Brr… how cold! And yes, the Christmas atmosphere is really starting to make itself felt and it’s definitely time to tan my PC for the holidays. No, I’m not crazy, I don’t want to punch and kick my PC (although I must admit that sometimes, in the most desperate situations, I would be really tempted to do it!) but simply decorate it for the Christmas holidays that are coming. So what I’m going to do is to put a nice Christmas tree on the desktop and change the system sounds with some theme music. Then, I also thought of customizing the Start button by replacing the sad Windows logo with something more suitable.
Excuse me? It all sounds very interesting to you and you would like to do the same on your computer? Awesome! I’m really happy about that! So take a few minutes of your free time and read this article of mine entirely dedicated to the subject. Together, I assure you, we’re going to see some great things. What you’ll get is a desktop completely themed to Christmas, beautiful to see as well as to use. What? You’re not very computer savvy and you’re afraid that the tasks to be performed are out of your reach? Come on, don’t be a wimp! I assure you that there is nothing particularly complex to do.
Well? Did I convince you? Yes? Great. So, let’s forget the chitchat and proceed. Sit comfortably in front of your trusty PC and start immediately to concentrate on everything reported below. I’m sure that in the end you’ll be able to say that you’re happy with it and that all your friends will not hesitate to ask you for explanations on what to do in order to replicate everything on their computers. What do you think, shall we bet?
Decorate the Christmas tree on the desktop
A Christmas without a decorated tree is not a real Christmas, it is well known. The first thing to do, then, is to download free software that will play one on your computer desktop. Wondering which programs allow you to do that? Well, you’ll find listed right below those that I think are the best in their category. Happy downloading and enjoy!
Using FREE Christmas Tree
If you want to place a virtual Christmas tree on your desktop, I strongly suggest you to turn to FREE Christmas Tree. This is a nice executable file at no cost and works on all versions of Windows that allows you to display a Christmas tree on the screen of your PC with a countdown to December 25 in tow and theme music that are proposed at regular intervals.
To download it to your computer immediately, go to the download page and click on the DOWNLOAD button on the page. When the download is complete, open the executable file and click on Yes and then press the Next button four times in a row, Install and Finish to finish the installation process.
Within a few moments you will see a beautiful Christmas tree appear on your virtual desk. Below it you’ll find the countdown showing how many days are left until Christmas, as anticipated.
To change the settings of FREE Christmas Tree, just right-click on it and choose one of the items in the drop-down menu that appears: Show/Hide to hide or reappear the tree, Skins to change its appearance, Sounds to choose the sounds and their cadence, Due Date to set the date of the countdown (e.g. New Year’s Eve instead of Christmas) and finally Settings for other settings (you can, for example, choose whether to display the Christmas tree automatically when Windows starts, whether to keep it always in the foreground, etc.).
If what you want to do is to move the Christmas tree to a different place on the desktop than where it is at the moment, left-click on it and, while continuing to hold down the button, place it where you think it should be.
Using Get Xmas Christmas Tree
As an alternative to the above resource, you can download one of the Christmas trees you can find on the Get Xmas website. There are so many of them, all free and usable on any version of Windows! Find the one you like best and click on the download button to download it to your PC right away.
What you’ll get is a ZIP archive to extract to any location on your computer. Inside it you’ll find a file in .exe format that you have to run by double-clicking on it. Then click on Run in the on-screen window and you will immediately see a Christmas tree appear on your PC’s desktop.
To adjust its display settings, animations and to make various other adjustments, right-click on it and click on the items in the menu that opens (e.g. you can check OnTop to keep the tree always in the foreground, Startup to make it start automatically with Windows, you can adjust its transparency level, etc.). If you want the tree to disappear from the desktop, select the Exit item in the menu.
Then if what you want to do is move the Christmas tree to a different spot from where it was automatically placed, left-click on it and, while continuing to hold, drag it to the desired spot and “release the hold”.
If you want, you can also download as many as eight different Christmas trees at once by clicking on the All Desktop Trees in Single File entry on the left side of the Get Xmas website, under the red Download heading.
Once the download is complete, extract the obtained compressed archive to any location on your computer, then go to the trees folder that was contained within it and run all the .exe files you find in it to immediately see the eight different virtual Christmas trees appear on your virtual desktop. Nice, isn’t it?
