8 ms·
Windhawk Windows classic theme mod for Windows 11
- OsrsNeedsf2P 11mo agoBeen playing around with this, it's more consistent than Windows 11's UI itself
- throwaway270925 11mo agoWow, quite a lot of work, but the end result looks amazing!
- zerr 11mo agoI also do miss the Windows 7 Aero theme.
- accrual 11mo agoMe too! The Aero effect still holds up great today IMO. Kind of fun to imagine some hybrid between Aero and Apple's new glass effect. Imagine if Aero could "bend light" instead of just applying a blur effect.
- b0ner_t0ner 11mo agoWindhawk has a Windows 11 Taskbar Styler with Aero theme: https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-guide/blob/main/Themes/Windows7/README.md https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-...
- mattferderer 11mo agoCan't speak for this product but disabling a lot of the animations, gradients, shadows & visual effects has made Windows 11 run significantly better on the computers I have it on. They didn't seem to add much value anyways. I'm a fan of a lot of the user experience improvements being made in Windows over the last decade, such as Terminal, running Linux, Power Toys features, screenshots & recording, Paint finally getting layers, window management & more. At the same time, I'm still not sure why we needed Windows 11 as the only good updates seem like they could have been done without it. All the visual changes have seemed to cause bugs & performance issues on relatively high powered PCs (64GB+ memory, m2 ssd drives, latest gen mid level GPU & CPU) It seems the Windows ME, Vista, etc experiment continues to live on.
- Krssst 11mo agoDisabling animations makes everything better no matter the OS. When executing a sequence of actions, not having to wait 100-300ms for the device to show some random animation before inputing the next action is a time saver and a removes the "why is my computer/phone wasting my time" feeling. Human reaction time is around 200ms but in a sequence of actions, we don't need visual feedback to move to the next action; it's just muscle memory and we can reach pretty low delay between inputs if the OS and apps do not impede us. Back to Windows, I'm quite sad that 24H2 removed support for the legacy app switcher (alt-tab). It was very low latency and operated well in many high-load situations. The new one works okay but is not as snappy and can take a bit of time to show up under load. Plus I prefer the old style (smaller box, no need for eye movement to check its content).
- sudopsuedo 11mo agoHave you looked into SimpleWindowSwitcher? https://github.com/sigoden/window-switcher https://github.com/sigoden/window-switcher ExplorerPatcher makes it easy to configure in the settings menu, I'm not aware of any other projects that implement SWS: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher It's very fast and can be configured to set window thumbnail size/area
- Krssst 11mo agoThank you, I was not aware of either of those. SimpleWindowSwitcher looks like a good alternative, unfortunately on my side I think I would prefer switching between all windows of all apps rather than have two different shortcuts for "switch between windows of the current app" and "switch between apps" (but that's just a personal preference). ExplorerPatcher looks cool too, though patching explorer is probably a no-no in corporate setups. I also saw https://github.com/kvakulo/Switcheroo https://github.com/kvakulo/Switcheroo which I was curious to try (although it's not an exact replacement either) but never got to it (also seems quite old).
- oezi 11mo ago
- Veliladon 11mo ago> The mod injects only in the process Winlogon.exe, and exits once the handle of the memory area is closed. It does not hook any functions. Yep. Sure. Going to let a Russian utility fuck with winlogon.exe. Excellent idea.
- vunderba 11mo agoThat was my first concern too, but it does look like you can build the binary from source: https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk
- icapybara 11mo agoDoesn't mean it's safe.
- moron4hire 11mo agoYeah, I would probably delete this updater if I were to try this: https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk/blob/main/src/windhawk/app/update_checker.h https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk/blob/main/src/wind...
- baq 11mo agoas opposed to any other updater on your system...? > Tech Enthusiasts: Everything in my house is wired to the Internet of Things! I control it all from my smartphone! My smart-house is bluetooth enabled and I can give it voice commands via alexa! I love the future! > Programmers / Engineers: The most recent piece of technology I own is a printer from 2004 and I keep a loaded gun ready to shoot it if it ever makes an unexpected noise. — https://imgur.com/6wbgy2L https://imgur.com/6wbgy2L (actually a tweet from someone else, but apparently it's private now)
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- 11mo ago
- ukuina 11mo agoThis is so neat looking. Is there an equivalent for MacOS?
- gedy 11mo agoNot exactly afaik, but I've recently been going to System Settings > Accessibility > Display, and turning on: Increase contrast Reduce transparency Differentiate without color Show toolbar button shapes https://imgur.com/a/DqfN07k https://imgur.com/a/DqfN07k I like the retro and simple vibe compared to the new Liquid Glass controls.
