Make Windows 7 Look Like “8”

Growing tired of that same old Aero design introduced with Windows Vista? Even Microsoft thinks you might be and has made some changes to the look of Windows 8 as a result. Here’s a quick tip on how you can get this look with TuneUp Styler.

Applying the New Window 8 Style

Download the “Windows 8L” style from DeviantArt and extract its contents.

You’ll find the new Aero style located in the folder named “Theme for Windows 7″. The safest and easiest way to apply this third-party theme is by using TuneUp Styler which you can find in TuneUp Utilities 2012.

After you’ve downloaded the software, simply head to the “Customize Windows” section, then open up TuneUp Styler, select the visual style seen above, and hit “Apply”.

Get the new Start Orb

Of course, the Windows 8 look isn’t complete until you’ve added the new Start Orb.

To apply this theme, simply download the “Windows 7 Start Button Changer” (credit goes to TheWindowsClub for hosting the file) and the “Windows 8 8102 Metro Orb“. Once you’ve extracted the contents of the ZIP file, right-click on the “Windows 7 Start Button Changer v 2.6″ file, and select “Run as administrator”.

Next, click on the little Start Orb in the top right corner of the screen.

Select the “Windows 8 8102 Metro Orb” you downloaded earlier. You can choose either the regular version (“win8102-2.bmp”) or the smaller version (“win8102sm-2.bmp”); the latter is recommended for use with the smaller taskbar icon setting in Windows 7.

That’s it. You’re done! With this change, even your Start Orb looks like it does in the new Windows 8 Developer Preview. And since you’ve made your classic Windows 7 interface look like Windows 8, you may want to recreate the look of Windows 8′s Start Screen. If so, there’s no better way than by using Omnimo which we covered in a previous post.