Thinkpads Forum

I have my Thinkpad configured to Windows Classic theme desktop but occassionally it will spontaneously boot up to the Windows XP theme taskbar and start menu. I have to manually change it back. Any ideas on why this happening and how I can fix it?
Thank you.

Just so you know you're not alone, this has happened to me once. I'm going to do some pondering and try to remember what I had concluded regarding the unwanted change.

Thanks!
I'd appreciate any help I can get with this annoying problem. I know there is a registry hack which forces the Windows Classic taskbar and Start Menu but I'd really like to know what's causing this. I'm one of those people who likes to have my machine configured "just so" and really resent any intrusions.

It has never happened to me in several years across two machines. One thing I do and to consider is to go into Performance and set for best performance. That turns all the eye candy off. Turn on Smooth edges of Screen Fonts so as to be able to use Clear type. See if that helps. I not only like my computer "just so", I get frustrated and go on the warpath with my box if it isn't "just so".
Good luck, ... JD Hurst

I was able to fix the problem with a program called "Tweak Manager"

JD, do you mean to go into Performance under Administrator Tools? I did that but cannot find any setting to choose "Best Performance" I'd like to turn off all the excess XP stuff too. thanks for your help.

Purcy wrote:JD, do you mean to go into Performance under Administrator Tools? I did that but cannot find any setting to choose "Best Performance" I'd like to turn off all the excess XP stuff too. thanks for your help.

If you're sure you will not use the Tonka interface--sorry the Windows default theme and eye candy, disable the Themes service. You'll gain some additional memory as well.

1. Start --> Run --> type services.msc
2. Find Themes, doubleclick.
3. Click Stop and change Startup Type to Disabled.

Enjoy Windows 2000. Don't get me wrong, this is the first thing I do after a clean installation.

rgds.

Greetings, thank you for your reply. I will try this, but first want to ask if this change is something I can reverse, say if I want to someday go back to the XP theme. Many thanks

You can start a service just as easily as you stop it.

Thank you for your reply. Newbie here, and I just want to be sure; I just made the change and that was easy. I appreciate everyone's help.

I noticed this problem every time I installed IBM's Bluetooth stack.

If you have Bluetooth hardware but do not have the software fully installed, could you check if it happens when you turn on Bluetooth with Fn+F6?

Purcy wrote:Greetings, thank you for your reply. I will try this, but first want to ask if this change is something I can reverse, say if I want to someday go back to the XP theme. Many thanks

Just follow the steps and put the Startup Type to Automatic, and click Start. After subsequent reboots, it will automatically start (default XP behaviour) so you won't have to go there and click Start.

I have sort of the flip of the question that began this thread. I have a computer set to use the XP theme, but sometimes it spontaneously switches to the Classic theme (often with the task bar a bit messed up). Investigation shows that the Windows Themes service has stopped when this occurs, so it makes sense that the XP theme has died. But the part I can't figure out is why the Themes service is stopping or crashing. The event log doesn't appear to have anything relevant around the time of the problem.

Any wisdom?