Hate Windows 11's modern looks and interface? Now you can make it look like Windows 95

When Windows 11 arrived, it received a rather lukewarm reception - something that continues up until today, in some respects (as evidenced by the OS adoption figures) - and some of that reaction was bound up in the interface.

2

Rewind the clock by about 30 years with your Windows 11 desktop (Image Credit: Awirstam)

Granted, most of the grimacing was around mysterious and baffling UI changes (getting rid of 'never combine', taskbar options and so on), but there were folks who didn't take to the new look (and especially the Start menu).

Of course, if you want to tinker and customize Windows 11, you have a raft of options and software to help you, and one intrepid modder has illustrated how radical a change it's possible to make - in reskinning Windows 11 to look like Windows 95.

Why on earth would you want to do that? Actually, this is both horrific and sublime in equal measures, as it's pretty cool to see the desktop nostalgically transformed in this way, with a bunch of modern apps looking fully retro.

On the other hand, no, we wouldn't want our PC to look like this - the taskbar, urgh - and frankly we like the modern (Fluent Design) lines of Windows 11 anyway. Even if some interface elements are somewhat jarring.

Still, options are what it's all about, and this makeover was performed by Redditor Awirstam, who explains that to achieve these results, they used Stardock WindowBlinds and Winaero Tweaker, plus RetroBar for that classic taskbar.

To tweak the apps, various other tools were employed including Vencord for Discord and SFP (Steam Friends Patcher) for Steam. Check out the post on Reddit for the full details if you're curious and want to have a crack at an OS transformation yourself.

Take care about what utilities you might be installing on your main PC, though - caution first is what we'd strongly advise when it comes to lesser-known bits of software.