Install Aerolite Theme in Windows 10  

Mystere said:

Because it doesn't work very well with Universal apps. Microsoft wants a consistent look and feel between desktop and Universal apps, so they removed a lot of functionality from desktop personalization until it can be added to Universal apps as well.

So, Microsoft:
If I promise to never, ever use a Universal app, even for a second, can I have desktop customization back?

Brink said:

Hello Ascaris, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

You can have it back now if you like.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/6...dows-10-a.html

Thanks... I will try that next time I am in 10 again. It will be a little better, but still a long way to go before I will be happy with it. For the time being, I went back to 7, although I can go back to 10 via disk image at any time. I have to believe MS will fix this-- 10 is far too ugly and unpolished to remain as it is, IMO. It does not look like a release-quality OS.

I am currently using a custom theme in Windows 7, based on Classic AE by Saarineames. The theme can be selected in Windows 10, but it hardly changes anything... nearly all of the theme is ignored by Windows. I still have vast expanses of white pixels... white backgrounds, white menus, white toolbars. The white is painful for my eyes on LCD displays... that's why I edited the Classic AE theme above. Classic AE uses white backgrounds; my edited version sets them all to a light gray that is much easier on the eyes. I've seen a lot of people make similar comments on various forums, so I am hardly the only one who finds the white glare of LCDs to be intolerable. This is no less an accessibility issue than it is with the people who require the high-contrast themes. One size seldom (if ever) fits all!

With Windows 7, the Classic theme was still there, and it still obeyed the settings in the old customize fonts and colors dialog. I used that for quite a while; none of the WDM themes (aero themes), including Classic AE, would allow a gray background just by changing the settings, and I strongly prefer Classic themes anyway. Eventually, the screen tearing inherent in the non-WDM Classic annoyed me to the point that I bought a .msstyles editor and learned how to edit themes, and put the gray background in Classic AE myself. It was worth it to get rid of the tearing that plagues the original Classic.

If this limitation in 10 is all about making it look consistent with universal apps, then why is Win 8 able to be themed properly? I have never used 8, but I thought that 8.1 did away with the "all apps are fullscreen" thing, so even then the theming would be applied to universal apps. I see screenshots of Win 8 that show it fully themed, including the toolbars, menus, backgrounds, and everything else (at least as far as the colors go... I did not look into it enough to see if the flatness can be themed away), yet Windows 10 ignores 95% of what is in a theme.

Hi Shawn, Tried to download the Option Two zip file a little while ago and all I got was waiting for Ten Forums to reply. Could you check things on your end? Thanks

Brink said:

@SoFine409,

Thank you. They should be working now. :)

Very nice and thank you for keeping everything up and running. What a great resource this forms is; just browsing the threads is a real education. I've been around PCs since the days of the Commodore 64 and tape drives and thought I knew a lot. Yikes we actually used tape drives to store code, and programming in machine code OMG. It least it wasn't punch cards! Have a great rest of the Holiday.