- remir 11mo agoI wish there was a "power user" mode in Windows that you could activate and you'd get the ability to have classic themes (my MS themselves), classic Control Panel, no constant nudging, no weather/Xbox/Solitaire apps, etc...
- estebank 11mo agoThey tried that during the Chicago development and discarded the idea due to multiple problems with how humans work. Two different UIs meant that you had to learn them separately, you didn't have a slow ramp from one to the other, one familiar with one could get stuck on the other with no knowledge of how to get back, divided efforts between the two, etc. Not quite what you are asking for, but closer to Win95 shipping with progman.exe which could allow someone to cosplay Win3.11 while running Win95.
- senorrib 11mo agoAnd yet they seem to have lost all that knowledge from Win8 onwards. WinForms, WPF, UWP, WinUI, MAUI... All of these with their own metaphores, design language, and they all feel half-baked, full of bugs.
- Dennip 11mo agoTHe settings siutation is so annoying, there are still so many options locked away inside control panel and the new settings app has a few that dont exist in control panel, its so fragmented.
- accrual 11mo agoI find myself reaching for the Control Panel all the time in Windows 11. I won't go into the main settings panel unless it's the only way.
- anthk 11mo agoWindows' GOD mode CLSID: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/create-master-control-panel-god-mode-windows https://www.thewindowsclub.com/create-master-control-panel-g...
- mapontosevenths 11mo agoI used to use Stardock WindowBlinds to do something similar, but it leads to all sorts of weird compatibility issues with various applications. I wonder if this will have the same issues?
- keyringlight 11mo agoI find the various privacy and 'feature' disabling scripts/utilities questionable for a similar reason, it's moving outside of the expected behavior of the OS for how applications and future MS updates expect things to work. The core issue seems to be you're working against what MS want and they provide a moving target, functionally it's their system, not yours.
- m417z 11mo agoHi, Windhawk author here. Nice to see it on Hacker News. This is just one Windhawk mod, submitted by a community member. There are hundreds others. Windhawk was created to simplify Windows customization and to make it more accessible, both for developers and users. For a more detailed introduction, check out the Windhawk release blog post: https://ramensoftware.com/windhawk https://ramensoftware.com/windhawk
- rikafurude21 11mo agoI've come across Windhawk before but the mods being just C++ programs seemed a little suspicious to me, how do you make sure the mods dont include malware?
- Refreeze5224 11mo agoWindows is weird. The way these mods work is injecting code into different processes, which is a very common malware technique. Keyloggers in particular work similarly to Windhawk. And that is not a swipe at Windhawk, that is just how Windows has you do this type of thing.
- reactordev 11mo agoWhat’s really fun is hooking into the WM_PAINT event from the target processes main thread and then drawing your own controls over whatever was rendered… Overlays, AIMBots, Discord, Flight Sim Software, we all do it…
- __del__ 11mo agoi did this in the 90s for some kewl showoff programs generating something or other. i assumed there would be a modern graphics framework and API now. still just intercepting that paint event eh?
- blacklion 11mo ago`LD_PRELOAD` works on UNIX-like systems too.
- oybng 11mo agoIt's incredible the effort Windows 10/11 users will go to in order to reach a somewhat functional and reliable computing experience via third party modifications, yet Linux is somehow too much effort. Just look at the instructions on that page..
- sockaddr 11mo ago"but he's sweet sometimes" It's just an abusive relationship and eventually some of them break out of it.
- indrora 11mo agoYeah, that effectively describes my experiences with desktop linux.
- WD-42 11mo agoLinux isn’t hard, it’s just different. Better, but different. That’s too much effort for some.
- linguae 11mo agoSome of us still rely on Windows applications that either don’t run on Linux, can’t run under Wine, or don’t have alternatives that meet our needs.
- unleaded 11mo agoEvery techie knows about Linux by now. Not everyone chooses to use Windows because they're foolish or don't know any better
- NaomiLehman 11mo agowhy do they choose it? i have a windows workstation because one CNC machine that we use needs it. only other reason i can see is gaming? I have all 3 major OSs at home and, honestly, Windows 11 is stuff of nightmares to me
- 1970-01-01 11mo agoClassic Windows (95-7) was the best era for Windows and always will be the best in terms of GUI. Everything that came after 7 has been a downgrade from 7's GUI.
- worewood 11mo agoIf you run emulated Windows 98 in the browser with e.g. v86, it is faster to open the start menu on the emulated Windows 98 than on the real Windows 11 running it. Windows user experience really went downhill after 7.
- roughly 11mo agoThe description of how this works gave my inner ops guy a panic attack. I love this kind of hack.
