Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 14.1 MB

Download link

Earth Views theme for Windows 8 features the amazing views of the Earth planet from Space. To get the Earth Views theme, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 21.1 MB

Download link

Get gorgeous forest waterfalls wallpapers with the Forest Waterfalls theme for Windows 8. To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 8 Mb

Download link

Meadows theme for Windows 8 features wallpapers with beautiful meadows. To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 9 Mb

Download link

Life at the Reef theme for Windows 8 features peaceful ocean scenery with amazing creatures that live there. To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 9 Mb

Download link

Rock formations theme features forces of nature which have created unique, beautiful rock formations in different places of our planet. To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 18 Mb

Download link

Spring Fresh theme for Windows 8 features beautiful flowers and fresh landscapes of the upcoming summer. To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 12.5 Mb

Download link

Desert Nature theme features images with nice desert landscapes. To get the Desert Nature theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 7.5 Mb

Download link

Lunar Shadows theme for Windows 8 features several landscapes in moonlight. To get this theme, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 8.28 Mb

Download link

Sea Waves, probably the most beautiful theme for Windows 8 released by Winaero. The gorgeos set of really terrific sea waves is featured by this theme. To get this theme, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 20.2 Mb

Download link

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 10 Mb

Download link

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 30.9 Mb

Download link

This awesome visual style for Windows 7 was created by DA user "mistraval". It comes with custom wallpaper, custom start button, custom explorer frames, custom logon background, custom metro cursors, and fully styled explorer shell ui. Note that all necessary customization tools are included in the theme package.

Give this theme a try - it is really nice work.

You can use UxStyle instead of UXThemePatcher to add support for third party themes in Windows 7.

Download link | Home page

Get the beautiful wallpapers with bridges at night with the Bridges at Night theme for Windows 8. To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 2.37 Mb

Download link

Touch the ancient Mayan and Incan architecture with the Elder Ruins theme for Windows 8. To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 13.9 Mb

Download link

Engage theme for Windows 7 is a kind of light theme with dark and glass elements. Created by DA user x-generator, it has the full support for both aero and basic styles.
X-generator has created compact and easier to use context menus and 4 taskbars. You need UxStyle to be able to use this theme in Windows 7.

Download link | Home page

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 19.7 Mb

Download link

Get these amazing wallpapers from the upcoming Ubuntu 13.04 on your Windows 8 Desktop with Ubuntu 13.04 themepack for Windows 8. To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 3Mb

Download link

Bright Nature features terrific landscapes with shiny vistas for your Desktop . To get this theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 28 Mb

Download link

What is considered as "startup" in Windows

Windows startup is the set of registry keys and file system folders which are used by Windows to run apps and various scripts. There are many different startup locations but most programs use the following registry keys or file system folders:

• Per-user Registry subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• The registry subkey for all users: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• Per-user Startup folder: C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
• The Startup folder for all users: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
• Some Task Scheduler tasks which are able to start when the user signs in (Windows Vista and later).

Tip: You can access the desired Registry key with one click. To open startup folders you can use the following shell commands:

• for per-user startup folder: shell:Startup
• for all users startup folder: shell:Common Startup

Click here to learn more about shell commands.

This is where you start

Reduce the amount apps of that load at startup. In Windows versions before Windows 8 you could use the msconfig (Start-Run-msconfig.exe) utility to see what you had in the startup list. In Windows 8, the same option is provided by the new Task Manager:

The new Task Manager has one benefit - Startup Impact calculation, I would recommend you to take a look at the Autoruns utility by Mark Russinovich. This is a must-have tool for power users, which is able to show you everything that loads at startup in your OS.

Obviously, the less apps you have at startup, the faster Windows will start.

So, the first step is disabling the unnecessary apps loaded at startup.

There is one good rule: if you don't know what the listed app is, then don't disable it.

How to improve startup by reducing the load on the OS

You can significantly improve the startup time by creating your own startup queue. Apps will start one by one and this will reduce the load on OS.

The idea behind this is that multiple apps won't try to load all at once, they will load in a serial order. A simple trick is to create a batch file with the app launch commands and with the "timeout" command after each app.

To make it clean, I will provide a simple example from my Windows 8 installation. I put the batch file that follows into my shell:Startup folder after i have removed two apps I have installed, Yahoo! Messenger and my own, Opaque Taskbar from loading at startup with Autoruns:

@echo off

start "" "c:\Program Files (x86)\Yahoo!\Messenger\YahooMessenger.exe"

timeout /10

start "" c:\data\portable\OpaqueTaskbar /resident

You can move all other apps this way to the batch file.

