Windows Vista is the latest offering from the house of Microsoft, Windows Vista has fast established itself for some of the fantastic graphic effects that it offers. The problem is that not everyone can afford to upgrade to Vista or they just don't have the hardware needed to run Windows Vista. Currently one of the most popular ways for anyone to change the look and feel of their operating system is using themes. From animal based themes, to cars and bikes there is pretty much every kind of theme available online.

If you are looking to change the look and feel of your Windows operating system, then the simplest way to do so is to install themes; the best part is, after Windows 98 Plus every subsequent desktop version of Windows supports themes. Today there is no shortage of quality Windows themes on the internet. And there are not just paid themes available online; there are free themes available online as well. With so many themes available there are few criteria that a user should consider before downloading and installing a theme.

Ease of installation

If you are not a power user or a computer expert, then you should target themes that are easy to install, usually themes require downloading and copying into a particular folder. Today however an increasingly large number of themes are designed to be very easy to use, all you have to do is download an executable file, the executable file automatically installs the files in the correct locations and makes all the required modifications. No matter how advanced a Windows user you are, you should always try and find a theme that is easy to install.

Compatibility

Not all themes are designed to run on all Windows versions, in fact the first thing you need to do before installing a theme is checking to see which version of Windows its designed for, the next thing you need to do is make sure that your computer has sufficient memory and hard disk space to run the theme. Especially users that are running older operating systems and hardware should make sure to their computer has the correct hardware to support the theme. In fact it is not uncommon for themes to slow down older computers, so you should make sure that the themes you are installing are compatible with both your hardware and software.

Remember, at the end of the day a theme is meant to improve your multimedia experience, if you have installed a theme that is hampering the performance of your computer, or is not what you were expecting the best thing to do, is to uninstall the theme or switch themes. There is no need to stick to a theme because it has a nice wallpaper, you are better off finding a similar wall paper on the internet or you can actually find the wallpaper within the theme itself. At the end of the day a theme is supposed to enrich you're computing not make it more tedious or difficult to use your computer. As mentioned earlier make sure that your computer is capable of handling some of the newer graphic intensive themes that are available.