Customize Windows 11: Restore Classic Windows 10 Features

When Windows 11 first rolled out, it came with a fresh, modern design that left many long-time Windows users yearning for the familiar elements of Windows 10. If you miss the classic context menus, left-aligned taskbar, and the straightforward layout of the previous generation, you’re in luck. Below is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to tweaking your Windows 11 experience so it feels much more like Windows 10.

Restoring the Classic Contextual Menu​

One of the first things that drew criticism toward Windows 11 was the revamped context menu. Many users find the streamlined, modern version less intuitive than the trusty classic version from Windows 10. Fortunately, you can revert to the older design with a simple registry tweak.

Steps to Revert the Context Menu​

• Open the Registry Editor.
  Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
• Navigate to the Target Path.
  Go to:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID
• Create a New Key.
• Right-click on the folder named “CLSID” and choose New > Key.
• Name the key with this unique identifier:
  {86ca1aa0-34aa-4E8B-A509-50c905BAE2A2}
• Add the InprocServer32 Subkey.
• Within the newly created key, right-click and select New > Key once more.
• Name this key InprocServer32.
• Set the Default Value.
• Double-click the default (unnamed) entry on the right pane.
• Ensure that the value data is left blank.
• Restart Your PC.
  A reboot is necessary for the changes to take effect. Once restarted, you should notice that your contextual menu now resembles that of Windows 10.

Pro Tip: Always back up your registry before making any changes. This simple precaution ensures you can revert to your previous settings if something goes amiss.

Left-Aligning the Taskbar​

Windows 11 centers the taskbar by default—a departure from Windows 10’s left alignment that many users grew accustomed to. Changing this setting is straightforward.

How to Adjust Taskbar Alignment​

• Right-Click on the Taskbar.
  Choose “Taskbar settings” from the context menu.
• Navigate to Taskbar Behaviors.
  In the settings window, locate the “Taskbar behaviors” section. You can find options for alignment here.
• Change the Alignment.
  Click the drop-down menu under “Taskbar alignment” and select “Left.”
• Apply and Enjoy the Familiar View.
  Your taskbar will shift to the left side of your screen, mimicking the layout found in Windows 10.

Note: This setting not only moves the icons but can also help you declutter unwanted elements from the modern interface.

Bringing Back the Classic Task Manager​

Windows 11 includes a refreshed Task Manager with redesigned navigation menus on the left-hand side. If you prefer the classic layout displayed at the top, you can easily switch back.

Steps to Launch the Classic Task Manager​

• Open the Run Dialog.
  Press Win + R to open the Run prompt.
• Launch the Command.
  Type in the command:
  taskmgr -d
  Then, press Enter.
• Experience the Classic Design.
  The Task Manager will now appear in its traditional Windows 10 style, with the familiar layout that longtime users appreciate.

Quick Tip: This method provides a temporary solution—the classic layout is used for that session. You might need to run the command again after restarting your PC.

Reclaiming the Windows 10 Start Menu​

The Start Menu is, for many, the heart of the Windows experience. While Windows 11 offers a sleek and modern start menu, it’s not to everyone’s taste. Unfortunately, native methods to revert the Start Menu design no longer work in recent versions, so a third-party solution is required.

Using Third-Party Tools for the Start Menu​

• OpenShell (formerly Classic Shell):
  OpenShell is an open-source utility that brings back the Windows 10-style Start Menu. It’s known for its stability and strong reputation in the community.
• Installation and Setup:
• Download OpenShell from a reputable source.
• Follow the installation prompts.
• Launch the application and customize the Start Menu based on your preference.

Security Advice: Only download software from trusted sources. Although there are many third-party tools available, always verify their authenticity and check reviews to ensure they aren’t compromised or bundled with unwanted software.

Additional Tweaks and Considerations​

While the above steps revive the classic Windows 10 elements, here are some extra tips to ensure your transition is as smooth as possible:

• System Backups:
  Before making any registry changes or installing third-party tools, create a restore point. This allows you to revert to a stable state if any modifications cause system issues.
• Software Compatibility:
  Keep in mind that major Windows updates might override some customizations. Stay informed about updates, and be prepared to reapply these tweaks if needed.
• User Preference vs. Modern Features:
  While the nostalgia of a familiar interface is comforting, new design elements in Windows 11 can offer enhanced features and improved performance. Weigh the pros and cons if you decide to revert every element.
• Community Feedback:
  Join online forums and communities on WindowsForum.com to learn from fellow users' experiences. Sharing tips and troubleshooting advice can be invaluable if you face any issues during customization.

Wrapping Up​

Customizing Windows 11 to mimic the look and feel of Windows 10 is certainly possible with a bit of tweaking. From restoring the old context menu via registry edits to realigning the taskbar and reverting the Task Manager's interface, these steps can bring a sense of familiarity back to your workflow. And while the modern design of Windows 11 offers numerous enhancements, there’s no denying that for many, the classic Windows 10 look feels more intuitive.
This guide serves as a practical roadmap for any user wishing to blend the best of both worlds. As always, proceed with caution—backup your data, and ensure you’re downloading reputable third-party utilities for a secure experience.
By taking these steps, you’ll be able to enjoy the aesthetic and convenience of Windows 10 while still benefiting from the improved functionalities of Windows 11. Happy customizing!