If you do not wish to see the console window at every startup, you can build a startup queue with Task Scheduler. You need to create a set of tasks:  one task for each app.

On the "Triggers" tab in the 'Create task' window, you have to set a new trigger for the "Log on" event. Notice the "Delay task for" option. It is equivalent to the "timeout" command I used in the batch file above. Use this option to create the startup queue.

The queue can be as follows in case of my Windows 8 system:

1. Task #1 - Yahoo! Messenger, "Delay task for" is unchecked  - I need no delay for the first started app.
2. Task #2 - Opaque Taskbar, "Delay task for" is set to 5 seconds - I have allotted 5 seconds for Task #1 to start and free OS resources.
3. Task #3 - Skype, "Delay task for" is set to 2 seconds- I have allotted 2 seconds for Task #2 to start and free OS resources.
4. ...and so on.

You need to check your startup settings regularly to get rid of new apps which automatically add themselves to your startup after they are installed. But it is worth it. Once the startup queue in created, you will feel that your Windows startup time is greatly reduced, especially if you have many apps that load at startup.

Make the OS interface more responsive during startup in Windows 8 and Windows 7 - the Jedi's way

Since Windows Vista, Microsoft has been trying to improve Windows startup, so Windows Vista has introduced a "Startup Delay". For any application loaded within the first 60 seconds, Windows Vista runs it at a low priority to reduce the load on the OS.

However, in Windows 7 and Windows 8, this low priority startup feature is disabled by default. You can enable it to make the OS interface more responsive during startup. Note that doing so will make your apps start with a lower priority but your system can be more responsive.

Here are the instructions to enable this feature:

1. Open the registry and navigate to the following key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\DelayedApps

   See our Registry Editor fundamentals.

2. Take ownership of the key mentioned above. By default it is owned by TrustedInstaller.
3. Change the value of the Delay_Sec value. It is set to zero by default which means "0 seconds for the low priority period". You may change it and set it back to 60 seconds (use decimal value) like Vista does.
   
4. Restore the TrustedInstaller ownership

That's it. To disable this feature, just set the Delay_Sec value back to zero.

If you are a Windows 8 user, in addition to this, I recommend you to check out the following article: How to reduce the startup delay for desktop apps in Windows 8.

Keep the Prefetcher and ReadyBoot features enabled

Make sure that both these functions are enabled in your OS.

ReadyBoot, (not to be confused with ReadyBoost), is a little known feature. After every boot, the ReadyBoost service (the same service that implements the ReadyBoost feature) uses idle CPU time to calculate a boot-time caching plan for the next boot. It analyzes file trace information from the five previous boots and identifies which files were accessed and where they are located on disk.

As for the Prefetcher, it was introduced in Windows XP to cache specific data about the applications you run in order to help them start faster. It was improved in Windows Vista and renamed SuperFetch.

Make sure the "Superfetch" service is started automatically.

Also, checkout the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Autologger\ReadyBoot

The "Start" value at this registry key must be set to 1.

Follow these simple rules to ensure a smooth startup:

1. Keep the pagefile enabled. Disabling the pagefile can cause all sorts of problems and strange issues. Some applications will simply refuse to start without a pagefile.
2. Keep SuperFetch enabled.
   When an SSD is used instead of a a hard disk drive (HDD), SuperFetch is automatically ignored by Windows.
3. Keep ReadyBoost enabled.
   Turning this off will increase boot times.

Defragment boot files

The built-in defrag utility in Windows Vista and later has the hidden option "-b" which optimizes the boot files and improves the startup time.

Run the elevated command prompt, and type the following:

defrag -b c:

where c: is your system drive. This command will invoke boot optimization.

You should know that Windows runs defragmentation upon a fixed schedule. It also includes boot optimization, so the above command runs it on an "on-demand" basis.

There is the "ScheduledDefrag" task in Task Scheduler in the Microsoft\Windows\Defrag folder that performs defragmentation:

You can check that this task is enabled.

Note that if you have an SSD drive, this task may be disabled by Windows. Don't worry. Even if it isn't disabled on an SSD drive, Windows will not defragment an SSD.

Let us know if you found this article useful. Your comments are always welcome.

Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.

Size: 28 Mb

Download link

Mr.Grim, a talented designer from Deviantart and the owner of the virtualcustoms.net board has created a really amazing port of Windows 7 theme for Windows 8. It is available in two editions - one with square corners and one with rounded corners.

