explorerpatcher

If you want a distinctly different Windows 11 desktop without risking your installation, start here: choose tools that don’t patch protected system files, take a restore point, and build your look piece-by-piece with Rainmeter, ExplorerPatcher (for shell tweaks), and WindowBlinds (for full...

If your first instinct when you boot Windows 11 is to hunt for the familiar rhythms of Windows 10 — the left-aligned taskbar, the old Start menu, the full context menu — you’re not alone. A handful of small, well-chosen changes can restore a lot of the muscle memory and workflow comfort of...

Customization is no longer a niche pastime for a handful of power users — it’s a practical way to shape Windows into a faster, clearer, and more productive workspace. The Habr piece you provided sketches a pragmatic toolbox of utilities — Microsoft PowerToys, WinAero Tweaker, ExplorerPatcher...

Windows lovers who yearn for the compact, two‑column Start menu or the dense app grid of Windows 10 have options: Microsoft has adjusted the Start experience in recent builds, but a thriving ecosystem of third‑party tools and community projects still offers the fastest, most reliable path to a...

I used a tiny, open‑source tweak to turn my chaotic Windows system tray into something calm, usable, and—most importantly—predictable, and the change felt disproportionately big compared with the small amount of time it took to apply. The author at MakeUseOf described that same revelation after...

Windows in 2025 has become a battleground between convenience and control: Paul Thurrott’s year‑in‑review for “My New Apps, Services, and Games of 2025” captures a pragmatic migration toward de‑enshittified Windows 11 — a curated, lean, and privacy‑respecting setup built from community tools...

When a small, single-executable utility restored the feel and function of my File Explorer after upgrading to Windows 11, it didn’t feel like nostalgia — it felt like reclamation. Background Windows 11 introduced a modernized shell that prioritized a cleaner visual design over some long-standing...

Windows 11’s File Explorer has become one of those small, infuriating user-experience puzzles: visually modern but intermittently slow, occasionally unstable, and — thanks to a recent preview update — prone to an especially jarring white flash in dark mode. For many enthusiasts and power users...

A simple, reversible tweak that disables the WinUI-based command bar in Windows 11 File Explorer can eliminate the glaring dark‑mode “white flash” introduced by Microsoft’s recent preview update and — for many users — deliver noticeably faster Explorer launches and a much smaller memory...

A simple, unofficial tweak — switching File Explorer away from the WinUI-based command bar — can eliminate the new dark‑mode “white flash” triggered by Microsoft’s December preview update and, for many users, restore noticeably faster Explorer launches and a smaller memory footprint. Background...

Windows has quietly allowed a thriving ecosystem of third‑party tools to pick up the slack where Microsoft chose simplicity over flexibility, and nowhere is that tension more visible than the taskbar — a small strip of UI that, for power users, defines the efficiency of their entire workflow...

Windows 11 includes a one-click, officially supported way to restore the classic left-aligned taskbar icons — but that simple fix is not the same as moving the entire taskbar to the left edge of the screen, and the difference matters for safety, stability, and what Microsoft actually supports...

Windows 10’s Start menu design still solves a practical problem Microsoft hasn’t fully recreated in Windows 11, and a handful of community tools let you restore that familiarity — most notably ExplorerPatcher, a free, actively developed utility that can bring the Windows 10 Start menu and much...

The Windows 11 search box can’t be grabbed and dragged around like a widget, but you can control exactly how it appears on the taskbar — from the full search box to a single magnifying-glass icon or hidden entirely — and there are safe, supported ways plus third‑party options if you want more...

The Windows 11 right‑click menu was redesigned to be sleeker and more touch‑friendly, but that same simplicity has hidden many long‑standing productivity features behind a small “Show more options” link — and for power users who rely on third‑party shell extensions (7‑Zip, WinRAR, Git tools and...

ExplorerPatcher’s latest maintenance update patches a brittle weather integration and a long list of Windows 11 compatibility headaches — but it also underlines the fragile, high‑risk trade-offs inherent in low‑level shell mods that rely on external web content, private OS internals, and...

ExplorerPatcher’s latest maintenance release restores a broken weather widget and a raft of Windows 11 tweaks — but the fix also lays bare the fragile ecosystem that surrounds third‑party shell mods, where changes made by Google, Microsoft, or antivirus heuristics can suddenly break a feature...

For many long-time Windows users, the tiny "Show more options" link in Windows 11’s abbreviated right‑click menu is more than an annoyance — it interrupts muscle memory, adds clicks to everyday tasks, and compounds into lost minutes across a workday. There are three practical ways to bring the...

Windows 11 can be reshaped to look and behave a lot like Windows 10 without abandoning the security and performance improvements of the newer OS, and a mix of built‑in settings, safe registry edits, and a handful of well‑maintained third‑party tools will get most users within striking distance...

ExplorerPatcher has quietly become the Swiss Army knife for Windows users who loathe the design-first choices in Windows 11 and want the productivity-first behavior of Windows 10 back — restoring classic context menus, a movable taskbar, the familiar Start layout, and the full File Explorer...