Desktop Themes for win 98

[bmpkns2]

I have an easy question for ya'll. I have Win98 SE on my computer, and a friend was here and wanted to know how I changed the desktop themes so I went into his control panel and noticed there is no icon for Desktop Themes. He has win98, and apparently there was never any themes on his. I was going to copy the whole plus! folder under program files from my computer, and put it on his, but it is 26.7 MB, and no cd writer here, do you know where it can be downloaded from the internet?, or is there no way to install it on win98.

thanks for any help

[BigBlue66]

Hey,

Go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and click on Product Updates. It will ask him if he wants to download and install a piece of software that will enable the website to determine what his OS needs as far as updates/upgrades, etc. Click Yes to installing that piece of software. Then, a little box will pop up that says something about checking for available updates for that computer, etc. etc.. Be patient and then a list of available updates will show up. No doubt, his OS needs a lot of Critical Updates, which he should download and install first. After that, he can find the desktop themes at the bottom of the page.

Cheers,

Big Blue 66


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Woe is me.

[hiredgoonz]

You can also get Desktop Architect http://www.desktoparchitect.com/

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When all else fails, read the instructions.

[This message has been edited by hiredgoonz (edited 06-26-2001).]

[Paleo Pete]

Desktop Themes is originally installed along with Windows, or not, according to the install mode used and what the person installing Windows wants to choose from the available options. If you want the standard win98 Desktop Themes, here's a how to:

Go to Start\Settings\Control Panel\Add/Remove Programs\Windows Setup tab. Click the small box beside Desktop Themes to put a check in it, and highlight it, then click Details at lower right. Check off each theme you wish to install, then click OK, then click Apply at bottom right. Have the Windows CD handy, if the cab files were not copied to the hard drive during the original Windows installation. That will install the Desktop Themes part of Windows.

If you want other themes in addition to the ones included on the Windows CD, then you can get them from the Microsoft site as suggested above. I think you'll have to have Desktop Themes itself installed to use them in any case, but I may be wrong on that one...

One additional note, if you're concerned about performance, or using a slower machine, be careful about using wallpapers, backgrounds and tons of icons on the desktop. Each is a graphic image that must be re-drawn 60-75 times per second depending on the refresh rate the monitor is set to, and can have a noticable effect on overall performance. Using a plain color background, no wallpaper and the least possible mumber of desktop icons will result in the best overall performance. So if you start to use those and your machine slows down, remove the wallpaper and/or background and you'll see a difference. Since I remember my 486 days well, it's a habit for me to use a plain background color, only the necessary icons and no wallpaper. Sure they look cool, but I like the better performance I get without them.

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[bmpkns2]

Thanks for all the help guys. He is using a laptop, and i am not sure how much memory he has. When i showed him this, he just decided that he just wanted to use the wallpaper, not too worried about all the different icons and such, so i just copied a few onto a floppy and he put them on his comp. Guess he was tired of the same old screen staring at him all the time. But now I will know the fix if it ever comes up again.

Thanks a bunch http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif