Fed up with how Windows XP looks? Normally it’s necessary to pay good money to buy a theme-changing program that alters the way folders, menus, wallpaper, icons and other bits of Windows are displayed.

However, with two free programs and a little bit of fiddling, it’s possible to achieve the same effect and gain access to hundreds of visual styles on the internet.

To do this, we need to replace a file called uxtheme.dll ­ which is part of Windows ­ with one that’s been modified to accept free themes and styles.

The method shown in this Workshop backs up the original uxtheme file and includes a simple way to restore it in case it’s necessary to return Windows XP to its original configuration. Note that the process is fiddly, so it’s not suitable for complete beginners.