What can I do to spruce up my Vista computer?

John’s Background Switcher
http://johnsadventures.com/software/backgroundswitcher/

upgrade to windows 7 —- vista sucks a big one

Fuzzy dice and leopard print upholstery

I disagree about Vista.

When the free Windows 7 preview expired, I reverted to Vista, and was surprised at how well it works for me. I use Win 7 and Vista almost daily, and they’re pretty much to the same to me.

Vista was rocky when it was new, but either the Service Packs fixed my problems or I’ve just grown accustomed to it.

Stardock’s Windowblinds. I use it myself. Safe, stable, minimal resource consumption, maximum customizablity. There are literally thousands of visual themes you can use.
You can also opt to get their entire Object Desktop package, which will enable you to easily customise your mouse cursors, sounds, icons, login screen, boot screen, window effects, etc.

Install Linux.

Make a custom slip cover and Bedazzle it. Maybe a red ribbon too would be nice! ;)

I thought putting this in the social category would make sense because the question asked about creative stuff. Guess that was a bad idea.

Dang, tough audience.

How about Rainmeter? Here are some examples of what you can do with Rainmeter.

http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/img/img-skins-dock-for-rainmeter-ghenarys-10911.png
http://i41.tinypic.com/14m9qvk.jpg
http://kaelri.deviantart.com/art/Enigma-103823591
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teknoftw/3745571870/sizes/o/in/pool-87689304@N00/
http://productivegeek.com/forums/topic/monochrome-grey-desktop
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/10/3986427671_1e66747bfb_o.jpg
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/11/enigma26.jpg

@ragingloli Stardock’s ObjectDock is my favorite, I love the added space it offers by removing windows annoying menu bar.