What We Missed: The “Secret” Windows XP Theme

By Rico, 8:08 am Fri May 23 2008 - News - 2 Opinions

Royale Noir is a supposedly “secret” XP theme “leaked” back in 2006 that apparently never made it to the final copy of Windows XP. Click here to download it now.

Anyone who uses Windows XP will tell you: the default theme looks ugly. The bright colors and overall plain look never did make heads turn, especially when competitors like Mac OS X wowed people with its simple yet visually-enticing interface.

That’s why so many people have spent time to create alternate Windows XP themes. But the problem with using many of themes is that it requires a bit of tweaking that may not be comfortable for the average computer user.

But Royale Noir is different; think of it as a Windows XP theme with more subtlety. Aside from that, it’s very easy to install, requiring only the download of certain files and copying them to a specific folder (instructions here). There are some inconsistencies with the look; few of the visual elements don’t work properly. Still, we’ve been using Royale Noir for quite a while now, and we must say, black is a lot easier on the eyes than our usual blue!

Thanks to Rico for the tip.

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