1. What is a desktop theme?
2. Where do I find themes?
3. Where do I find good themes?
4. How do I download themes?
5. How do I install themes?
6. How do I find a particular theme?
7. How do I create themes?
8. What is the difference between Plus! 95 and Plus! 98 themes?
9. Can I use Plus! 95 themes in Plus! 98 and vice versa?
10. Can I use a theme designed for a different screen resolution?
11. How do I restore the original startup/shutdown screens?
12. Solutions to other known problems
13. Star Trek Theme List - BY BHBplus
14. IMPORTANT MESSAGE - HALL OF SHAME!
1. What is a desktop theme?
A desktop theme is a convenient way of converting several aspects of the desktop
environment at the same time. A (complete) theme consists of cursors, icons, sound files,
wallpaper, color scheme and an installation file with the extension ".theme".
Sometimes themes also include screensavers and startup/shutdown screens.
Desktop themes are usually based on some specific topic, e. g. a movie, a band or a game.
There are thousands of themes available on the web, ranging from top quality professional
creations to amateurish crap.
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2. Where do I find themes?
There are lots of theme sites on the web. They can roughly be divided into five basic
categories:
a) Sites that store themes.
Theme World
Custom Effects
Windows 95 Themes
Collection
WinThemes.com
Tucows Free Themes
EZskins
b) Sites that offer vast collections of organized theme links.
BHBplus's Theme Links
Trish's Theme Terrain
THE UNLEASHED
Desktop Heaven
EZthemes community
has 30 links to sites that you can download from.
Plus Themes
c) Sites that offer a limited amount of themes, often produced by the site
owner(s).
BHBplus's Exclusive
Star Trek Themes
Vanessa Zoe Desktop Themes
Themes by Gates
OUIJA'S
DESKTOP THEMES!
Cap'n Jim's Homepage
themes
you never knew existed...
Choc
Fiction
Judd's Theme Bar
Digital Themes
Theme Park
Ill-Tempered
d) Sites that offer theme reviews with ratings, previews and written
commentary.
The Theme Doctor
Dream Theme
Themez
Quality Desktop Themes
e) Sites that offer collections of links to different theme sites.
BHBplus's Theme Links
Desktop Themes
Ring
Plus! Themes Ring
Theme Central Station
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3. Where do I find good themes?
In fact most themes on the web are of rather poor quality. It would be safe to say that
about one theme in five is worthwhile, and about one in ten is really good. If you are
looking for high quality themes you should consider visiting a theme review site. That way
you'll at least know what you're downloading. Most high quality themes on the web are
available on the review sites.
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4. How do I download themes?
On most sites the download instructions are very simple. You usually just click on the
theme name.
Sometimes servers are very busy, resulting in slow or even stagnant downloads. To solve
this problem, get an application called GetRight. It allows you to resume downloads. So if a server starts
giving you a hard time when you've downloaded a portion of a file, you can simply abort
the download and resume it later (i. e. without having to download the file all over
again).
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5. How do I install themes?
Themes are almost without exception stored in zip format. This means you'll need a 32 bit
version of WinZip to extract
themes.
To install themes, you'll need to use some theme application. Microsoft Plus! is the most
common and probably the best application. But there are several other programs that work
just as well, e. g. Desktop
Themes or XTheme Manager.
Most themes are very easy to install. Just unzip them to your theme directory and install.
But some themes are improperly coded. The most common mistake made is that the .theme file
refers to directories or files that are missing or have nothing to do with the theme in
question. Luckily, such mistakes are very easy to fix. A .theme file is simply a large
batch file, i. e. a text file assigning paths to different files. A .theme file simply
tells windows where to find wallpaper, cursors, icons, etc. If you open it in Notepad, you
will almost immediately grasp the structure of the code. If a .theme file contains errors
you can edit it very easily to fix it.
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6. How do I find a particular theme?
If you are looking for a theme based on some particular subject, but can't find it, try
the following:
a) First try searching the largest theme sites, e. g. EZskins, ThemeWorld, Desktop Heaven, Themes Unlimited,
Click Here to get a list of over 30 sites EZthemes community - has links for files that you can download.
b) If you still can't find it, try searching AltaVista with the following commands:
+"desktop themes" +subject (e. g. titanic, jurassic park, starcraft)
+"desktop theme" +titanic
+themes +"jurassic park"
+desktop +theme +starcraft
c) You can request themes at Theme
World.
d) You could also create your own theme.
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7. How do I create themes?
You can go to my site at BHBplus's Create Your Own Themes. or
There is a brilliant theme
creation tutorial available on the web, created by Joey Holt.
A comprehensive tutorial is also available at Tucows Free Themes.
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8. What is the difference between Plus! 95 and Plus! 98 themes?
Plus! 95 and Plus! 98 themes are basically very similar. There are however a few important
differences:
*Plus! 98 themes have more advanced color schemes.