- bongodongobob 11mo agoI've tried these things before. Use with caution, and definitely not on a work device. They never fully uninstall and you might be left with incorrect registry keys and other weirdness. May break updates as well.
- rkagerer 11mo agoThey never fully uninstall Ugh, you'd think we'd be better by now. I've had good success with Total Uninstall for this problem (with software in general). It does a diff of your registry and filesystem before/after installing an app, and after uninstall highlights lingering remnants. Over time you and it "learn" to filter out background changes unrelated to the install process.
- hexagonwin 11mo agowindhawk patches stuff in memory, so the changes won't remain if you just disable its service and reboot
- Anixx1 11mo agoNo, Windhawk's rule for all mods is that they do not permanent changes, including to the registry. Disabling the mod and rebooting will erase all effects.
- eviks 11mo agoDo you have a specific example that broke update and didn't fully uninstall?
- bongodongobob 11mo agoI don't need one. Look into how this stuff works. It's a pile of scripts and registry edits. It's very sloppy. Windows isn't Linux. The OS does not expect the user to do stuff like this and it's not built for it. This is how you get the "windows sucks it's always weird and broken" type people. Sure, you can do it, but you WILL have goofy unexplained problems if you mod your system with this stuff. If you want windows to be stable, stop fucking with it.
- bsnnkv 11mo agoWould love to see someone running this theme + a tiling window manager!
- ntstatusquo 11mo agoI imagine it would be frustrating to be the windows shell dev who has to investigate the torrent of bizarre memory corruption bugs that inevitably occur on Windhawk users’ machines after major OS updates. There’s really no avoiding it when you detour unstable “implementation detail” sort of functions across the taskbar/systray/start/etc. especially now that c++ coroutines are in widespread usage therein. But to be fair, I understand the demand for products like this, because of several painful feature takebacks between 10 -> 11. It would be nice if cleaner approaches like wholesale shell replacement were still as straightforward as they were prior to windows 8. The “immersive shell” infra running in explorer + the opaque nature of enumerating installed UWPs + a bunch of other things make that almost impossible today.
- indrora 11mo agoFrom what I've learned: stuff like this makes up a not insignificant portion of the crash reports that come through. This results in crash dumps that are useless at best because they just look like memory corruption or badly written malware. In my discussions with folks about this, an annoying number of people who run this sort of software either a) do not care that it makes developing Windows harder for the devs or b) actively want the usable signal for the Windows development teams to be low.
- Anixx1 11mo agoThere are mods that hook only WINAPI functions.
- hulitu 11mo ago> I imagine it would be frustrating to be the windows shell dev who has to investigate the torrent of bizarre memory corruption bugs that inevitably occur on Windhawk users’ machines after major OS updates. What makes you think they will be bothered to investigate other's people bugs, when they don't investigate even their own ?
- VerifiedReports 11mo agoI've had to return to Windows for my daily work after 20 years mostly away from it. I already knew about a lot of UI and functionality regressions, but when you truly experience the defective mess that Windows has become... it's hard to take. So while I'd love to install this mod, it seems way too fraught with potential side-effects. But it looks like there might be some minor, safe mods to explore here. Here's one gallingly dumb thing Windows does now that I wonder if you guys can recommend a fix to: If you hover over an application's icons in the taskbar, it pops up thumbnails of the app's open windows and forces you to choose ONE. WTF. I want to bring ALL of the application's windows to the front. It's incredible that clicking on the application's icon (instead of one thumbnail) doesn't do this. Instead, it does NOTHING. Is there a fix for this?
- m417z 11mo agoYou might want to check out this mod: Taskbar minimize/restore on scroll https://windhawk.net/mods/taskbar-button-scroll https://windhawk.net/mods/taskbar-button-scroll
- VerifiedReports 11mo agoLooks like that might do it. Thanks!
- hbzy792 11mo agohttps://sourceforge.net/projects/windhawk/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/windhawk/ this software is completely safe it is even available on sourceforge
- wild_pointer 11mo agoThis is malware, the project is on github
- hbzy792 11mo agohttps://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-scripts/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script... https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script-pj/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script... https://sourceforge.net/projects/roblox-nights-script-auto-farm/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/roblox-nights-script-auto-f... https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script-am/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script... https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script-ab/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script... https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script-99/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/nights-in-the-forest-script... https://sourceforge.net/projects/copy-trading-bot/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/copy-trading-bot/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/delta-executor-roblox/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/delta-executor-roblox/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/nexus-roblox-executor/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/nexus-roblox-executor/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/solana-turbo-trader/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/solana-turbo-trader/ ban this sourceforge pages , this all of malware please anyone