Eurika! I've found it! After about 5 hours of digging, I finally have something to show for it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/Dortz/firstlookatthenewwonder.jpg
You'll need these two things: the first, cannot be substituted, as it includes hacked uxtheme.dll files, which will need to be replaced. the second is one of the precious few custom themes for vista right now, HilledSE
http://anti-tgtsoft.com/repository/uxtheme/Windows%20Vista/SP0/
http://idatop.com/archives/file/HilledSE_for_Vista_RTM_by_jemaho/39961.htm
the two file packages contain readmes, but to ease the process, you will need to run MMC (just type 'MMC' in the search toolbar, it will come up), and open Computer Management. From there, in the 'Local Users and Groups' tab, there will be the disabled 'administrator' user. set a password for it and enable it by right clicking on it and accessing the option through 'properties'.
Honestly, enabling the generally 'hidden' administrator account is the only way to make this work. trust me, I basically tried everything else before i found out how to do that.
once you have full administrator access, the steps to taking permissions on a system controlled file are simple. right click the file, go to 'properties' and the security tab. click the 'advanced' button at the bottom and click the 'owner' tab, and click 'edit'.
here, i set the 'administrators' group for ownership, and ok'd out. you need to close the file properties now, then re-open it. now, under security, you can click the 'edit' button, and give yourself full control over the file, for all your reading, writing, altering, executing, and in this case, renaming, needs.
also a time-saving tip for increasing the odds of your success, do not change the *.dll.msi files at all during this process. that mistake cost me 'BIG.'
And that's about it. I hope your desktop will soon look as pretty as mine Dani.
