'll probably put one on the side too.)
See screenshot.



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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 17:19 Edited at: 12th Jul 2007 18:05
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That Vista one is pretty funky and is easy on the resources, I don't think there's much difference in resource usage as the default XP themes.

So I guess I've got variation in my themes when throwing out the eye sore of XP themes.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y173/seppuku05/winxpvistadesktopTWO.jpg

Edit, there are other cool XP Themes on there that don't need ram hungry stuff like Windows Blinds - plus transparency - here's one cool visual style I've got off there.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y173/seppuku05/xpthemevista.jpg

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Roxas
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 18:21 Edited at: 12th Jul 2007 18:21
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My Desktop After Tweaking ->



Evertyghing looks diffrent even MSN!!

And memory usage is same as in win98 skin :S


[B] - LINKIN PARK - [/B]

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Maxi Studio
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 18:47
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I had that pack before
Until I uppgraded to Vista!!

<a href="http://maxtorrent.exofire.net" target="_blank"><img src=images/banner.jpg border="0"></a>
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Mr X
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 19:58 Edited at: 12th Jul 2007 20:05
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Personally I don't really like the way vista looks. To much transparent stuff for my taste. But I found another theme that I like. It's called Royale, and looks like an improved version of the standard XP theme.

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 21:12
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I've got royale installed in my selection of themes, as well as Royale Noir and Zune (And Vista and Vista clones) Royale is a theme that comes eith Windows XP Media center, Royale Noir was a theme they made but decided not to include with Media Center - Zune is based on those themes.

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soapyfish
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 21:39
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Right now I'm using Royale Noir and I've used Royale in the past. I've got the zune theme but the bright orange start button is too distracting imo.

We are the angry mob, we read the papers every day. We like who we like, we hate who we hate but we're also easily swayed!
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dab
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 21:54
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Just to let you know, if you mod your uxtheme.dll, you can use those windosblinds themes without windows blinds. It definately makes life better as windows blinds slows down computers like slugs.
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Xarshi
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 22:13
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Seppuku - In your image I see Hatebreed. Nice band. Their cd rise of brutality is my favorite,haha. And the vista transformation pack looks interesting,I'm installing it right now

Hello
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heartbone
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 22:14
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I downloaded Royal Noir back on June 27 and I plan to use Royale Noir based on it's pedigree.

I'm too paranoid about system stability to even think about putting any of that other stuff on my system.

But I obtained three different versions...

royale_noir.rar
Royale_Remixed.rar
and the Royale Noir Theme for WinXP 1.46.zip which contains UXTheme Multi-Patcher 5.0.exe

I think that I've decided on the last one,
but before I pull the trigger
are there any recommendations?

I'm unique, just like everybody else.
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 23:33 Edited at: 12th Jul 2007 23:34
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Quote: "In your image I see Hatebreed. Nice band. "


Certainly are, fantastic live and the circle pits are pretty cool, though I've only stood next to them and not ran in them. Rise of Brutality is agree is a great album, though I can't seem to find my copy. Also, I didn't use the transformation pack, I used the one VanB linked to which does a mighty fine job.

Heartbone, As far as I know, Royale Noir was a theme made by MS, virus check it and extract Royale Noir into your C:/Windows/Resources/Themes folder and make sure you don't replace anything, if it's an installer, back up the folder it installs to, if anything is replaced and the noir theme does work, XP should fall back on the Win Classic GUI, just make sure you can replace the folders...Also, any files relating to thr 'Windows Classic' theme, make sure it stays there before putting on new themes after installation etc. Though it is highly unlikely that a problem will be caused, but if I have learnt anything from using computers, prepare for the worst.

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heartbone
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 00:08
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Thanks, Seppuku Arts.
I'll follow your advice, I already have a backup from today to work from, and I'll install it before the weekend.
Although I modified WIn956 and Win98SE to different colors,
I never got around to changing the desktop colors for any of my three XP systems.
(One is the cartoony XP Media Center Edition.)
I'm looking forward to losing this blue background with white letters.
It's been around since the Atari 800 days.

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CJD
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 01:19
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Do you need a special programme to install themes? How does it work? Can you go back to normal afterwards? The royale theme looks cool!

Your signature has been erased by a mod because it's larger than 600x120
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Bizar Guy
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 01:29
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I tried a few different themes, and even though I really liked a few of them, none were as functional as the xp theme. I don't like the blue though, so I use the amber color. If there's an amber version of Royale, I'll definitely try that.

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The Nerd
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 01:33 Edited at: 13th Jul 2007 01:34
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Thanks for the link Van B Just installed it today, looks wonderful. I'm gonna keep this one for sure.

Quote: "Do you need a special programme to install themes? How does it work? Can you go back to normal afterwards? The royale theme looks cool!"


That depends. You can get commercial programs that will have a wide choices of themes for you to install, but it's not always you need to have them. For example, the link Van gave is a theme that just contains a normal installer. You don't need anything special there. Same goes for some of the royal themes, like this one(which I used before this one showed up on the forums):
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20061029/royale-noir/

All you have to do is follow the very simple intructions giving and there you go

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RUCCUS
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 01:35
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Royal has been around for... ever.

Nice finds on the others though.


