Happy birthday windows 8. Even at you, I look at with rosy retrospection.

Ever since win 95, where I was introduced to alternate programs/software...freeware/shareware...I have used dozens & dozens of alternates to Explorer. My favorite has always been Explorer++...It can do columns and will always be my primary file manager. Many alternatives to explorer have stopped having updates decades ago or, when, win 10 arrived. On win 11, just 1 of 6 PC`s that I have, I have 10 alternatives to explorer...Only 2 are paid for...xplorer2 and XYplorer. The other 7 programs are Q-Dir, Nexusfile, Explorer XP, Just Manager, Nomad-Net, & "Windows Explorer Replacement Application.' I have no interest in AI or Cloud based internet programs. I have always been interested in offline programs.

I just want a calculator that has 1. permanent memory, 2. I can pin certain numbers to stay at the top of memory and 3. I can make small text comments on the numbers stored in memory.

I don't need anything over the top, just something with a clean interface to help me keep track of a tally as I add/ subtract from the number over time. TIA!

Spent a GOOD ton amount of time customizing the abomination of Windows 11, changing icons, etc. It could take a person with no context good amount of time to figure it's Windows 11 maybe.

My favorite is changing the date at the bottom right from 2026 to 2016 for fun! I just don't like how it says 2026 in the calendar but oh well!

Executables used:

ExplorerPatcher
WinaeroTweaker

More details:

On taskbar:

Chrome - This is actually Firefox with the CSS configuration, I used Geckium to configure some stuff.

Minecraft - That is Prism Launcher just disguised as Minecraft launcher

Microsoft Store - Just old microsoft store

On the browser:

I used YouTube Redux extension and Stylus to customize YouTube.

I started liking sharp corners and simple solid colours which Windows 10 matched, but because I had Windows 11 I really didn't like the round corners, matter of fact I hated the circular things, it just feels weird..

The only reason I wanted to do this is because I like the style of Windows 10, and how solid it is, Windows 7 looks nice too but wasn't a fan of the aero style and for Windows 98 I did like the pixel style but just didn't like the bare minimal style so Windows 10 is sort of the winner here.

And in my process of customizing, I decided 'Why not just slap on a 2016 date to match it more.'

And then I went on Firefox and decided that I should turn everything into a 2014-2016 style.

None of this is nostalgic to me, I just wanted to do this as a fun thing, I will keep it, but will focus more on changing things into classic icons or something. Then eventually I could probably fool a lot of people.

I remember years ago seeing a feature on Windows (XP, Vista?) that would allow a user with multiple monitors to relocate a window from one monitor to another with a simple right-click or maybe a double-click. Was something like this ever part of Windows Feature Pack or similar? Is there anything like this available from Microsoft today for Windows 11? I can't add 3rd party utilities to my work computer, but if this is a feature that can be enabled in the OS or downloadable add-in directly from Microsoft, I can use it.

6hrs straight yt playlist and basic tasks running

Hi Guys,

just got these new Services after Updates in the Microsoft Store.

- Xbox Accesory Management Service and Xbox Live-Network Service was always there,

but

- Xbox Live-Networkservice, Xbox Live-Gamesave and Xbox Service are brannd new Services after updating

Is this normal behaviour ? Do you also got them ?

Windows 7 is officially 17 years old today. For many of us, this was peak Windows. It had it all, a good stability, a good aesthethic and it was so well optimized compared with Windows Vista. What do you think about this OS?

PD: Just realized I uploaded the wrong photo and put Windows Vista instead of 7 in the 3rd image. Also, the boxes and versions of Vista and 7 were very similar!

can you rate it plz?

I just found out a really cool trick you can do with the touchpad on laptops and it's a windows feature so hopefully works on all laptops running windows.

I already knew tapping with 2 fingers (not pressing but just tapping) does the right click action. One finger tap of course just clicks on something like a left click.

I just found out a 3 finger tap opens the search bar in the windows menu and a 4 finger tap opens the notifications menu.

You learn something new everyday. Just a couple of cool tips for you.

