Ok first off you need to get Windows Blinds
Get Windows Blinds Here
If you do not have WinRar, you will need it to open Windows Blinds
http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm
Get this
WinRAR 3.70 beta 2
That is the program that means you can get other skins for Windows, from sites like these...
http://www.wincustomize.com/
It has a hell of a lot of stuff to change your desktop, just have a look around it
BootSkins CursorXP DesktopX Objects DesktopX Themes DesktopX Widgets IconPackager Logons Misc. Icons ObjectBar2 ObjectDock Rainlendar RightClick Screen Savers ScreenShots Suites SysMetrix WallPapers WinAmp WindowBlindsWinMedia
I found that after I installed WB, that the skins did not work directly through the program, so what I did was..
Right Click on the Desktop
Bring up the Display Properties
Go to Appearance
The skins that you have downloaded from the site, should be under Windows & Buttons, that was how I got mine to work
Docks
To get a dock, the things that look like they belong on a mac, go to..
http://www.punksoftware.com/rocketdock
I tried using the ObjectDock, but it was pretty awful in my opinion, this one is really easy to use.
Drag and drop the icons you want on and off the dock, the normal windows icons will look rather sh*te, so go to these sites for nice, pretty looking high res icons
http://www.customxp.net/images/PngFactory/index.php
http://www.crystalxp.net/en.htm
Edit to add -
http://www.alienware.com/intro_pages/invader.aspx
Those 2 have alot of the normal icons you need, plus Limewire/uTorrent etc, it had all the ones I needed anyway
Download these icons to a file that is easy to get to, desktop etc
To change the icons in the dock, right click on the icon you want to change (in the dock) go to Icon settings and find the folder you downloaded the icons to (desktop etc)
Should look nice and new, you can play around with the positioning of the dock and the look of it, if you go to Dock settings, again right click on an icon
Backgrounds
http://www.deviantart.com/
That is the best site I have found for background images, I'm sure there are a lot around though!
http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/
http://www.adni18.com/
Widgets
Don't use them myself but
http://widgets.yahoo.com/
Hopefully that helps a little about, how to do it...there are other people on the thread who have done it different ways, if you want me to add how you did it, just say so...
One more thing to get rid of the old icons on your desktop and to just have your Dock & Background Image..
Right Click on your desktop
Go to Arrange Icons By
And UNclick Show Desktop Icons, should get rid of them all, if you want them back to Click it again
If I have missed anything let me know
You should end up with something like this...
