[videian28]

can some of you fine people point me to the best (hopefully free) programs for installing themes and new icons

many thanks

[Colonel_Panic]

obligatory theme notice:

Using themes may render your computer unable to boot

</notice>

That being said check out resexcellence.com and xicons.com

[NetworkShadow]

Ya just be careful with themes and install Aqua Fix before you instal any themes, read the readme too.
ThemeChanger and Duality 4 are the best theme changer programs. resexcellence has most of the themes for download.
Candy Bar is the best for changing you're icon sets. And checkout http://www.unsanity.com for other cool interface gadgets.

Hope that helps!

[Vi0]

I totally disagree. Themes are very safe. Theming is really just a matter of replacing certain files that contain the images for your theme. Back up the old ones and drop in the new ones. The problem is with the theme switchers, which are largely pieces of crap that have problems with permissions and such. Duality 4 seems to be the exception to this.

[Colonel_Panic]

ViO.. Theming can very easily render your computer not usable and it doesnt take much. Yes it is the simple replacing of files but they are SYSTEM files.. anytime you tamper with system files you run the risk of screwing stuff up.

Also I didn`t say it wasnt easy to fix but its annoying when it happens..