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Aaron Miller
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 01:56
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@CJD
You just put themes in the C:\Windows\Resources folder.
And yes, you can use any theme you want once installed.

Cheers,

-naota


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dab
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 02:38 Edited at: 13th Jul 2007 02:39
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Quote: "Just to let you know, if you mod your uxtheme.dll, you can use those windosblinds themes without windows blinds. It definately makes life better as windows blinds slows down computers like slugs."


I'm tellin ya, people always seem to ignore my posts. .

Edit: I just realized I put windows blinds. But it will be able to use any theme that is correctly built, and not signed by Microsoft.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Themes/UXTheme-Patch-For-Windows-XP-SP2-Final.shtml
For example.
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Raven
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 08:30
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I'd recommend that if you do go for the CrystalXP Transform packs, that you're damn sure that's what you want.

They're extremely difficult to uninstall without doing a repair installation of Windows XP.

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 11:03
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Quote: "Do you need a special programme to install themes? How does it work? Can you go back to normal afterwards? The royale theme looks cool!"


In the link in the first post, they don't need any extra programs, if you go into the gallery on that website you can find more Visual Styles that done need things like Windows Blinds (except for the windows blinds ones on that site)

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RUCCUS
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 14:42
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Any reason the bricoBrat installer hangs forever on MSN Messenger? It installs fine until it hits messenger, then no progress for... a half an hour and counting.


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brummel
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 16:17
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This is absolutely amazing.

www.myspace.com/sculptednoise
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 14th Jul 2007 04:20
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http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Aqua-Dock.shtml

Aqua Dock is a pretty awesome thing for your desktop.

[center]

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Jeku
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Posted: 14th Jul 2007 04:36
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Ouch. If I wanted to have a Mac interface I would buy a Mac.

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Agent Dink
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Posted: 14th Jul 2007 06:13
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I think it's really handy. I can have a small start bar and Aqua Dock autohides itself. If I want to load up another program I just run the mouse down to the bottom of the screen and there I go. No cluttered start bars, desktops, or menus.

[center]

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Aaron Miller
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Posted: 14th Jul 2007 12:16
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No offense, but I am damn well sick of seeing the MacOSX icon on things in Windows! I believe that if you like Macs, that is fine, but if you are going to build software for Windows, don't use Mac logos.. Unless you work for Apple.


In my oppinion, the start bar is actually quite nice. Granted, I like how SkyOS handles things better, I feel that the start bar isn't all that cluttered.... Only if you have about a million apps like me, but even then, things are bound to get cluttered.


Cheers,

-naota


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Agent Dink
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Posted: 14th Jul 2007 15:28
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I have no OSX icons on my AquaDock. You can change whatever you want about it. I thought that it was a bit dumb myself. All I know is this Aquadock saves me at least one start menu layer and autohides itself, but can be brought up on top of any window, so I can have DBP full screened and if I decide I want to load of PSP X to make a quick placeholder graphics I just run my mouse down to it and it pops up. So nice. It allows for so much more work space and keeps things (more) clutter free.

Defending this has nothing to do with a love of Macs. I've never even used a modern Mac. I've only seen one in action in the last 5 years. Everyone I know is generally a PC user (aside from one cousin who uses both), I don't work in an office, and everywhere I go they use PCs. So to be honest I didn't even know that the Aqua Dock was a rip off of one of their features until Jeku mentioned it. But who cares. It's a good feature. Not saying anyone needs to use it if they don't want to. But it works well for me

Don't get me wrong, I like the start bar, I love how you can dock various icon bars and toolbars on it. It's a pretty cool feature. I just don't like it when it has to take up 3 layers of the screen. I like to keep it on top of all windows so if I need to visit a website quickly I can just type into the address bar, or quickly launch a program. I hate when it hides itself, because it just adds one extra mouse movement to everything so I keep it on top of everything.

[center]

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heartbone
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Posted: 31st Jul 2007 09:58 Edited at: 31st Jul 2007 09:59
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Well I installed that Royale Noir Theme for WinXP 1.46 and it is a substantial change to the system.
I'll have to get used to these new sounds and progress bars act weirdly.
But overall it is better than the default XP theme.
However that installer is crap as it does not finish the job.
You'll have to download more crap to finish the installation.
This Royal Noir theme along with Chaos Crystal and/or Focus Alpha is enough desktop visual enhancements for now.
None of it helps to make a better programmer.

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Snowwolf
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Posted: 1st Aug 2007 16:43
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Woah, cool! Ill trie!



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RUCCUS
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Posted: 1st Aug 2007 16:50
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I still never got the pack working. It kept just freezing when it reached MSN.

Anyone have any suggestions? I really like the look of it.


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Benji
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2007 02:39 Edited at: 2nd Aug 2007 06:20
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Quote: "This was posted over at the PB forums, thought it might interest some folks - I installed it and it's running nicely, certainly better on the eyes than XP.

http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/num.130.htm
"


I would get it, but it's not for Win x64.

Is it easy to remove? I don't think I'd get it even if my computer did support it, if there is no uninstaller.

EDIT:

Oops, I was mistaken! I actually don't have x64!

...
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 7th Aug 2007 23:43
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Wow, thats pretty cool. I've been using a tweak for a while now but that CrystalXP thing certainly tops it. Does it take up much memory in the background?
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