YOUR NEW PC came with Vista. Maybe your office deployed Vista. Or perhaps you got caught up in the early hype and bought the OS. Whatever the case, you're now stuck with it. The following tricks will help you feel more at home in Vista. To make your OS look and feel more like XP, and to improve its performance, disable Aero Glass by right clicking any empty area of the Desktop and then click¬ing Personalize in the context menu. Next, click Window Color and Appearance. Clear the Enable Transparency check box, and click OK. For maximum XP-ness, call in some outside help: Stardock's $20 (Rs. 800 approx.) Window Blinds (find.pcworld. com/61383) lets you tweak Windows' appearance or choose from hundreds of user-designed themes-including Windows XP Style, which comes complete with a big green Start bulton. Now it's time to revert to Windows' classic Start menu. Open the Control Panel and type start menu in the search box.



Click Change Start menu to Classic view, and then choose Classic Stan menu. Click Apply, and say hello to the classic menu layout. Next, restore XP's familiar hourglass pointer: Right click on any empty area of the Desktop, and choose Personalize Mouse Pointers. In the Scheme drop-down menu, select either Windows Standard option. Click OK. XP never bothered you with anything like Vista's User Account Control, so if you truly want to recreate the XP experience, UAC must go. Open Vista's Control Panel and type UAC in the search box. Click the Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or qfflink. On the next screen, clear the Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer check box, and click OK. Rebooting seals the deal, sending that annoying UAC back to hell where it belongs.