Sarah Themes and Other Stuff

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ was complied by the owner of theunleashed.net. I've updated the original FAQ to include information about the newer versions of the Windows. The orignal FAQ had info about Windows 95 only. The Desktop Themes program comes standard in later releases of Windows. In Windows 95 the program wasn't included in the orginal operating system, it was introduced in an addition to Windows 95 called Microsoft Plus!. The FAQ was originally written for users of Windows 95, and some of the questions don't apply to the later editions of Windows.

What are Desktop Themes?
I have Windows 95 and i don't want to buy Microsoft Plus! Are there any programs that work like it?
How can I install any themes that I've downloaded?
What is Startup and Shutdown screens?
What tools I need to make a Desktop Theme?
How can I make icons for my theme?
How can I make cursors/animated cursors for my theme?
How can I make wallpaper for my theme?
How can I make sounds for my theme?
How can I make startup and shutdown screens for my theme?
How can I make a great theme?
I've made my theme. How can I publish it?

What are Desktop Themes?

A Desktop Theme is a collection of cursors, animated cursors, sounds, wallpaper, and even screensaver assembled to some theme. To use Desktop Themes, you will need Microsoft Windows Operating System and Microsoft Plus!. All version of Windows above Windows 95 come with the Desktop Themes option included in the Operating System software.

I use Windows 95 and I don't want to buy Microsoft Plus! Are there any programs that works like it?

Yes! There are some shareware/freeware program which can run any themes without having to buy MS Plus! like:

Desktop Themes v1.85 (131 KB) lets you install, use and create Desktop Themes without Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95. Desktop Themes offers the same functionality as the Plus! version with a few additional features, such as the ability to create your own themes by creating and modifying a ".theme" file. Please email the author, Jonathan Potter or visit his homepage.

How can I install any themes that I've downloaded?

If you download an executable theme, you can execute it from Windows Explorer, Start-Run, or whatever you prefer. By default, the Desktop Theme will extract the files to C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes\ which is the default directory for your Microsoft Plus! Themes.

If you download a zipped theme, you have to unzipped it first with a program like WinZip then extract it to C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes\

After the files have been installed, simply start your Desktop Themes program from the Control Panel window and select the new theme.

What is Startup and Shutdown screens?

Many of these Desktop Themes include special Startup and Shutdown screens. Unfortunately, the usual Desktop Theme manager from Microsoft Plus! does not support alternative Startup and Shutdown screens so you will have to install these manually if you wish to use them. If you are not familiar with file copying and moving, don't try this. The type of Windows OS you have determines if you can change your Shutdown and Startup screens. Windows 95 and 98 have the traditional startup/shutdown screens. Windows 2000, ME, and XP have different shutdown and startup screens. If you know you can change the screens follow these instructions.

To install alternative Startup and Shutdown screens:

Locate the LOGO.SYS in your C:\ root directory and the LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS files in your C:\WINDOWS directory. These are the normal Startup and Shutdown screens.
You should copy these to a suitable back-up directory. For example, make a directory in C:\WINDOWS called Screen Backups and copy your LOGO.SYS, LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS files there.
Copy the alternative LOGO.SYS to your C:\ root directory
Copy the alternative LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS files to your C:\WINDOWS directory

The next time you startup or shutdown your computer, you will see the new screens. If you don't want to use the alternative screens anymore, simply copy your backups of the normal screens back into their original directories.

What tools I need to make a Desktop Theme?

Microsoft Resource Kit Utilities
You'll need this kit if you wanna make your own desktop theme. This tool includes an Animated Cursor Editor and an Image Editor. The Image Editor is used to make and edit cursors and icons, and the Animated Cursor Editor used to make .ani files for any animated cursors. Download this utility (3.8 MB) here!

Microangelo for Windows 95
This utility provides access to icons of all sizes and color formats used by Windows 95. Browse, manage, create, and edit icons from 8x8 to 64x64 pixels in size and up to 256 colors. Explorer-like Browser specializes in locating icons on your system. Double-click to open icons for editing in Studio, libraries for viewing in Librarian. The Engineer replaces system icons, removes shortcut arrows. Download this utility (version 2.1 - 640 KB) here!

WinZip
This is a 32 bit zip extractor for windows 95. You will need this to extract any themes. This utility has supported long file names.

How can I make icons for my theme?

The easiest way to create icons is with Microangelo utility. Create the picture in the 32x32 grid. Then rename the cursor (.CUR) to an icon (.ICO) when you are finished.

You need to create 4 icons: My Computer, Network Neighborhood, Recycle Bin Empty, and Recycle Bin Full. (In Windows 98 to XP you need to create an icon for My Documents as well) You can use the standard icons that come with Windows 95 too (COOL.DLL). The icon numbers are 16, 17, 20, and 21. So, in the theme file, it would be listed as:

My Computer: DefaultValue=%WinDir%System\Cool.dll,16
Net Neighborhood: Default Value=%WinDir%System\Cool.dll,17
Recycle Bin Empty: Default Value=%WinDir%System\Cool.dll,20
Recycle Bin Full: Default Value=%WinDir%System\Cool.dll,21

How can I make cursors/animated cursors for my theme?

