One of these may have the answer:

Windows XP Booklist

Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out 2nd ed  ISBN 0-7356-2044-X
www.microsoft.com/mspress
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit 3rd ed  ISBN 0-7356-2167-5
www.microsoft.com/mspress
Microsoft Windows Command-Line  ISBN 0-7356-2038-5
www.microsoft.com/mspress
Microsoft Windows Registry Guide 2nd ed  ISBN 0-7356-2218-3
www.microsoft.com/mspress

Windows XP Pro 2nd ed The Missing Manual  ISBN 0-596-00898-8
www.missingmanual.com
Home Networking The Missing Manual  ISBN 0-596-00558-X
www.missingmanual.com

Windows XP in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition  ISBN 0-596-00900-3  www.oreilly.com
Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks, 2nd ed  ISBN 0-596-00876-7  www.oreilly.com
Windows XP Hacks, 2nd ed  ISBN 0-596-0000918-6  www.oreilly.com
PC Hardware in a Nutshell  ISBN 0-596-00513-X  www.oreilly.com
PC Annoyances 2nd Edition  ISBN 0-596-00882-1  www.oreilly.com
PC Hardware Annoyances  ISBN 0-596-00715-9  www.oreilly.com
Internet Annoyances  ISBN 0-596-00735-3  www.oreilly.com
Home Networking Annoyances  ISBN 0-596-00808-2  www.oreilly.com

Windows XP Solutions 2nd ed  ISBN 0-471-74752-1
www.wiley.com/compbooks/pcmag
Windows XP Speed Solutions  ISBN 0-7645-7814-6
www.wiley.com/compbooks/pcmag
Guide to Home Networking  ISBN 0-7645-4473-X  www.wiley.com/compbooks/pcmag
Windows XP MVP (Most Valuable Professional)  ISBN 0-7645-9786-8
www.wiley.com/compbooks

Hacking Windows XP  ISBN 0-7645-6929-5  www.TweakXP.com

The BIOS Companion  ISBN 0-9681928-0-7  www.electrocution.com
Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier  ISBN 0-13-145536-2  www.rojakpot.com

Downloadable Guides

XP Tweak Guide (TweakGuides_XPTC.zip) from www.TweakGuides.com
Windows Registry Guide (registryguide2003.exe) from www.winguides.com
Error Message for Windows (MSWinErr.zip) from www.gregorybraun.com

The Advanced dialog under Appearance in XP is the same settings that used to
be the basic options on the Appearance tab back in 95/98/Me/2000 days.  They
just put them under an Advanced button because many of the color settings you
change there won't be seen if you're using "themes".

To see how these affect the appearance of windows, first Set to "Windows
Classic Style" instead of "Windows XP Style" and then click Apply.  After the
desktop resets to look like classic windows, go to advanced and play around.

Example:  Window Border Colors won't show up when using themes (XP style).
This is because the theme (skin) takes over and shows it's own colors on
top.  Same with title bar colors.

Example:

Hi Norm,

There's really only a few non-obvious ones to think of. As someone else
already pointed out, the colors won't matter if themes are enabled, but the
size settings are still used.

A couple of items to note.....the size set for the caption buttons, the
'x' , min and max button, also control the size of icons in the system
tray. Small buttons = small icons. The other is that the Icon font settings
is for the labels of the icons on the desktop AND the font used in Windows
Explorer.

That's about all that isn't mostly obvious.

DanS