TECH SPECIAL Upgrade operating system of your PC for free

Upgrade operating system of your PC for free

You don't need to spend money on upgrading the operating system of your PC. If you like some features in a new OS, you can get them for free.
Windows 8 has a number of visual enhancements compared to older versions of Windows. You get a new log-in screen, revamped start screen, refined Windows Explorer and various new menus. You can experience all these changes without having to purchase the operating system. You can also transform your existing Windows PC to resemble the user interface from Apple's OS X using free transformation packs.

HOW TO
MAKE WINDOWS XP/7 LOOK LIKEWINDOWS 8 OR MAC OS X

STEP 1

Head to www.thememypc.com and select Windows 8 (84 MB) or OS X Yosemite transformation pack (104 MB). A transformation pack allows OS interface features to be installed at one go.

STEP 2

The downloaded file for either pack will have the '.zip' extension. To open it, right-click on the file and unzip using your preferred program—7-zip, WinZip, WinRar, etc.

STEP 3

Before installing, create a Windows Restore Point (Run > All programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore). This will ensure that you can revert to the original state of your Windows in case something goes wrong during the transformation.

STEP 4

Start the installation, choose the settings that you would like to apply and allow the set-up to finish. It will take a few minutes to complete. Once the set-up is complete, restart the computer for all the appearance changes to take effect.

CUSTOMISATION USING SKINS AND WIDGETS

SAMURIZE

Samurize (Windows XP/Vista/ 7) lets you add various meters and widgets to monitor your PC or enhance your desktop. Download it at www.samurize.com.

Launch Samurize and a system tray icon will appear. Right-click on the tray icon, go to 'select config file' and click on 'sample.ini' to launch the default widget.

To customise the widget skin, right-click on the system tray icon and click 'edit config file'. This will launch 'config editor', where you can customise each meter.

You can also download pre-configured skins. You will need to import these third-party files using 'config editor'. To apply the new configuration, right-click on the tray icon and select it.

RAINMETER

Rainmeter offers slightly higher functionality than Samurize and is simpler to use. It also supports Windows 8. It can be downloaded at www.rainmeter.net.

STEP 1
After installation, launch Rainmeter and it will load the default theme on your desktop. Choose the widgets you want and rearrange them using the dragand-drop feature.

STEP 2
Follow the links in the 'discover' section to download skins developed by different users. To install, paste the downloaded files into the respective Rainmeter folders on your PC.

STEP 3 You can also choose individual components of skins. Open the Rainmeter Manager box, right-click the component of a theme you want and select 'load' to have it displayed.

POWER-PACKED DESKTOP PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

www.launchy.net

LAUNCHY

Launchy is an open-source, cross-platform application launcher that can save you a lot of time. It indexes the applications on your computer. You can launch the item by just typing the first few letters of its name.

www.rocketdock.com

ROCKET DOCK

RocketDock is a customisable application launcher similar to the application on Mac OS X. Besides adding applications, you can also change skins, animation and use it as a substitute for Windows taskbar.

www.dexpot.de

DEXPOT

Dexpot adds additional, virtual desktops to your Windows PC. You can switch between the added desktops using keyboard shortcuts, view them all on one screen and easily organise the multiple windows and icons. 

By Karan Bajaj & Hitesh Raj Bhagat, ET 140721