You need to create 14 cursors with Microangelo or Microsoft Resource Kit Utilities. Cursors are made in 32x32 pixels. You can make all or none of them animated. The 2 cursors that are normally animated are the Wait and Busy icons. The Wait icon is shown when Windows is doing something. The Busy icon is shown when Windows is too busy to handle any other mouse clicks / commands. The rest of the cursors are:

Arrow - Normal pointer.
Help - Displayed when you click on the ? in a dialog box.
NWPen - The Pen cursor.
No - Displayed when an option is not selectable with the Arrow cursor.
Size NS/WE/NWSE/NESW - Will show up when resize a window.
Size All - Displayed when you can move a window.
Crosshair - Looks almost like a target sighting for precision selection.
IBeam - Displayed when you are in a text region.
Up Arrow - Never seen this cursor in action!

How can I make wallpaper for my theme?

You need a graphic manipulator like Windows Paint, PhotoShop or PaintShop to create a wallpaper. You don't need to create a .BMP wallpaper, .JPG is probably the best to save your wallpaper because they are 3-10 times smaller than the bitmap. Also, make sure the picture is in 640x480, 800x600, or 1024x768 saved in a decently high quality.

How can I make sounds for my theme?

You need a .WAV editor or Sound editor to create sounds like CoolEdit. There are 20 sounds you can provide for different events. Try to match a good sound for the sound event (e.g. someone asking a question for the Question sound event, a theme song for the Windows Start sound event, etc). Here are the sound events:

Default Sound - Just what it says.
Program Error - Played when there is an error.
Maximize - Played when you maximize a window.
Minimize - Played when you minimize a window.
Restore Up - Played when you restore a window larger.
Restore Down - Played when you restore a window smaller.
Menu Command - Played when you select a program/option on a menu.
Menu Popup - Played when you look through program menus/option menu.
Open Program - Played when you open a program.
Close Program - Played when you close a program.
Ring In - Played with a program that uses the ringing options.
Ring Out - Played with a program that uses the ringing options.
Asterisk - Not sure when this is played.
System Default - Not sure when this is played.
Exclamation - Played when you do something that is not supported.
Windows Start - Played when you start Windows 95.
Windows Exit - Played when you exit Windows 95.
Critical Stop - Also known as System Hand.
Question - Played when a program ask you a question prompt.
Empty Recycle Bin - Played when you empty the recycle bin.

Sounds events that you can use with the same WAV file so you don't have duplicate WAV's:

Default Sound and System Default
Program Error and Critical Stop (System Hand)
Maximize and Restore Up or Maximize and Minimize
Minimize and Restore Down or Maximize and Minimize

You don't need to use the highest quality for sounds (Stereo, 44KHz, 16 bit). All of the files you download from my site have WAV's that are in Mono, 11KHz, 8 bit quality. And most of them sound great unless the original sound was bad quality.

How can I make startup and shutdown screens for my theme?

A great part of the theme is the startup/shutdown screens. There are 3 screens that are needed:

Startup
Shutting Down
Shutdown Complete

These 3 files will replace the original Windows 95 screens that you see when your starting or shutting down windows. These files are located in the C:\ and C:\Windows directories named LOGO.SYS, LOGOS.SYS, and LOGOW.SYS. The .SYS extension is just for Windows. It is actually a .BMP file saved in 320x400, 256 colors and then renamed to a .SYS file. You can even animate the screens. For more on animating, go to the XrX Animated Logos home page. See FAQ #3 for more details about startup and shutdown screens.

How can I make a great theme?

You need a text editor (notepad) or Theme Create. Here is where the entire theme comes together with all the commands Windows 95 needs to set it up. There are a couple of ways to make the .Theme file.

Copy an existing .Theme file that has colors and fonts that you like and rename it to your theme name.
Use Theme Create to build a .Theme file.

There are some variables you can use in the .Theme file to point to certain locations for the files. The first is %WinDir% (you need the % signs) which tells Plus! to look in your default Windows 95 directory. The second is %ThemeDir% which tells Plus! to look in your default theme directory. These variables make the .Theme file more flexible on different machines. Some people may have Windows 95 set up in C:\Windows and others may have it in C:\Win95 or some variation. Also, it makes it easier to write %ThemeDir% then C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes.

I've made my theme. How can I publish it?

You can publish your themes by uploading them to any FTP/WWW that received archives of desktop themes. Every FTP upload site has their specific instructions. So, please follow their instructions, or your upload might be reject by them.

http://www.ezthemes.com/submit.phtml
This site accept multi submit to many desktop themes site and a change for you to earn extra money too by following it's competition.

Note: This FAQ was compiled by theunleashed.net from many resources you can find around the net. It was updated by Sarah Themes and Other Stuff in 2002.