#windows9.5

Hey, all! If you don’t follow Linus Tech Tips on either their website or their YouTube channel, then first off, you should check them out; they do great videos. But what I’m posting today is in relation to something that quite a few Windows 10 users would like to do: make Windows 10 look like Windows 7.

Now, I know what you're thinking... “But CJ, hasn’t this already been done before?” Well, yes, it has been done before, but the folks over at Linus Tech Tips not only make it look like Windows 7, but they also provide instructions for several registry hacks that do things like disable Cortana, telemetry, and more that potential Windows 10 users see as a threat to their privacy. They even have a way to replace the Task Manager of Windows 10 (though personally, I like it because it’s much more detailed).

Linus Tech Tips has dubbed this mod of Windows 10 “Windows 9.5”, after a mod of Windows 8.1 Embedded called Windows 9. Some of the modifications performed can possibly have some performance increases, as well, but none of their tests showed a remarkable difference between 10 and 9.5, so keep that in mind if you’re only doing this for performance sake, you probably won’t get much, if any, of a performance boost.

If you’re interested in this, go ahead and check out the link above, and you can also check out the YouTube video about it over on their channel for benchmarks and more info on Windows 9 and 9.5.

Their directions do include using Classic Shell, and if you’re a Windows purist and, unlike me, prefer your taskbar on the bottom, this will work fine, and it will even skin your taskbar to look like 7. However, if you use your taskbar on the left or right sides of the screen, Classic Shell does not play nice, and you may have to decide to either put your taskbar on the bottom/top or use a non-free alternative, such as StartIsBack, which I would personally recommend, even if you aren’t looking for a Start menu replacement, because it has other beneficial tweaks.

Anyway, look at the video and instructions yourself to see if you want to do it, but be warned, the registry hacks may break your system if done incorrectly, so be warned!

Well, that’s all I have to say about this! Have fun with it if you want to try, and tell me how it goes on your end!