[level 1] Starter Kit

I'd have asked the person who made the article on installing/using a visual style, but the post was so old I feared it'd be useless. mind if I post a question in here?

I used neowin multi patcher 4.0 (the download link you provided got truncated ) on windows XP SP2, and it seems to have worked. only they don't show up in the drop down menu, even when moved to the windows\resources\themes folder. However, if I double click the .msstyles file it shows up. Is this a problem? they seem to work but I want to make sure that this won't adversely affect the styles.

also, I've heard people talk about 'blank" icons, and seen screenshots of VS's with no quicklaunch toolbar or the one on the far right (next to the clock), is this done by reshacking the icons to be blank, or something like this? I apologize if this is in the wrong area ):

1.- try Styler for a better management of your visual styles.
2.- yes, that's how the blank icons work.