You might be interested in the following topics:

• how to install third party themes in Windows 8
• how to get true Aero Glass with Blur in Windows 8

Download link | Home page

This wonderful visual style if completely white and looks very special. This diamond work was created by deviantart user s4r1n994n and all credits goes to him.

Please see how to install third party themes in Windows 8.

Download link | Home page

However, when the PC is locked, the normal display off timeout value has no effect on it and you cannot specify the timeout value after which the screen will turn off while you are on the Lock screen. Turns out, there is a hidden registry setting for this and enabling it even turns it on in the Power Options  control panel GUI - the same window where you specify other power related timeouts. Let me show you how.

• Open your Registry Editor and go to the following key:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\7516b95f-f776-4464-8c53-06167f40cc99\8EC4B3A5-6868-48c2-BE75-4F3044BE88A7

  Tip: If you are not familiar with Registry Editor, see our Registry Editor fundamentals and do not forget to read how to jump to the desired registry key with one click.

• On the right side, you will see an "Attributes" value. It equals to 1 by default.
  
  You need to change it to 2:
  

That's it! After doing this, you will see a new item in the Advanced Settings of the power plan inside the Power Options Control Panel.

Before the tweak, it looked like this:

And after applying the tweak you will get an additional item in the "Display" section:

The "Console lock display off timeout" is the one that's added. By default, it is set to 1 minute, and now you can set it to what you want. Note that the value must be less than the "Turn Display after…" value. Otherwise you will not notice the changes.

This tweak is applicable to Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 (aka "Windows Blue").

I have created ready-to-use registry files for you. Download link is below.

Download ready-to-use registry files

Many thanks to my friend D.Bulanov for sharing this tip.

Macrocosmos theme for Windows 8 features fantastic high-quality desktop backgrounds with nebulas, stars and planets from the solar system. To get the Macrocosmos theme for Windows 8, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Size: 21 Mb

Download link

When Picture Frame is enabled, it looks as follows:

BetaArchive.com member Ultrawindows has discovered some hidden registry tweaks which will allow you to customize the "Picture Frame" feature behavior.

All these hidden settings are located at the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen

If this key does not exist, then you should create it. See our Registry Editor fundamentals if you have any questions.

Here you can create the following parameters:

SlideshowDebug

This DWORD parameter can have either a value of 0 or 1. When it equals 1, some additional debug info will be overlaid on the "Picture Frame" background (see the screenshot below).

SlideshowStartDelay

This DWORD value allows setting the delay before the Picture Frame slideshow starts. It must be in decimals and is expressed in milliseconds. If it equals zero, then the slideshow will be started without delay.

SlideshowTransitionTimerInterval

This DWORD value determines how much time the set of images will stay before they are swapped with another set of images. Like the parameter mentioned above, it must be in decimals and is expressed in milliseconds.

SlideshowTransitionTimerInvervalTolerance

It is not clear what this value does exactly, but if it's value is greater than 500, then the  slideshow stops and hangs.

See the Picture Frame feature in action:

via Betaarchive

Size: 21 Mb

Download link

Winaero Theme Switcher is a lightweight portable tool available for Windows 7 and Windows 8. It has a GUI, but it is primarily intended to be used with the command prompt or in a batch file where you want to automate the applying of a custom theme.

Winaero Theme Switcher operates with the built-in Theme Manager of Windows 7/Windows 8 and uses it to apply themes.

How to use

The syntax is as follows:

ThemeSwitcher.exe path_to_file.theme

For example, in Windows 8 it can be:

themeswitcher.exe c:\Windows\Resources\Themes\theme1.theme

To make the Winaero Theme Switcher app more friendly, I have implemented a "theme lookup" feature: If theme is located in one of the following folders:
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
C:\Windows\Resources\Easy of Access Themes
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes

then you need not specify the full path to the theme file or even its extension, just specify the file name.

Examples:

themeswitcher.exe aero - this will apply c:\Windows\Resources\Themes\aero.theme
themeswitcher.exe "Rainbow Colors" - this will apply c:\Users\Sergey\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Rainbow Colors\Rainbow Colors.theme which I have installed manually from here.

In action:

Note that for themes you share with your friends or downloaded from elsewhere, they are in .themepack format. Themepacks need to be installed first by double clicking them. Thereafter, you can apply the theme.