Change system sounds to Christmas sounds
I don’t know about you, but I find the Windows startup and shutdown sounds to be un-Christmassy. How about changing those too? Yeah? Great! Then follow the instructions on what to do that you find right below. It’s very simple.
Where to find them
In order to find beautiful Christmas sounds to replace the ones on your PC, I strongly suggest you to visit the Freesound website. Connecting to it and performing a search by keyword (Christmas) you can find many fantastic sounds at no cost and in various audio formats that are particularly suitable for the purpose in question.
To listen to the ones you think you might like, first click on their title and then click on the Play button. To download them, click on the Login for download button, register for free on the site and then click on the appropriate button. When the download is complete, if you have not changed the default settings of your web browser, you will find the sounds in the Download folder of Windows.
How to edit
At this point, you’re probably wondering if it is not the case to “cut” just a little bit of these songs to avoid having to hear them entirely at every startup and / or closing the PC. A fast, practical and above all free solution is Audacity (if you remember well, I told you about it in depth in my guide dedicated to this software), which can allow you to edit your audio files with a handful of clicks.
To use Audacity, all you have to do is download it from this web page, click on the Download button and install it by launching the .exe file obtained and following the quick wizard proposed on screen.
In the program’s main window that you will later see appearing on your desktop, click the Open item on the File menu and select, by double-clicking on it, the audio file you want to cut and use as the Windows startup or shutdown sound.
Once the audio file is loaded into the program, select the part you want to extract from the graph and save it in .WAV format by selecting Export selection as wav from the File menu.
How to apply them
Once you have the Windows startup and shutdown sounds you want in .WAV format (the only format you can use), you need to set them up on Windows. To do this, follow the instructions below. The procedure varies slightly depending on the version of Windows you are using.
If you are using Windows XP – Call up Control Panel from the Start menu, click on the Sound, Voice and Audio Devices item in the window that opens and then click on Change sound combinations. Select the Windows sound you want to change, click on the Browse… button and select the Christmas sound you want to use. Then click on the OK button to save the changes.
If you are using Windows 8/8.x, Vista and 7 – Go to your desktop, right-click where there are no icons and select the Customize item from the menu that appears. In the window that opens, click the Sounds item located in the lower right corner, select the Windows sound you wish to change, click the Browse… button and choose the Christmas sound you wish to use. Then click on the OK button to save the changes.
If you’re using Windows 10 – Go to your desktop, right-click somewhere where there are no icons and select Customize from the menu. Click the Themes item on the left, select the Sounds heading at the bottom, click Advanced Sound Settings, select the Windows sound you wish to change, click the Browse… button and select the Christmas sound you wish to use. Then click on the OK button to save your changes.
Decorating the Start button
Let’s face it, the Windows Start button (yes, the one at the bottom left of the screen) really clashes with the rest of the computer tanned for the holidays. How about changing it to make it more Christmassy? Yeah? Great! Find out how to do that below.
Download TClock Light
To decorate the Start button by replacing the classic Windows logo with a Christmas icon of your choice, you need to resort to the use of free software TClock Light that, precisely, allows you to apply various customizations to the system in a very simple and fast way. It works on all operating systems of the Redmond company (but not on Windows 10, unfortunately) and is free.
To download it to your computer right now, connect to the download page attached to the Softpedia website, click on the Download button at the top left and then click on the Softpedia Mirror (US) button in the box that appears on the screen. Once the download is complete, extract the resulting ZIP file to any location on your computer and run the tclock.exe file that was present inside.
Then right-click on the clock in the Windows notification area and select TClock Properties from the menu that opens. Click on the Run button and then on the Start Button item that you find in the left part of the window that appeared and put a check mark next to the Customize Start Button item.
At this point, instead of the original one, you can set, by clicking on the […] button located next to the text bar next to the Icon item, any icon next to the Start button text, which can be customized through the text field located next to the Text item and through the other fields concerning font and color.
Finding icons to use
If you don’t know where to find the appropriate icons to place next to the Start button, take a look at the dedicated section of the Inconspedia website. There are of beautiful packages to choose from, all completely free.
Try to find the icon pack that you like best, and on the page that opens, click the button that corresponds to the format in which you want to download it to your computer. Again, if you haven’t made any changes to your browser’s default settings, you’ll find the icons in your Windows Downloads folder.