Love the look of Windows Vista, but don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on to "upgrade" your operating system and potentially slow down your computer's performance? Vista Transformation Pack 8 gives you most of Vista's visual candy without the operating system's security enhancements, user account control, or power management features.

We first looked at Vista Transformation Pack last year when the utility was still in its infancy. But now it's all grown up, and this week version 8 was released with a bunch of features that make XP look even more like Vista:

• Added TrueTransparency 0.8.5 to bring Aero glass-like transparency effects
• Added WinFlip 0.42 to emulate Vista Flip3D
  
• Added CPU speed to welcome center
• Updated Vista Sidebar to version 2.3 Lite

You'll probably want to create a system restore point before installing Vista Transformation Pack, since it will alter settings. In the past, some users have reported that they're missing icons after uninstalling, so proceed with caution.

[via makeuseof]