Download XPize 5 Beta 5

XPero released the fifth beta release of version 5 of XPize on Friday. This program can refresh the user interface of Windows XP or 2003. There are still pictures and icons in Windows that were already available in Windows 95. XPize modifies the original images in over 150 system files to reshape icons, animations, and the like. So no separate software is needed to display them. Furthermore, the screensaver, the start-up and login screen can also be adjusted.

In version 5 not much has changed in the end result. However, the installation process has been completely overhauled and the program can now also handle 64-bit versions of Windows XP and 2003 Server. In order to do its job, XPize needs version 2.0 of the .NET Framework and Windows XP SP3 must also be installed. It is recommended that you uninstall an old beta release before using the new one. Below are the release notes for XPize 5 beta 5:

What’s New In This Release:

• Simple Selector for easier customization and fewer risks and user confusion
• Fixes the issue where almost 25% of the icons weren’t being properly patched in Release 4 (whoops!)
• Lite mode (selected automatically on non-English Windows): stops 128×128 icons from being installed to keep shell32.dll safe
• Now installs on Polish Windows
• It’s about 100KB smaller than Release 4
• New stuff:
  • Full Darkside IE8 support
  • New Luna Element bitmaps for Explorer and GINA
  • Cards.dll and Spider.exe
  • Windows Desktop Search 4.x
  • Luna Element shellstyles and Luna Element Black 5.1
  • Royale Lite is back (along with an “XPize 3.2” selection preset for you old-skoolers)
  • And various other resources

Known Issues:

• It isn’t fully localized
• The sporadic toolbar bitmaps in 7zFM.exe still aren’t resolved. I hope to get this fixed by Release 6, which will really be the last release
• Several people are reporting the Shutdown/Restart dialog is visually messed up when you choose Darkside or Luna Element
• Uninstall issues:
  • Cursor scheme isn’t restored
  • Visual style isn’t perfectly restored
  • TaskSwitchXP isn’t uninstalled (but you can do that manually via the start menu)
  • Uninstallation does not prompt you to restart after completing

I’m currently performing final testing before uploading it. Before installing it I strongly recommend uninstalling Release 4 first.

There was a bug in the xpize 5 Release 4 installer that means its Check for Updates functionality doesn’t work anymore. People installing Release 4 will not get any notifications of an updated version, which is unfortunate.

Click on the image for a larger version.