Windows 8 UX Pack and Windows 8 Transformation Pack 8.1 ship with major bug fixes

WindowsX has refreshed its pair of skinning tools with the dual release of Windows 8 UX Pack 8.1 for PCs running Windows 7, and Windows 8 Transformation Pack 8.1 for earlier versions of Windows, including XP.

The latest version of the tools, which aim to give users the Windows 8.1 look and feel in earlier versions of Windows, have been updated to squash bugs and generally improve each pack’s stability.

The Windows 8 UX Pack 8.1 ships with three major changes. The first change sees a number of system programs added to the pack that could be missing in Windows. The new release also fixes the "infamous" black screen bug found in the UXStyle component.

The update is rounded off with an updated visual style for Windows 7 users in the form of Aero 8, a skin by aymengh99, and also resolves some reported bugs with new Windows 7 themes.

The UX Pack aims to emulate larger portions of the Windows 8.1 classic desktop, from the new Charms bar to the post-Aero look. The Windows 8 Transformation Pack goes slightly further in skinning the entire UI, plus includes additional elements to make it possible to emulate the new desktop and Modern UI in earlier versions of Windows, including XP and Vista as well as Windows 7.

Aside from sporting the same three changes as found in the UX Pack, the Windows 8 Transformation Pack 8.1 also adds some permission fixes to ensure modified system files can be updated properly. It also resolves an installation error restricted to the Windows XP x64 operating system.

Both Windows 8 UX Pack 8.1 and Windows 8 Transformation Pack 8.1 are available now as freeware downloads for non-Windows 8.1 PCs.