A Dark Theme for Windows 8

Question

Is there any way for me to use Windows 8 in a dark environment? For a long time I had headaches that I couldn't fid their cause. Now, I'm using a dark visual style for my Windows 7 and since then, I haven't have any problems. Now I want to use Windows 8 release preview but I cannot find any way to use it in a dark theme/visual style. I've seen the files needed are patched but couldn't find any visual style. I also searched for 3rd party apps, nothing. I would very much appreciate if you could help me. Thanks.

Pictures below compare Explorer both in dark and Aero visual styles.

Answer 1

Themes for Windows 8 is a free website dedicated to changing the appearance of your PC or Tablet with different visual styles, themes, skin packs etc.....

http://windows8themes.ms/

Alternatively I have found this dark theme for Windows 8 on DeviantArt entitled Dark 8:

Available from: http://gr8stylex.deviantart.com/art/dark8-vs-for-windows-8-340960613

Skin Pack is another website to visually alter the appearance of your Windows 8, an example of a dark theme available called Equinox Skin Pack

Available from: http://www.skinpacks.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=89

This is just examples of two dark themes I found from those sites, but i'm sure a variety of others probably exist on them as well.

Answer 2

Excerpt from my blog at http://anoori.me/

Las week, I mentioned I tried to switch over to Windows 8, but I couldn’t do so because it was so bright for me. After a couple of days, I upgraded some parts of my PC and since I wanted to check out the UEFI booting speed of Windows 8, I figured I’d give it another shot.

After installation, I knew that I have to make my OS dark, so, after installing drivers and basic software, I set out to make my OS as dark as possible.

The "Advanced Color and Appearance Settings" dialog isn’t there, but there are programs that are using it, so I head over to the beloved regedit and changed it through Windows Registry. Here is the key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors]

I changed some colors, logged off and logged on again, started Microsoft Words and voila! It was dark. Good.

I started Photoshop and checked the best background for both dark and bright foreground texts. Turns out, it’s [55,55,57] in RGB format. Here’s the photo I’ve created:

As you can see, it tests the background against all kinds of foreground. I changed my all keys in the regedit and in case you’re interested, here's a copy for you to download. Just double click on it and restart your windows. (It works on Windows 7 too).

This made most of my OS dark, after that I set my Aero color to black and changed all the font size settings in

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display

to 11, clicked Apply to get a bigger font my OS.

I changed my Office theme to "Black", my Visual Studio to "Dark" theme, the Notepad++ to "Obsidian", etc.

The only remaining part was my Windows Explorer. I couldn’t change it without a Visual Style so for now, I’ve customized the NexusFile and using it as my primary file manager. It’s simple, has a black theme, it’s customizable and it has tabs. Here is a screenshot of it.

In addition to all these changes, I use f.lux for a while now. It changes your monitor's light depending on time of day. It's so awesome. I strongly recommend it. It is free and also available for Mac/Linux and iOS.

I'm using my Windows 8 for a week now. I just have some minor issues with it but in general I LOVE IT, more than Windows 7. It’s blazing fast. You should definitely try it.

Source