Welcome to The Drive, a weekly column looking at some wacky, interesting, cool, and pivotal things within the tech space! Curated by PC Hardware Lead Editor Richard Edmonds through almost two decades covering the sector. Think something should be covered? Hit me up at rich.e@valnetinc.net!

Windows XP wasn't a bad-looking operating system. It's one of my favorites from Microsoft with a clean user interface and rapid performance on a fresh installation first boot, and it was simply wonderful to use when times were much less stressful. In the later years, customization took full swing with battles between operating system groups, and although Microsoft did release a few themes for XP to change colors, it was BricoPacks from some very talented people within the Windows community that took things up a level. I used CrystalXP's Crystal Clear Bricopack for years before finally upgrading to a newer OS.

What was a Windows XP BricoPack?

Completely change XP in a few clicks

Waiting for CrystalXP's Crystal Clear Bricopack to download in the mid-2000s was intense. At the time, we moved to ADSL but even then our ISP could only handle less than 50KB/s at non-peak times. The pack weighed in at a whopping 16MB, which took longer than I could imagine to download. Once on my relatively underpowered system, I backed everything up and double-clicked the installer. It was the first time I put my PC in the hands of France and on a quick reboot, I was greeted by a clean, modern-looking interface with the Linux Tux penguin everywhere.

The Bricopack was a collection of software and tweaks that changed many parts of Windows XP. Depending on the pack you installed (there were, and still are, a few packs available) , you could be greeted by a dock, different window styling, new cursors, a wallpaper, a new taskbar and start menu, a widget panel, and more. My friends were all amazed at how my installation looked when we switched homes to play RuneScape or Unreal Tournament 2004. I didn't know at the time what UI development would become with all the gradients, 3D effects, and more disappearing.

It's a shame because I view customizing your OS like this in the same vein as internet forums. They went hand-in-hand together and 2006 was still a great year for communities. A forum would enable you to learn more about a specific topic with hundreds of threads to read through. This made "skinning" Windows XP relatively painless with the right know-how and some spare time. After much trial and error, I did end up with a clean install without much bloat and still plenty of RAM left to run some games or iTunes, because there was no way they would run simultaneously.

Customizing your OS was a serious business

Making Windows your own took dedication

Thankfully, it's still possible to personalize your chosen OS today. Various software remains available for Windows that can change the way parts look and Linux is as customizable as it always has been. It's even possible to download the Bricopacks if you have a Windows XP VM running somewhere. And if you're into classic YouTube videos (circa 2008), check out this absolute gem comparing Linux to Windows Vista with some incredible customizations. I'm talking about context menus burning up, full 3D cube multi-desktop configurations, and more. It's wild (and in glorious 240p)!