One of my part-time hobbies is customising the look and feel of Windows XP. I co-own a website which offers numerous Windows XP themes for download, and I am a regular poster at Aqua-Soft, a website dedicated to customising an interface to look like it does on a Mac.

I discovered today that another member, Flyakite, has released a new version of his complete GUI customisation tool. This is quite a major step forward in Windows XP customisation, because it modifies system files themselves, rather than just replacing them or applying a theme to Windows.

You can download it, or view more information.

This is the release post quoted from Aqua-Soft:

Ever since Flyakite released FlyakiteSP1, it has become a household name in the world of Aqua modding. Stability, quality and the support Flyakite offered were overwhelming and soon FlyakiteSP1 (and later FlyakiteSP2) became a default system modification packs for majority of Aqua-wannabes.
However, due to the complexity of the packs and the way they were applied, maintaining the mods and releasing different versions for different languages was a programmer’s nightmare. This is when FlyakiteOSX idea was born.

It takes a new, modular approach to the replacement of system files, making frequent rewrites to accommodate important system updates a thing of the past. Instead of replacing the exact files (and thus having to solve different conflicts and problems that arose during application of Windows update). FlyakiteOSX replaces only the images/text in the files, that way preserving the files (reducing the slim chance of crashes/problems) and making the Windows update much less of a hassle than it was with earlier iterations. After a Windows update, all it takes is a reinstall of the FlyakiteOSX. That way you keep your updated files (in the world of Windows, frequent updates are required as a form of virus protection) AND you have the same OS X look you’ve been wanting all along. In the past, after an update, users were forced to put up with the default Windows look/files until Chris released an update to his pack. Also FlyakiteOSX solves a problem with non-English versions of Windows, expanding the field of its usage.

One of the most important new features of FlyakiteOSX is the introduction of Flyapacks, smaller, specialized system modding packs. Now you can choose whether you want to change just your icons, mod the text or do a complete OS X makeover of your Windows based machine. One of the benefits is the smaller size of the installer/flyapacks, which I’m sure, both modem and broadband users will appreciate.

FlyakiteOSX 1.0 features visual style and WB skin by KoL, OS X wallpapers, cursors, sound pack by Iceman, loads of skins for various apps, boot and login screens, screensaver and much more.

Note that all actions done by FlyakiteOSX are reversible via the uninstall option in the Add/Remove in the Control Panel.