I've had a number of questions regarding making Windows XP look like Windows Vista (oddly enough, most of these have come via my ZDNet blog contact form) so I decided to take a look at one way to transform XP into a Vista look-alike using the Vista Transformation Pack 5.5 by Windows X.

Here are a few of my thought on using this pack:

• First the caveats
  The installation I carried out in a brand new XP Home virtual PC installation went without a hitch.  However, I also tried installing the Vista Transformation Pack onto an old, very used XP install and that didn't work (the installer crashed early on).  This is an indication that it's possible things could go dramatically wrong during installation so make sure that you have a full backup of your system, just in case!
• Deep changes
  The Vista Transformation Pack makes some very deep changes to your XP install.  It's possible (very possible) that installing a new application, update or service pack could roll back some but not all of these changes and leave you with a system that's in limbo somewhere and which then may or may not work.
• Take your time
  There are a lot of steps in the install process and a lot of options to choose from.  I recommend that you only undertake the installation if you have a good 30 minutes to spare so that you can examine the options available to you.
• Performance
  I didn't notice any performance hit from installing the Vista Transformation Pack, which was quite amazing!
• Overall impression 
  While Vista Transformation Pack can does give the "impression" you are running Vista it doesn’t really stand up to close scrutiny.  For example, the Aero look it offers is, at best, only a "faux Aero" look.  Put it side-by-side with a real install of Vista and you immediately see the difference.

I've also put together a gallery of images showing the installation of the Vista Transformation Pack and the changes it makes to XP.

Technorati Tags: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Vista Transformation Pack

This entry was posted on Friday, November 24th, 2006 at 18:32 and is filed under PC Doctor Tips, PC Doctor's Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.