*Plus! 98 themes have an additional icon for the "My Documents" folder.
*Plus! 98 themes have a different icon code. This is the only compatibility problem.
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9. Can I use Plus! 95 themes in Plus! 98 and vice versa?
Plus! 95 themes work fine in Plus! 98. However, the icons of a Plus! 98 theme will not
load in Plus! 95. This problem is very easy to fix however. If you have a Plus! 98 theme
and want the icons to work in Plus! 95, you can edit the .theme file in Notepad to fix the
problem.
A Plus! 98 .theme file icon code looks like this:
[Software\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon]
DefaultValue=%ThemeDir%Theme My Computer.ico,0
A Plus! 95 .theme file icon code looks like this:
[CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon] DefaultValue=%ThemeDir%Theme My
Computer.ico,0
So just remove all instances of the line "Software\Classes\" from the icon code,
and the icons will load.
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10. Can I use a theme designed for a different screen
resolution?
Windows does a really terrible job of stretching or shrinking images to screen size. So if
you want to use a theme with a wallpaper in a different size than your screen resolution,
you should either adjust your screen resolution, or resize the wallpaper with an image
editor. The perfect image editor is ThumbsPlus.
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11. How do I restore the original startup/shutdown screens?
The startup screen is called "Logo.sys" and is located on the root directory
C:\. Just delete it and the original windows startup screen will appear the next time you
boot. The two shutdown screens are called "Logow.sys" and "Logos.sys",
and are located in the windows directory C:\WINDOWS\. Just replace the current files in
your windows directory with the original (English) Windows95 or Windows98 screens. If you have
installed Plus98 you'll need the Plus98 logo screens.
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12. Solutions to other known problems
a) MPEG Layer-3 sound files
b) Jpeg filter with Office 97 and FrontPage 98
a) Some people experience problems with MPEG Layer-3 format sound
files. The newer version of NetShow (MediaPlayer) doesn't seem to install the MPEG Layer-3
codec to function properly for all applications. If this is the case you can download the
older NetShow
v2.0 package. If you wish to apply a newer player later on, just install the newer
version on top of NetShow v2.0.
As an alternative, you can also download a small (233k) MPEG Layer-3 Codec installer.
This software has been thoroughly tested on several system configurations. However, since
this codec installer doesn't produce the same sound quality as NetShow, this alternative
should be considered only by those who experience insurmountable problems with NetShow.
To install NetShow 2.0 in Windows 98, you don't need to download anything. Make sure your
Windows98 CD is nearby and: (1) Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and
double-click on Add/Remove Programs; (2) Click the Windows Setup tab, click Multimedia,
and then click Details; (3) Select the Audio Compression check box and the Microsoft
NetShow Player 2.0 check box; (4) Click the Apply button, and then follow the instructions
that appear on your screen.
b) If you install Office 97 or FrontPage 98, this will cause a
conflict with the themes.exe jpeg filter. Themes with wallpapers in jpg format will not
install. You will get the following error message: "Themes caused an invalid page
fault in module Themes.exe at 014F:0040ABC6".
To solve this problem, download the updated themes.exe.
Just replace your current themes.exe located in the Plus! directory.
13. Star Trek Themes - BY BHBplus
Theme Engineering Console (2 themes in 1 zip)
Theme 1701-E Engineering SysView Console (1 of 2)(062000)
Theme Defiant Master System Console (2 of 2)(062000)
Theme TOS AmokTime Spock (Episode Theme)(072500)
Theme TOS AmokTime Kirk (2 themes in 1 zip)(Episode Theme)(081000)
Theme TOS Captain Kirk Star Trek (021097)(v2 Updated with animated pointers 032499)
Theme TOS Dr. Bones McCoy (092897)(v2 revised with animated pointers 020599)
Theme DS9 Cardassian Attack (0601000)
Theme DS9 Dominion Formation (061000)
Theme DS9 Dominion Suffer (061000)
Theme DS9 Dominion Battle (2 themes in 1 zip)(061000)
Theme DS9 Defiant Under Attack (061000)
Theme DS9 Defiant Earth (0601500)
Theme DS9 Defiant Warp (0601500)
Theme DS9 Jem' Hardar Attack Cruiser plan (2 themes in 1 zip)(1 of 2)
Theme DS9 Jem' Hadar Design Directory (2 OF 2)(061000)
Theme DS9 Jem'Hadar AttackShip (3 themes in 1 zip)( 1 of 3 - 070400)
Theme DS9 Jem'Hadar BattleShip (2 OF 3)
Theme DS9 Cardassian Galor BattleCruiser (3 OF 3)
Theme DS9 Jadzia Dax Final Memory (Tribute)(120298)
Theme DS9 Jadzia Dax Final Memory Tribute2 (070600)
Theme DS9 Major Kira War Years (3 themes in 1 zip)(020399)
Theme DS9 Cardassian Attacks - The War Years (combinating of 2 most downloaded themes!)
