Customizing XP without external program

For the longest time I've been using StyleXP to customize the way my desktop looks... however, I've finally decided that waiting upwards of a minute each time the computer boots just for it to start running the theme (much less the 15 minutes right after boot during which the computer slows to a crawl) is too much of a hassle.

My problem is that there simply doesn't appear to be a way to customize it to a color that doesn't suck, like, say, a black or a good red, without downloading one of these programs.

Is there a website somewhere out there that allows one to download these themes? I found one on the Zune website (the only worthwhile result of my google searching) but I'm unable to find any others.

Jam it back in, in the dark.