If you crave more aesthetics in a workspace that you face most of your waking hours, here are the programs that can make it happen:- Objectdock - Freeware. Let the kiddy Windows taskbar rest forever in peace.
- StyleXP | UXtheme.dll hack - Freeware | Shareware. Choose the Panther theme for the menu style in StyleXP. However, note that StyleXP is a shareware and expires after 30 days, leaving you with the original, excruciating, Windows menus. But don't worry and don't feel like rushing out to buy a Mac when that happen :) You can use the Uxtheme.dll hack freeware from Neowin available here. If that doesn't work, the manual hack (which is actually not difficult) is succintly detailed here at Neowin.net. This is a long-term solution. (You can also skip installing the StyleXP step altogether and depend on the Uxtheme.dll hack, in which case you just have to google for your own Panther theme and install.)
- Yahoo Widget Engine - Freeware. For those beautiful widgets on the desktop. Previously known as Konfabulator, it has been bought over by Yahoo. Nothing has changed much from the user point of view.
- Lucida Grande font - do away with the boring Windows default San Serif!
- Icon Tweaker - Freeware. I used to use IconPackager, but again, that expires, so IconTweaker is definitely a more long-term solution.
- ObjectBar - The main reason to have this bar found at the top of a Mac screen is really for the system tray. But if you are like me and prefer not to overload your RAM, it is actually possible to make do without it.
For a step-by-step guide and more hardcore emulating, try:
http://features.engadget.com/entry/8828351836181248/ http://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?c=1&AID=66871