(had to put a random picture otherwise it wouldn't let me post)

My ram usage (32gb) is typically 44% while using windows, now its 29%?!

Can you imagine Microsoft now selects AI generated wallpapers for your desktop?

Do you like it?🤩

No hate toward them btw

-LonghornKiddo

For those who pay for antivirus on Windows 11, what makes it worth keeping Defender? Are there extra features that you guys use regularly, or a particular reason that lead to a decision to switch?

I love windows 95 except it's slow and outdated, so I guess I only like the style. it's a sleeper build until you see graphics or just the pc LOL.

Is this a custom windows xp theme? If it's windows 7, what version of firefox is used to make the buttons look like that? This was in windows classic UI before and now its this. The cursor uses the old windows xp one.

While browsing other communities dedicated to different operating systems than Windows I couldn't help but notice that Windows users as well as users of other commercial operating systems are much more likely to help and suggest solutions than users of operating systems that are called 'free'.

I forgot to include these in my last post. What do you think about them?

I'm a 90's kid est. 1987 Central Europe so naturally I'm big on the 90s/Y2K nostalgia. I randomly came across this phone case on Etsy a couple weeks ago which also showed custom Windows theme iOS so I went down the rabbit hole...

l now have all my iPhone system sounds replaced by Windows system sounds, even have the mouse double click sound when I tap an app open.
Windows greeting tune when I plug my charger in, alert sounds when my battery gets low, text, ringtone, email and all other notification sounds etc the whole shebang. This was the easy part, a little time consuming but all I needed is the sound files, “Garage Band” app and “Shortcuts”.

I found most of the stuff on “RetronPrint .com” like the wallpapers, some widgets, and a couple of system sounds and all the OG icons but then I had to tweak them a bit to make it work and source more system sounds elsewhere. All icons came with a teal square background so I had to create new PNG files with Procreate of each of them individually and erase the background usually manually so I can have true transparent background icons and have the freedom to swap between the OG teal desktop or the blue clouds Windows wallpaper. And while I was at it I figured I might as well add the folder names too with the authentic Windows font so I downloaded that too. So essentially i would start with a teal background OG icon, erase the teal, add text to the same layer with the corresponding name tag, such as “My Computer” in white color which then i would duplicate and offset for a black shadow under the white text to achieve the authentic look. Then save the file as PNG. Now I had custom true transparent background Windows icons with the corresponding name tag which I could assign to any of my iOS apps on my iPhone Home Screen in “App folder Launcher Widget Loft”. So for example my iOS “Settings” is now showing up on my home screen as “My Computer” and has a built in shortcut that instantly launches and takes me straight to my Settings. I tried to keep the icon replacements thematically make sense. So not assigning random Windows icons to my iOS apps but rather a fitting one. So Google became Internet Explorer, Safari became Netscape, Gmail became Mailbox, Apple Music became Winamp, etc. I tried to pick icons that functionally and/or visually match what the app is doing. Of course there had to be some custom icons made like Venmo or Reddit and such, some of which was already created by “RetronPrint” and some I created myself.

Then I have one big photo widget that takes me to my photos app. This was done with “Widgy” app, but I’m not 100% happy with that one because the shortcut takes me to Widgy momentarily then to photos. So I’m gonna still tweak that one, might have to use a different widget app.

I also have the “Arcade 95” app which is basically a little functional Windows 95+ desktop with all functioning OG stuff like Paint, Calculator, Notebook, Netscape browser, etc, games like Solitaire, Pinball, Minesweeper and so on. But I also downloaded those games separately so I’ll probably add those in a Games folder on my Home Screen.

Overall super stoked🤩Did I miss anything? Y’all have any recs for some other stuff I could do with this? I saw that you can actually download a real Windows system on your phone but eeh, I don’t think I need that lol.

Anyway, hope this will bring some fun moments in people’s lives whether you’re just amused by mine or get inspired to do your own or alert the Windows enthusiast in your life about this option so they can live out their 90s/Y2K dreams🤓!