Theme DS9 Runabout Classn (4 themes in 1 zip)(1 of 4 - 070300)
Theme DS9 Runabout Fleet (2 OF 4)
Theme DS9 Runabout Wormhole View (3 OF 4)
Theme DS9 Runabout Ganges SideView (4 OF 4)
Theme Deep Space Nine Engineering Design Views (4 themes in 1 zip) AN ENGINEERS DREAM! (073000)
Theme Defiant Engineering Design Views (4 themes in 1 zip) AN ENGINEERS DREAM! (073000)
Theme Excelsior v2 (updated - 7 themes in 1 zip)(UPDATE v2 010999)
Theme Federation Starfleet Academy (2 themes in 1 zip)(032299)
Theme Federation StarShip Bridge (01/7/98) (revised v2 031799) (3 themes in 1 zip)
Theme Federation Starfleet Command Hqs (2 themes in 1 zip)(032299)
Theme TOS/TMP Mr. Spock (12/31/97) UPDATED v2 (042899)
Theme Star Trek LCAROps 1701E (042499)
Theme Star Trek First Contact02 (2 themes in 1 zip)(050799)
Theme Star Trek First Contact02 v2 'UFP Command Console' (zip revised with 2 additional themes)(061500)
Theme Star Trek First Contact02 v2 'Defiant Borg Battle' (UPDATE ONLY 2 themes added) 06/15/00
Theme Star Trek First Contact03 v2 (2 themes in 1 zip)(v1 Created 090897, ver2 UPDATED 040899)
Theme Star Trek II "The Wrath Of Khan" (112198)
Theme TNG Borg (010898) v2 (3 themes in 1 zip) (revised 030899)
Theme Voyager DeltaFlyer Shakedown Cruise (3 themes in 1 zip)(061800)
Theme Voyager DeltaFlyer Shakedown Cruise (1 OF 3)(061800)
Theme Voyager DeltaFlyer Technical view (2 OF 3)(061800)
Theme Voyager DeltaFlyer Engineering SysView (3 OF 3)(061800)
Theme Voyager DeltaFlyer Ncc74656 (062500)
Theme Voyager Deltaflyer SC Construction Ncc74656 (4 themes in 1 zip)(1 of 4 - 062800)
Theme Voyager DeltaFlyer SC DorsalView (2 OF 4)(063000)
Theme Voyager DeltaFlyer SC VentralView (3 OF 4)(063000)
Theme Voyager DeltaFlyer SC Tri-View (4 OF 4)(063000)
Theme Voyager Timeless (2 themes in 1 zip)(100 Episode Theme)(071800)
Theme Law Enforcement (010596)
Logo Welcome Cadets for Starfleet Academy (Startup)(032299)
Logo DeltaFlyer Preparing to Launch (Startup)(061900)
Logo DS9 STN Permission Granted to Dock (Startup)(061900)
Logo DS9 DaxWrf The Start of Something Beautiful (Startup)(070700)
Logo Dax Dthbed Another Chance Would be Nice LogoW.sys (Wait)(070700)
Logo DaxWorfwed Leave now! LogoS.sys (Shutdown)(070700)
Logo Voyager Preparing to Depart (Shutdown)(061800)
Logo Voyager DeltaFlyer EngSysView (Startup)(062800)
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________________________________________________________________________________________________________
14. IMPORTANT MESSAGE - HALL OF SHAME!
The Themes are not to be seperated and posted to any sites by themeselves or with out the readme
file. They are not to be copied of misused or stolen by other scrupulous persons (Vassilis themes
and *Craig Donaldson) who are nothing more than petty theifs that attempt to take credit for
someone else's hard work as done on these themes. I've had reports of others doing this, but to
date this is the only ones I've seen myself, DS9 Major Kira WarYears 3 Alt, *DS9 Jadzia Dax Final
Memory, TNGBorg revise theme and Star Trek First Contact03 theme. By replacing the README files
with only their name or changing the icons really doing none of the work themselves and then
putting the theme back on the web taking credit for it, this is unaceptable. I would also request
in good faith you donot support this persons website or themes. If you do find them in error
posted to a third parties site please inform them of this and point them in my direction, I will
fill them in completely. Please do not issue their site any awards or honors of any kind and
remove all themes you may already have on your site, until the themes in question are removed or
proved to be their own creations, all the themes on the site should be suspected. Please remember
their names! Next time give credit were credit is due, try contacting the original authors and
ask permission to change, update or alter others themes, you might just find them to be
acommodating as long as theirs credit for the original in the Readme file!
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Copyright in the original sound recordings and pictures which form this scheme belongs to
Paramount Communications. Star Trek: TOS®, TNG®, DS9®, Enterprise®, Defiant®, Voyager®, and the
Delta Flyer® are registered trademarks of Paramount Pictures registered in the United States
Patent and Trademark Office. No infringement of that copyright is intended.
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