Download Winaero Theme Switcher

 Let us know in the comments if you found Winaero's Theme Switcher useful.

This theme features desert and coastal sands with beautiful scenery. To get the Sands and Sea theme, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Size: 14 Mb

Download link

Minimal black and white visual style for Windows 8 created by RidKurn. Small taskbar version is included.

This visual style will change the appearance of window frames in Windows 8. See how to install third party themes in Windows 8 to get it working.

Also, you can use our Ribbon Disabler tool to remove the ribbon from Explorer.

Download link | Home Page

Here is updated version of incomplete VS with simply windows & fixed system metric color. Created by deviantart user sinopt.

See how to install third party themes in Windows 8 to get it working.

Also, you can use our Ribbon Disabler tool to remove the ribbon from Explorer.

Download link | Home page

By default, Windows 8 does not come with any option to disable the auto pinning option. Microsoft has left no choice for the end user.

Under the hood, the Start screen keeps almost all data related to pinned apps and tiles in the following file:

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\appsFolder.itemdata-ms

You may also use the following trick to locate that file:

• Press Win+R keys on your keyboard. The "Run" dialog will be displayed on the screen.
• Type the following:

  shell:Local AppData

  Tip: you can get the full list of shell commands from here: The full list of shell commands in Windows 8.

• An Explorer window will appear, navigate to Microsoft\Windows folder and you will see the appsFolder.itemdata-ms file.

As mentioned above, this file is key to your Start Screen content.

For example, if you delete this file, and sign out and sign in back to Windows, you will get a clean Start screen with default tiles, just like you got at first logon!

But, we are interested in preventing the Start Screen from getting cluttered, so obviously, it must preserve all customized tiles and manually pinned app shortcuts. The best way to do this is to make a backup of the appsFolder.itemdata-ms file and restore it after you have installed the apps you want to pin. Follow these simple steps to do it right:

1. Get an alternative file manager. You need one because this file is locked by Explorer. I can recommend you Explorer++, Total Commander or FAR Manager.
2. Configure the Start screen the way you like - pin built-in or already installed apps, unpin everything you don't need, add Tiles for Modern apps and so on.
3. Exit Explorer. Please refer the  article: "How to properly restart the Explorer shell in Windows" to learn how it should be done.
4. Make a backup of two files:

   • %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\appsFolder.itemdata-ms

   • %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak

   It is very important to make a backup of the second file too, so don't forget that.

5. Start Explorer again, install new apps (they will be pinned automatically because of the oversmart auto pinning behavior of Windows 8).
6. Run the alternative file manager app.
7. Exit the Explorer shell again. Copy the appsFolder.itemdata-ms file and appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak file that you have from step 4 back to the %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\ folder with alternative file manager.
8. Start the Explorer shell, and you will get your personalized, clean Start screen back.

That's it.

Now, if you regularly install a bunch of new apps every few days, doing all these steps can be very tiresome. So I have automated this process, and created the "AutoPin Controller" utility to resolve this problem.

It does not create a backup of the above mentioned files. Instead, it changes the access rights to the appsFolder.itemdata-ms file and also creates a appsFolder.itemdata-ms.lock file which tells Windows 8 Explorer shell that the Start Screen should not be updated/changed.

You can try AutoPin Controller from here: Download AutoPin Controller

Note that it is not perfect: sometimes Windows still pins certain shortcuts with a delay after you unlock "Pin To Start Screen" feature. I plan to rewrite the utility to make it use the "backup/restore" method and resolve the issue.

I hope that this article is useful to anyone who prefers a clean, well organized Start screen. Feel free to share your opinion on the Start screen's "oversmart" behavior in comments.

This theme features wallpapers with different implementations of World Maps. To get the World Maps theme, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.

Size: 11.9 Mb

Download link

Probably the best theme for Windows 8. It features the proper support of any color of window frame and does not force you to disable Ribbon. It really makes Windows 8 look way better.

The change log as follows:

Update 15/03/2013:
Modified scrollbar.
Final release.

Update 14/03/2013#2:
Modified navigation buttons.
Small changes.

Update 14/03/2013:
Fixed caption color in Light caption version.
Fixed user picture in Start8.

See how to install third party themes in Windows 8 to get it working.

Download link | Home page

Base theme is a visual style created for Windows 8 by deviantart user link6155. It looks very nice.

See how to install third party themes in Windows 8 to get it working.

Also, you can use our Ribbon Disabler tool to remove the ribbon from Explorer.

Download link | Home page