Introduction: Make Your XP LOOK (to the Untrained Eye) Like Mac OS X

By Devoid of Anything Useful
About: Twitter: _randName_

NOTE: This is highly premature. Please check back for more in a few days.

I know there are a few instructables out there changing the look of XP into Vista (Viruses intruders spyware trojans adware). Why Vista when it was Mac's Aqua it "conveniently borrowed" to be the Aero?

I know there is FlyAKiteOSX out there. I am not against it or anything. I just don't like the idea of changing everything without going through the whole process step by step. I know my guide is highly incomplete, but it does not use WindowsSkins or anything...

Firstly, I must say I am not a Mac or Linux Fanboy, but a serious M$ hater. Well, ironic it seems that as an unworthy student we are not allowed to get anything other than that onto our laptops.

Secondly, there are some instructables telling you how to boost your XP speed. You MAY need them. I cannot confirm you will or will not. I just recommend them just in case.

Thirdly, the files I uploaded can be found online. If you do not trust my uploads, download them yourself (how ironic).

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for your screwing up of your PC. If you can't get instructions right, I don't see how you arrived here anyway.

Step 1: Desktop and Cursors

This step will cover 2 things that is not even really specialised. Your desktop and cursors.

The desktop is not really important, but if you want you can leave it as it is. Getting a Mac Default wallpaper is good though, so either get it from the zip or find them yourself. Also, you may want to hide desktop icons, so right click on the desktop>arrange icons by>(uncheck)Show Desktop icons.

The cursors are slightly more difficult. Get the OSX cursors (.zip or find them yourself). Go to Control Panel>Mouse>Pointers and check if you have the same screen as me (1st pic).

Then change each cursor according to their names. Of course also use your common sense. (The spinning ball is the hourglass, by the way). Then click "save as" when done and call it whatever you want. Starting to look cool already eh?

Attachments

Step 2: RocketDock

This is a bit more tedious. If you are really scared that you will screw your system, stop here.

RocketDock just emulates that dock thing on Macs. It is way cooler than the Windows taskbar. There are other Dock programs out there (ObjectDock, YzDock etc) but just use RD for standardisation. If you want to use others, just remember that it may be a *little* different.

Get RocketDock here and get the program. Install it anywhere you want and run it. Go to Settings. If you don't want to touch the registry, store the settings in a Settings.ini file (Under General).

Now comes the fun part. Move the taskbar off somewhere. I recommend the left since you need to move scrollbars on the right.) If you haven't, set your taskbar to autohide so it doesn't give you away. Now customize your Dock. I reccomend starting out with only a few things, as you WILL add a lot of stuff as you go along (look at mine). Just drag stuff off and they will Poof. Re-arrange stuff by dragging them along the Dock. Just make your dock your own. (Don't forget to choose your skin!)

When you are done, you may want to backup your settings.ini somewhere.

Step 3: RocketDock (Part 2)

Now, for more customisation. Not only you can add folders and shortcuts, you can add little apps called docklets. They usually just look cool but do provide some use.

There are already some Default docklets in the program folder. The clock is one, and the RecycleBin is another (look at it carefully).

The first I recommend for the sake of this instructable (which is to look like Mac) is the Stacks Docklet (http://rocketdock.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=4&func=fileinfo&id=820)
It works like the Stacks in the new Leopard and does it quite well. One way to use it properly is to have a place to put all your shortcuts, then link the docklet to that folder.

Others are only if you have the time and energy to download them. Another mention is the SysStats system (http://sysstats.jools.net/). It is a highly customisable Docklet used to create your own custom apps. There are whole docks based on them.

Step 4: Clearing Up

Now that almost everything is in place, time to save space on your system. RocketDock already has quite a lot of stuff to clear.

Check the languages folder. You can delete those .ini s you don't need (English is 1033) and that internet shortcut. The Skins folder is one big one too. Delete those that you think suck and that you will never use them.

This part isn't complete, but when I add more, it may be bigger.