Solved Dark theme for Windows 8?Hi, I hope this is the correct a

Jalida

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Dark theme for Windows 8?

Hi,


I hope this is the correct area to ask this question I felt a kind of falls into tweaking or optimization.


I need some kind of a Windows 8 theme that is on the dark/black side.
But it's also got to actually work as close to 100% as possible.


I've got one that's called ultimate clean 8, however, it doesn't work 100%, for example;
if I were to open my control panel there is a stripe at the top and a box at the left that is not been darkened so it's a big white box on the left and big white stripe at the top and then the text that's inside of that is on a light shade of gray so it makes it near impossible to read.


And then there are other boxes or Windows that will open where it has black text on the black background of the window, I need to try to avoid that with a good quality dark/black theme for Windows 8.


The reason that I'm looking for a dark/black theme for Windows 8 is not to be cool, but rather that I spend anywhere from 6 to 18 hours a day working on my computer and it often feels like my eyes are being burned right out of my head.


And while the ultimate clean 8 theme is really nice because it makes everything really dark there's just a lot of mistakes that make it more difficult to use than it should be, for example if you open up notepad and you try to select some text on the page which is now white text on a black background inside of notepad when you select text bill only make it a shade of gray which makes it hard to make sure that you selected the right text.


So if anybody knows of a good dark/black theme for Windows 8 (even if I have to pay for it) please let me know, my eyes will be forever grateful to you.


Thanks,

I should also mention that I'm looking for a theme that themes basically everything on the Windows operating system not just something that changes some backgrounds to a darker color and maybe changes your mouse around because quite honestly I can do that without a theme.


So I'm looking for some kind of a theme that will perhaps change basically everything, for example in Windows Explorer to make it entirely black with white text things along that nature.

Attached is an image that shows just how deep I need the theme to go, for what an example of what I mean is you can see that in the image Windows Explorer as well as Notepad are completely being to a dark black color so I need a theme that will go this extensively and not just one that will change the background
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    i7 2860qm
    Motherboard
    Asus Laptop
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GTX 560m 2GB dedicated Video RAM
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Hard Drives
    C:\ 185GB SSD
    D:\ 500GB HDD
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Performance
Are you looking for something like High Contrast - Black ? For starting it's a good (pretty basic) one. The only drawback is that it's not based on Aero and some 3D applications don't run properly. It's a pretty good theme for text reading, programming, film watching, presentations and image processing.

Pretty much, you need a dark theme that is pretty clear and you can still easily distinguish between buttons or text (white or light colored) on the screen. Sometimes you need to switch to a light theme when the sun shines, so using a couple of good themes to choose from is a nice thing.

I've kept it simple and played with the high contrast to create some variations.
If you're interested, look here for examples and info about the different settings.


Why no glossy themes? Usually those custom made ones need the system dlls patched. You are free to look for those online, and sorry I don't have any like that.

MS didn't thought about this: creating a dark theme based on Aero would fix everything but because of the general corporate (light) look used in businesses just one light theme was provieded and we need to resort to high contrast. However we do need dark themes for our eyes.

I hope you find what you're looking for, third party themes need to be compatible otherwise you test a couple of them before finding the right one.

By using custom high contrast themes, you don't need to patch anything, system remains stable and all elements are changed not just some backgrounds and text. If you don't like a theme, change it and/or delete it.

Cheers
Hopachi
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
I'm not sure what you're talking about, I don't have the white stripe and the grey area, it's all dark for me. You replaces the system files? The explorer.exe, shell.32 (the syswow never works for me, so I don't use it)? You know there are 2 versions of Ultimate clean? There's some greyish darkish themes, but ultimate clean 2 is the best one I found. I see no way around the highlighting issues as far as that goes, it bugs me just a little sometimes, but it's when there's a menu I can't see is when I have an alternate simpler theme I turn to.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 17-j029nr
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7-4702MQ
    Motherboard
    Hewlett-Packard 1968 (U3E1)
    Memory
    8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (11-11-11-28)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" diagonal full HD anti-glare LED-backlit
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    120GB Kingston Hyper X 3K SSD

    750GB Western Digital 7,200 RPM with Intel Rapid Storage Technology using a 25GB mSATA SSD for caching.
    Keyboard
    Full-size, island-style, backlit with numeric keypad
    Browser
    SR Ware's Iron, Comodo Dragon
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
Actually yes I did replace the system files, but then when I rebooted the computer and try to login the user account services was corrupt and wouldn't let me login to Windows 8.


I followed the instructions found on this form as to how to go about deleting a corrupt account since there was only one account on this computer but there was no file that they said was supposed to be in the Windows registry to be deleted so I had to create a new account after formatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows 8.


While I don't know if replacing the system file is what caused the corruption or not I can only say that it wasn't until after I installed that system file and then rebooted that all of a sudden the user system was corrupt, so I decided upon the second installation of that dark theme that I would not swap out the system files again.


I was using the full black ultimate clean theme.


While I really like these high contrast themes that the user above suggested and they work really well for my eyes the problem is when it comes to printing out the forms that I have to fill out for my daily job on the Internet it basically screws up how the printer prints the page, under normal circumstances the printer takes the form that I see on my screen and basically just printed and it duplicates exactly into the printer however when using a high contrast theme every type of input box radio box checkbox or form field comes out dark on the printed copy to where you can even see what's printed there in other words you can't see the text in each form field that gets printed when using the high contrast theme and is unfortunate because the high contrast theme actually works really superb with Internet Explorer and the forms that I have to fill out.


I'll have to go looking for the ultimate clean to although I'm not reinstalling or system files just in case I really don't feel like reformatting again and reinstalling my operating system that would be I think twice in less than a month.


Thanks,
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    i7 2860qm
    Motherboard
    Asus Laptop
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GTX 560m 2GB dedicated Video RAM
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Hard Drives
    C:\ 185GB SSD
    D:\ 500GB HDD
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Performance
I would suggest downloading version 2 from deviant art, and following the instructions provided especially the copy and paste the files instead of dragging them... And don't put the syswow file in the sys32 folder, that's how I got them to work. The syswow file screws my crap up.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 17-j029nr
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7-4702MQ
    Motherboard
    Hewlett-Packard 1968 (U3E1)
    Memory
    8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (11-11-11-28)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" diagonal full HD anti-glare LED-backlit
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    120GB Kingston Hyper X 3K SSD

    750GB Western Digital 7,200 RPM with Intel Rapid Storage Technology using a 25GB mSATA SSD for caching.
    Keyboard
    Full-size, island-style, backlit with numeric keypad
    Browser
    SR Ware's Iron, Comodo Dragon
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
Skin Studio!
That turns your OS into a chameleon. :)

Too many theme choices...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
Skin Studio!
That turns your OS into a chameleon. :)

Too many theme choices...

Window Blinds is good for people with poor vision.
They can tweak the fonts & colors any way they want. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security

So that was what you've been using all this time! :)
No wonder you had all those complex themes shown between your many screenshots...

Cheers!

Unlimited themes....
I have Skin Studio but my computer isn't powerful enough to run it.
I've got window blinds eight and skin studio, but I seem to remember that there's a problem with window blinds eight can't remember exactly what it is at this point but I remember I had to uninstall it because of it being, then I reinstalled it again when you suggested it since you have to have it installed to run skin studio.

But it would take me a while to fully learn how to use skin studio to make a theme that I would be comfortable using.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    i7 2860qm
    Motherboard
    Asus Laptop
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GTX 560m 2GB dedicated Video RAM
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Hard Drives
    C:\ 185GB SSD
    D:\ 500GB HDD
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Performance
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