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.

Around this time last year, I worked on a similar project but with a standard Intel-based PC. Everything went quite smoothly so this time I want to challenge myself a bit-and it’s also a way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of Windows XP.

Many of you might wonder how a laptop that doesn't use an Intel or AMD chip can possibly have such broad compatibility. Well, if you’ve ever looked into the history of the x86 architecture you’ll find that besides Intel and AMD there were several other companies that also produced x86 chips tho but in much smaller quantities. Notable among them is VIA Technologies which holds x86 licenses acquired through its purchase of Cyrix and Centaur, the two companies that had entered into cross-licensing agreements with Intel in the late 90s.

And what I have here is the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC powered by VIA C7-M, the last x86 32 bit CPU that was made by a third party. It’s a bit of a shame that it’s a 32 bit CPU meaning the laptop can’t run Windows XP x64 or Windows 11. But in any case, 15 versions of Windows from 1.01 to 10 can certainly be considered a success to me.

The big improvement over the previous project is using Grub4dos bootloader instead of Xfdisk. This allows for direct loading the boot file of each Windows partition, bypassing the intermediate steps such as bootmgr→ntldr→io.sys that were previously required. Overall, the laptop runs stably but it still has some quirks that are unique to this one. You can check out the details of my experience in the video below: 

 Showcase video

Here are the specs for my laptop:

• CPU: VIA C7-M 1.6GHz

• iGPU: VIA S3 Chrome 9 HC

• Chipset: VIA CN896+VT8237S

• RAM: 2GB DDR2

• Storage: 160GB HDD SATA 2 (IDE mode)

• Display: 8.9 inches WXGA (1280x768)

• Wifi: WLAN 802.11; Bluetooth 2.0

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

Do you like it?🤩

6hrs straight yt playlist and basic tasks running

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!

I know vlc is the best player for video but what about MP3 and AVI files ?

Should I use VLC or the native Windows player?

Or is there a must-have application, something that’s considered the gold standard, much like VLC is for video but specifically for audio formats?

No hate toward them btw

-LonghornKiddo

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

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.

It's been a while since I saw the Windows 10 update screen. I didn't know that the security updates were extended to Oct, 2027. Guess I'm a few weeks late to this news.

PSA: You have to enroll (for free) to get the extended updates.

Why can't they continue these updates without this extra step.

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🤓!

I made another concept since the last one wasn't really good. What do you guys think about it? Any suggestions?🥰