a relatively simple way is to set the task bar to a slight off white, move it to the top of the screen and to then use a 3rd party utility like stardock, another would be to skin it with a custom theme and mess around... there are tons of GUI modification programs for windows. I personally don't think it is worth the effort. The point of a GUI is to be efficient, not to attract attention. note that when I said 2k i refered to windows 2000 and it's derivitives, this includes XP.