Having an all dark interface has become a trend. There is a large number of people who prefer to go all dark in the aesthetics of their PC user interface. Aside from having a certain beauty, dark themes help reduce the torturing white light our device emits, thus helping us work in the dark environments. It also improves the PC’s performance as well as prolong the on-battery time.
The windows 10 operating system has a theme engine support, which allows users to download and apply third party dark themes on their Windows 10 machine. In this article, we’ll explore a comprehensive list of the best dark themes for Windows 10. These themes are listed below for your use and learning:
The Windows 10 dark theme comes preinstalled Windows 10 operating system. It changes most of the White in the user interface and system apps to black., leaving the third party apps untouched. Applying this pre-installed windows 10 theme is as easy as navigating through Settings > Personalization > Colors, and then setting the default app mode to dark. However, Windows 10 users with early editions of the Windows 10 operating system will have to mess around with some registry tweaks. The steps to complete the registry tweaks are listed below:
Note: If you desire to re-instate the default light theme on your old windows 10 edition, delete the new registry entries or simply change their values to 1.
The Grey eve theme eliminates the white sites in your Windows 10 interface. It helps protect your eyes from the stress of having to stare at white light in the dark.
The Grey Eve theme is one of those themes that do not require a third-party app for installation. Once the theme is downloaded, you are required to place the theme in [USERNAME] AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes directory.
The Penumbra 10 theme, is a Windows 10 dark theme that provides users with the ability to tweak color schemes. The Penumbra 10 makes sure you don’t have to bear the bright white light from UI elements on the Windows 10 operating system. The Penumbra 10 theme comes packed with neutral dark colors. However, installing this theme on your Windows 10 machine requires some third-party apps. The steps to installing the Penumbra 10 theme are listed below:
Drawing from its literary meaning, the Nocturnal W10 theme is a Windows 10 theme designed for users who are always active at night.
It helps to relax the nerves in the eye, preventing you from having to strain your eyes when gazing at the white elements in the user interface of the Windows 10 operating system. The steps to install the Nocturnal W10 theme are outlined below.
The Ades Theme takes a different approach to eliminate the white elements in the Windows 10 interface. Instead of using replacing the white elements with black, the Ades theme uses grey and some other colors that don’t stress the eyes.
The Ades Theme has one of the easiest applications. To use the Ades theme on your Windows 10 machine, download the theme file and place it into C:\Windows\Resources\Themes, After which you can head over to settings > Personalization > Themes, to apply the theme.
The Hover Dark Aero theme provides gives the Windows 10 interface a color scheme comprising of translucent blacks and grey, a combo that is suiting for the eyes. Please note that the Hover dark Aero theme has three different color schemes. The steps to using the Haver Dark theme is outlined below:
Hastpy is another theme from the makers of the Hover Dark Aero theme. It has color schemes similar to that of those mentioned above. Please note before you can run the Hastpy theme, you must have download and installed UXThemePatcher.
Next, move all theme files to %windir%/Resources/Themes folder. Then apply the theme from Settings > Personalization > Themes
Still, on this post on the best dark themes for windows 10, the After Dark Cyan theme is another highly recommended theme. Similar to Hastpy and the Hover dark aero theme, the default color scheme of the After Dark cyan theme is black and cyan. However, users can tweak the theme to suit their tastes. Follow the steps outlined below to apply this theme on your Windows 10 machine:
The Nost Metro Dark theme turns all the white Windows 10 UI elements to dark colors that keep the eye nerves relaxed. Aside from coming with a default dark color scheme, the Nost Metro Dark theme also provides users with the ability to edit the color scheme according to their taste. The steps to applying the Nost Metro Dark theme on your Windows 10 machine are listed below:
Grey10 Dark theme is yet another dark theme available for Windows 10. On default, it offers a color scheme that features a combo of black and grey. It is a beautiful sight to behold. The steps to install the Grey 10 dark theme is outlined below:
The Ubuntu dark theme brings Ubuntu UI elements to your Windows 10 machine, alongside a color scheme that doesn’t take a toll on the eyes. The Ubuntu dark theme offers users the power of customization, users can edit the theme’s color scheme to suit their taste.
The Ubuntu dark theme is also one of those windows 10 themes that don’t have ads, you are assured of not getting strange pop-ups on your machine. However, the Ubuntu dark theme is only supported on the Windows 10 fall creators update 1709.
The Yosemite theme keeps all the color elements of the Windows 10 default theme and replaces all the whites with black. The Yosemite theme is a third party theme that shares a lot of features with the default Windows 10 dark theme. The Yosemite dark theme is a free theme and can be installed on your Windows machine, with the steps outlined below:
The Void theme brings the dark side to your Windows 10 machine. It offers a user interface void of those white UI elements that makes using the operating system a nightmare when the daylight is gone. It makes it easy to use windows 10 in the dark. The steps to install the void theme are outlined below:
Still, on the topic of best dark themes for Windows 10, The Numix dark theme is yet another highly recommended theme, designed to eliminate the eye stressing white elements in the Windows 10 interface.
The Numix dark theme turns the white in the windows 10 interface to black; you are offered with a user interface that suits the eyes and prevents strain. However, this theme doesn’t come free; it requires your $25. The steps to install the Numix dark theme are outlined below:
Last but certainly not least, is the dark grey theme. This theme offers a color scheme very similar to that of the Grey even theme. The dark grey theme offers a dark color with white lines.
The white lines are nothing to bother about, as the dark colors overwhelm the white lines. Installing this theme is pretty easy. All you’ll have to do is to copy the theme files to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes and apply it from the settings.
There you have it – a comprehensive list of the best dark themes for windows 10. If you have any personal favorites or personal recommendations, feel free to drop them in the comment section below.
View Comments
no link for Nocturnal makes this seem pretty crappy and pointless
:'(