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PE Resource Editor
Application Manifest Wizard
PE Explorer and Resource Tuner ship with the unique Application Visual Style Manifest Wizard. The wizard inserts an application manifest into the resource section of the executable, allowing your legacy application to take advantage of the slick new look for common controls featured in Windows XP and Vista. 
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The wizard is very easy to use. There are two fields to fill out, application name and description, from which the wizard generates a visual style manifest for your application.
An Application Manifest is an XML file that describes the dependencies that an application uses. The wizard-generated manifest file defines which of the Windows common control DLLs the application should use, version 5.0 or 6.0.
The application manifests have received an upgrade in Windows Vista to allow developers to mark their applications with a requested execution level. Microsoft has implemented an extension to the trustInfo section of the current Windows XP application manifest schema.
The wizard allows you to add a TrustInfo section and insert the Require Administrator info into it so that the application would be forced to run elevated as an Administrator on Windows Vista, providing the application the same operational behavior as in Windows XP. A modified exe should still work correctly on prior Windows operating systems.
After generating the manifest, the wizard embeds the manifest in the executable as a resource and makes the necessary adjustments to the PE file image.
The manifest indicates to the operating system that ComCtl32.dll version 6 should be used when it is available. Version 6 includes some new controls and new options for other controls, but the biggest change is support for changing the appearance of controls in a window.
Pic.1 Here is how the common controls for an ordinary application look on Windows XP:
Pic.2 And here is how that same application appears after a manifest has been inserted. Inserting a style manifest is an easy way for legacy apps take advantage of the new look for common control styles on Windows XP:
Unlike earlier versions of ComCtl32.dll, version 6 is not redistributable. The only way you can use version 6 is to use an operating system that contains it. Windows XP ships with both version 5 and version 6. By default, applications use the user controls defined in User32.dll and the common controls defined in ComCtl32.dll version 5. If you want your application to use visual styles, you must add an application manifest that indicates that ComCtl32.dll version 6 should be used if it is available.
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