How to Make Windows 10 Look Like Windows 7
How to Make Your Windows 10 PC Look Like Windows 7
As of January 2020, Microsoft ended its support for Windows 7. That marked the end of life for the beloved version of the Windows operating system. Here’s how to bring it back with a Windows 7 look on your Windows 10 operating system.
Maybe you are ok and happy with your Windows 10 in general, but you sometimes wish that it looked much more like windows 7. Whether you have a thing for the past or you prefer the navigation system of the previous version, you will be happy to know that you can change the look of Windows 10.
We will show you just how to make your Windows 10 look like Windows 7. Here’s how.
First, Install Open Shell
Classic Shell was for a long time, the favorite Start menu replacement application for Windows. Because of its customization abilities, it was also a great way to ensure that your version of Windows looks much like an older one. However, towards the ending of 2017, the application is no longer in active development.
Thankfully, a group of volunteers brought up a successor, known as Open Shell. Most of the tweaks that we would discuss below depend on Open Shell, so make sure that you have installed it before going ahead.
To open its options, search on your Start menu for “open shell” and click on the Open-Shell Menu Settings. You should now click on the Show all settings box at the top so you can see all the available preferences.
How to Restore the Windows 7 Start Menu
On the Start Menu Style tab of the system open Shell, click on the Windows 7 style option. Underneath this, click on the Select skin text that comes up. In the Skin box, click on Windows Aero.
Now you will have a duplicate(recreation) of the way Windows 7’s Start menu felt and looked like. Feel free to edit the Skin options to suit your preferences.
Get a Windows 7-Style Taskbar
Go over to the Taskbar tab of Open Shell and click on the Customize taskbar box so you can modify your options. While Open Shell does not have a direct Windows 7 theme for your taskbar, the Glass option in it kind of looks like a default windows 7 theme. Below are the options, that you can adjust the opacity and color as you see fit.
Windows 7 lovers may notice that this theme does not perfectly recreate the Windows 7 taskbar. In particular, it does not show the “glass pane” on all the open applications.
Add the Windows 7 Start Button
If you’re not using StartIsBack as we stated above, go over to this Classic Shell forum post to download images of the Windows 7 Start button for your Open Shell. Extract the ZIP file and you will see several sizes inside there, which are very useful depending on the size of your taskbar.
Now, on the Start Menu Style page of the Open-Shell application, turn on the Replace Start button box and select Custom. Click on the Pick image button and browse to the location where you saved the extracted images. select the right size for your taskbar and click OK on the options page.
Windows Aero Glass in Windows 10
Windows Aero Glass was a large aspect of the windows 7’s allure, but it is no longer part of Windows 10. However, we have shown you how to get the Aero Glass theme back on Windows 10. Follow those instructions to get the familiar feel of Windows 7 back to your pc.
Finally, Set a Fresh Windows 7 Wallpaper
You cannot feel like you are using Windows 7 without the right wallpaper, right? Go ahead and download the default Windows 7 wallpaper from Imgur and use it as your desktop wallpaper for the final decoration of your "windows 7" pc.
The visual changes above should be more than enough to restore your love for Windows 7.
