

You can also turn on 'Use small taskbar icons' if you want the Windows 95 start button to fit in a little better. Select Start, then select Settings > Personalization > Themes.

This will show window titles next to the app icons, just like the default design in earlier versions of Windows. First, head over to the Taskbar settings (right click the Taskbar and select 'Taskbar settings'), and change 'Combine taskbar buttons' to 'Never'. This helps reduce the glare and excess light coming from your screen which can be particularly distracting at night in a darker room. There are a few additional changes you can make for a more authentic Windows 95 experience. ‘Dark themes’ are becoming more and more popular as they provide a white text on a dark background, rather than darker text on a white background. If you move the image file later, Open-Shell will revert back to the Aero button, so keep the image in your Documents folder or somewhere else safe. Make sure the Style is set to Accent to match the Windows color scheme. Linkbar now appears on the left side of the screen. Open the extracted folder and open LinkBar64.exe or LinkBar.exe (32bit). Download this settings file (ctrl+s in your browser), click the 'Skin' tab in the Open-Shell settings, click the 'Backup' button, and select 'Load from XML file.' Pick the settings file you just downloaded, and now your Start Menu should look a little closer to the classic Windows 95 style.įinally, download this bitmap image of the Windows 95 start button and select it from the custom start button section in Open-Shell for an even more authentic feel. Once complete, extract to the Downloads folder. The 'classic style' is closest to Windows 95, but we can get a little closer. After Open-Shell is done installing, it will give you a few layout options you can choose from.
