For all of you reading this and running Windows 7 on your computer, there is a way of changing the theme on your computer. The theme controls the desktop photo, sound, and other visual effects. Windows ships with many versions of its Aero theme.

You can see the different installed themes by right-clicking on an empty space anywhere on your Desktop and selecting Personalization (bottom left) and waiting for the Themes to load. Once loaded you can select a different Aero theme provided by Microsoft.

My problem is that I have just come across a very nice lighthouse theme (photo at left) that I would like to try out on my computer. I downloaded the theme (just over 2 MBs in size), but when double-clicked it will not load, and there are no instructions on the website.that I can see.

I tried copying the theme to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes but even though the theme  shows up in the Personalization window, it will not load. Now I am stumped.

Has anyone out there who is reading this tried to install a non-Microsoft theme? It would be really nice to have a lighthouse theme, and maybe it could even be modified to take a personal photo.

Please, if you know the solution, drop me a note or leave a comment. Thanks. I’ll post a solution here if and when I get a solution that works.