The Windows Vista operating system from Microsoft, like its predecessor Windows XP, allows you to control the look and feel of the operating system by changing the theme.

Themes can be added, edited and deleted. In this section we show you how to change the Windows Vista theme.

Before you follow this tutorial you must read the terms of our disclaimer.

The first step in the process is to right-click on a blank piece of the Windows Vista desktop, this will result in a menu appearing with numerous options. Your menu may differ slightly from our example, depending on your software configuration.

Click on the Personalize option with the left mouse button, as shown in fig 1.1 to the right.

This will open the Theme Settings dialogue box, from where you can manage your themes.

screenshot - change vista theme step one

The Theme Settings dialogue box is very easy to use and allows you to preview your theme.

Click on the pulldown box as pointed out in fig 1.2 opposite. The pulldown menu will contain any installed themes, and also any previously used themes. To select a theme, left-click on it.

The standard themes include Windows Vista and Windows Classic, the former is the standard theme, and the latter is the theme used by previous versions of the Windows operating system.

If you have previously downloaded a theme to your PC, clicking on Browse will allow you to navigate to where the theme is located, so you can select it.

screenshot - change vista theme step two

Once you have selected the theme you want, click on the Apply button to preview the theme, if you are happy with the result, click the OK button to close the Theme Settings dialogue box.