Windows Displaying Classic Theme And Aero Themes Are Grayed Out In Windows 7

I recently had a situation where I had been using my PC as I normally would and closed it down without any errors or updates being performed. However, the following day when I booted the PC up a message bubble appeared mid way in  the system tray saying that Windows could not connect to a service.

Unfortunately, this was a fairly generic message and it didn't specify which service it couldn't initiate or why. Once the PC had booted fully, it was clear that there was an issue with the themes as the desktop and toolbar/system tray looked awful and were using the Classic Theme.

From all of the above I realized that the PC was unable to properly initiate the 'Themes' Windows Service. In order to rectify the problem the following steps should be completed :

Verify the current theme

Check that the Windows Classic theme (or unspecified theme) is the one in use.

1. Right click the desktop and it will produce a menu.
2. Click on 'Personalize' and it will take you to the screen shown to the right.
3. You will see that the active theme in 'My themes' is showing as 'Unsaved Theme' and the Aero themes are grayed out and cannot be selected.

This is a clear indication that the Windows Theme service is either not started or is not running correctly.

Check and Start the Windows Theme Service

1. Go the Windows start button.
2. In the search field type - services.msc and press Enter or select the icon from the menu which will appear once you begin typing 'services'.
3. You will now be shown the Windows services which are available/running on your PC (See image right).
4. Scroll down to 'Themes'. If the service has not started, start it by using the start arrow within the console or right click the service > All tasks > Start.
5. If the service is showing as 'started' then restart it by using the restart button in the console or right click the Themes service right click > All tasks > Restart.

Once you have done this the screen will flicker and your Aero themes will activate. As soon as this has completed your desktop will have returned to normal. You can verify this by going back into your themes and checking that Aero is now your active Theme.

Restart your PC and you shouldn't have any further issues with it not connecting to your themes in the future.

If you found this post helpful or have any questions, please leave a comment below

Win 7 XP Mode – Integration features unavailable

A user today complained that she was unable to open an application that was installed via XP Mode. The error being produced was “Integration features unavailable”.

After trying to start the VM from the Win7 program menu it produced the error and gave the option to retry or continue. If you retry it produces the same error, if you continue the VM opens with a blank (black) screen.

I managed to resolve the issue, so if you receive the error “Integration features unavailable” or "Could not enable integration features" here is the fix.

1. On the Win7 machine, go to All programs > Windows Virtual PC > Windows Virtual PC.
2. Right click the Windows Virtual PC icon > Select ‘Settings’.
3. Under the ‘Close’ option (on the left), Change the ‘Automatically close with the following action : ‘ from ‘Hibernate’ to Shutdown’ and click OK.
4. Try to open the Virtual PC again and wait until it produces the error, when it gives you the option ‘Retry’ or ‘Continue’, select continue until the Virtual PC with the blank screen is displayed.
5. Go to the top left of the window and choose Action > Close. It will ask if you want to force the shutdown. Select Yes.
6. Once the virtual PC is showing as ‘Shut down’, try to re-open the application and it should work !.
If this helped you or you have an alternative fix, please leave a comment for others.

Where is the email application in Windows 7 ?

The simple answer is “There isn’t one”. XP had ‘Outlook express’, Vista had ‘Windows Mail client’ and now Microsoft have decided that their latest OS can do without. I’m not quite sure why Microsoft would decide that the ability to email people isn’t a core requirement in a modern operating system but with their ongoing anti-trust issues I wouldn’t be surprised if they just wanted to avoid more legal headaches.

That said, Microsoft haven’t left us totally in the lurch and they do provide an email client (Windows Live Mail) as part of the ‘Windows Live Essentials’ suite. This is available as a free download and also includes :

• Windows Live call


• Windows Live messenger


• Windows Live Movie Maker


• Windows Live Photo Gallery


• Windows Live Writer

You can find this download by going to the Start Menu and typing essentials in the search field. It will then give you the option ‘Go online to get Windows Live Essentials’.

Just follow the instructions and select the items you would like to download an install.

When you launch the program you will be asked for your email account credentials. Once these have been entered just sit back and watch Live Mail go off and retrieve all your email.

So in summary, it’s slightly odd that Microsoft wouldn’t include it in the OS but at least they have made the solution simple and painless. :-)

 Hope you liked the post. Please leave a comment

8 ways to speed up Windows XP - Day 1

There is plenty of talk at the moment about Windows 7 and how it is going to change the world blah, blah,  blah but what if you have Windows XP and can’t afford the much needed upgrade just yet. Well chances are you have had XP for sometime and if you haven’t been maintaining it, it has gradually been getting slower and slower.

One of the most common questions I get asked is “How can I speed up my computer?”. So for the next 8 days I’m going to provide some tips for restoring XP to it's former glory.

 Day 1 – Back up your data

Hopefully, you already have a regular backup procedure in place for your data i.e. photographs, documents, favourites, passwords etc. If this is the case, ‘Well done', if not then I urge you to create a back up before carrying out the following steps.  Backing up on this occasion is a good start but a regular back up routine (although rather dull sounding) will save you alot of heartache should the worst happen to your data.

This process may take you some time, so I’ll let you get on with it and i'll see you back here tomorrow for the next instalment :-)

Will my PC run Microsoft Windows 7 ?

Windows 7 was launched today and many people who pre-ordered PCs and Laptops will be up and running immediately. However, for those with existing computers that want to upgrade (especially from Windows XP) there seems to be some uncertainty as to whether they can make the leap.

Generally there are two ways of knowing whether your current PC is compatible with Windows 7.

Minimum system requirements :  The ability to run Windows 7 is determined by the type of hardware you have rather than the operating system you are currently using so Microsoft has released it’s minimum system requirements and these should give you an idea of whether you need to upgrade your hardware for Windows 7. Click here to see the requirements.

Windows upgrade advisor : The system requirements are fairly general and do not indicate what will happen to your existing settings and applications if you do go ahead and upgrade. Thankfully, Microsoft has gone some way to address this and have provided a useful compatibility tool ‘called Windows Upgrade Advisor’.

Microsoft’s description of the software :

“Just download, install, and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta. You'll get a report telling you if your PC can run Windows 7 and if there are any known compatibility issues. If an issue can be resolved, you'll get suggestions for next steps. For example, it may let you know that you need an updated driver for your printer and where to get it “.

I have used this on a couple of my PCs and it does perform very well. Give it a go and see if you 'have what it takes'.

Download :  Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

Windows 7 system requirements

Are  you wondering if Windows 7 will run on your existing hardware ?

Well look no further, here are Microsoft's minimum system reqirements :

- 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
- 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
- 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
- DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Additional requirements to use certain features:

- Internet access
- Depending on resolution, video playback may require additional memory and advanced graphics hardware.
- For some Windows Media Center functionality a TV tuner and additional hardware may be required
- Windows Touch and Tablet PCs require specific hardware.
- HomeGroup requires a network and PCs running Windows 7.
- DVD/CD authoring requires a compatible optical drive.
- BitLocker requires Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2.
- BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive.
- Windows XP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM, an additional 15 GB of available hard disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualization with Intel VT or AMD-V turned on.
- Music and sound require audio output