Is it worth installing Aero themes via third party applications?

Hello everyone,

I'm almost done with moving from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and currently, I'm in the process of customising my Windows appearance. So far I've installed open shell and OldNewsExplorer which, seems to work fine on my system.

However, I was wondering if it's worth installing one of those third party applications that applies aero theme on Windows 10? For example, I'm talking about applications such as glass8 and WinAero Tweaker.

I'm seeing mixed receptions for these apps where, it works perfectly for some systems while for others, it breaks or even requiring resetting of the OS to reverse the damage done by these apps. In addition, some users report that it doesn't quite replicate the Windows 7's aero theme and instead, makes it look "ugly" on Windows 10.

Now, I'm not really scared of applying registry or group policy hacks to customise the look of my system though, after hearing quite a few negative feedback on these aero applications, I'm not quite sure if it's worth installing one at this point.

All in all, I can probably live with the current default Windows theme but, it'd be nice if I could go back to the transparent, glossy-looking aero theme that I'm used to with Windows 7.

Thank you and I appreciate your suggestions.

Thank you for the reply.

dalchina said:

I use Aeroglass (small donation) - the degree of transparency and choice of rounded or not is configurable.

Two questions relating to Aero glass:
1) How hard was it to set up the app? According to their FAQ, it seems like only "advanced users" should be using their app though, are they only saying it as a disclaimer or something?
2) According to your screenshot, the background of the explorer/folder is in aqua/teal colour. Is that part of Aero Glass? Can you remove it?

dalchina said:

Takes 2-3 months after a major build release to be updated to be compatible- but I prefer to wait that long for the flak to settle anyway.

By "major build release", do you mean the actual build version upgrade (i.e. from 1903 to 1909, 1909 to 2004 etc)? Or do you mean the feature updates that are released twice a year?

Sorry, I'm new to Windows 10 and just started to learn how they work and whatnot.

dalchina said:

Easy enough to set up- I found the rounded corner option from the forum.

Hmm, it's very tempting but again, I'm a bit weary of this install where it'll inject shells that might possibly corrupt my Windows in the long run.
It's a bit unsettling when I'm hearing from some users that they had to reset/reinstall Windows completely due to it being corrupted by the replacement shells. Their backups/images/system restores didn't fix the corrupted issue hence, they had to resort to such measures.

Then again, I could say the same thing for "Open Shell" and "OldNewsExplorer" as well.

Ah, bugger me. I'm very suspicious and cautious when it comes to not screwing up my OS.

dalchina said:

Each major build has been 6 monthly- until 1909 which was completely different in implementation.

The future pattern may become an annual major upgrade with something else between.

1903 = 2019, March (3); 1809 = 2018, Sept (9) - except they were released about 2 months late.

Thanks again for the info.

On one hand, I really miss the old Windows 7 look. On the other hand, I just can't ignore all these reports that these programs will be fatal to your OS or something.

Just to quote from the top comment of MajorGeeks you've linked:

"Also I'm pretty sure this install corrupted my windows after a couple of months (and some reinstalls of glass needed), win now boots without my desktop and have to close down sihost and explorer.exe to get it back, then it's still 'wrong' looking, basically I need to reinstall windows (restore image) and I *think* it was due to this software."

And another post replied with:

Well yeah, replacement shells will no doubt corrupt Windows. It's what one should expect.

Is this even true though? I don't quite get how these programs work and how they are altering the shells or not.

You mentioned that it's "just a program" however, they seem to suggest that it's more than a program that tinkers with the system files and whatnot.

dalchina said:

I have run Aeroglass on 2 different laptops from Win 8 thru several builds of Win 10.

You are free to choose what you do, naturally.

I really appreciate the links and information you've provided.

After reading into it a bit, I was scared for nothing it seems. They seem to load their customisable stuff on "temporary container" which, can be disabled or uninstalled easily via their preferred respective program's method.

I'll go ahead and install these, since I really want to have Windows 7 look back. At the same time, I'll take the usual backup measures such as creating an image backup and system restore before installing these programs.