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Source: Ruetir How to make Windows 11 look like Windows 10 as possible: Step by step guide

 

[ChatGPT]

If you’ve ever found yourself staring at a brand-new Windows 11 PC, full of dazzling widgets, perfectly crisp icons, and a Start Menu that still doesn’t understand why you preferred it on the left, yet felt a strange emptiness inside, don’t worry: you’re not going through a midlife computing crisis. You’re simply yearning for what we all miss—the golden age of Windows gaming. Welcome back, Minesweeper. Welcome home, Hearts. The native joy of procrastination has never felt so profound.

A Nostalgic Gap Left Gaping​

Remember when a new Windows installation was incomplete until you’d played at least one round of Spider Solitaire (the kind with two suits if you were feeling dangerous), or cleared that single, glorious minefield in Minesweeper, only to blow yourself up on the first click twenty games in a row? Those were simpler times, friends—before app stores, before ad pop-ups, before Microsoft's inbox games tried to convince you to pay for “premium” shuffling.
Since the infamous Windows 8, Microsoft decided that beloved classics like Minesweeper, Hearts, and the irreproachable FreeCell belonged nowhere near default installations. Instead, we got those “modern” versions from the Microsoft Store: lurchy, heavy on ads, and suited more for testing your patience than testing your logic. The 1990s and 2000s office torpor, once a breezy exercise in mouse-based strategy during a lunch break, became a marketplace crawling with microtransactions and login requests.
But according to Lifehacker—and frankly, every desktop-bound daydreamer still in denial—that old-school magic lies just a download away. We’ll get to the how, but first, let’s revel in what exactly we lost and why it mattered.

Why Were Classic Games Even Important?​

For many, Microsoft’s bundled games did more than kill time—they quietly taught mouse skills, attention to detail, even a bit of statistics. Minesweeper trained folks to count, calculate risk, and fearlessly click (with consequences, sure). Solitaire and its relatives were an elegant reminder that Windows was for everyone, from power user to your solitaire-loving grandma. With their vanishing, IT departments around the world lost their most effective training exercises: “If you can master Spider Solitaire, Windows Explorer is a breeze, trust me.”
But with Windows 8, in came glossy app store replacements, complete with nagging ads, online leaderboards, and that sinking feeling you get when a 30-second commercial demands your attention just so you can shuffle a deck of digital cards. The feeling shifted from gentle nostalgia to mild annoyance. If you’re still logged into your Microsoft account just to “sync” your FreeCell score, blink twice for help.
So, is there a method for restoring that pure, unadulterated Windows 7 experience to our modern machines? Lifehacker says yes. And it’s beautiful in its simplicity.

Winaero’s Classic Solution: Download, Click, Play, Repeat​

It’s almost poetic: after a decade in the wilds, a single, persistent corner of the web—Winaero—has become our digital sanctuary. Known for making Windows less irksome (and let’s be honest, that’s a full-time job), Winaero offers a free, ad-free installer that resurrects the classics.
The process is as elegantly straightforward as Minesweeper’s rules—and comes with fewer explosions:

• Head to Winaero’s Website: There you’ll find what looks like a time machine disguised as a download button.
• Download the Installer: Instead of shady pop-ups or clickbait, you get a tiny, respectful exe file.
• Run the Installer: Now things get interesting. You can pick and choose from a veritable museum of lost productivity tools. The lineup: Chess, FreeCell, Hearts, Mahjong, Minesweeper, Purble Place (yes, really), Solitaire, and Spider Solitaire.

Want even more nostalgia? The installer even includes an “Internet Games” option—a callback to the era when people played against real humans over dial-up lines slower than your boss’s Monday morning email response. Granted, Microsoft retired those servers years ago, so unless you personally control the fate of the universe, those won’t be connecting anytime soon. But still: it’s a nice touch for completionists.

What’s the Catch?​

After installation, your Start Menu will suddenly feel like it got a degree in nostalgia studies. Everything you install nestles itself under a tidy “Games” folder in the Start menu, discoverable with a quick search or an old-fashioned scroll. Launch Minesweeper—and no ads, no leaderboard, no social logins. It’s just you, the numbers, and that familiar soft blue background.
Games look as crisp as your memories, with modest tweaks for modern resolutions. The Windows 7 aesthetic remains undisturbed—no Microsoft account sign-ins, no “Try the Premium Deck for Only $4.99!” pop-ups. The result? A quick hit of dopamine between spreadsheets or while you wait (eternally) for Windows Update to complete.
But like all things pure, there’s a flaw: these resurrected classics may not survive every Windows feature update. Should they stop working—a not infrequent occurrence, given Microsoft’s taste for “progress”—simply rerun the installer. That’s the official advice from the Winaero team, and honestly, it’s a small price for eternal Minesweeper glory.
Now, let’s celebrate what’s right, and chuckle at what could still go wrong.

The Real Winner: Classic Games, Reimagined​

Bringing these games back isn’t just about nostalgia for IT professionals—it’s an act of intervention, a candid critique of where digital “progress” sometimes misses the plot. Sure, it’s delightful to see these pixelated classics revived. But lurking behind the download button are subtle lessons about user expectation, the value of simplicity, and the fight against unnecessary complexity.
If you’re a systems administrator or support desk warrior, your typical gut response to yet another third-party “installer” might be to run for the hills. (And yes, always scan downloads—Winaero is reputable, but security hygiene matters as much in 2024 as it did in 2004.) But here’s a pro tip: this could be a low-key morale boost across any organization. When Outlook inevitably stops responding or a Windows update decides to “enhance security” for three uninterrupted hours, your users can at least pass the time in style.

Occasional Risks Wrapped in Comfort​

Let’s not ignore the elephant in the browser. Introducing any third-party executable—even one as benevolent as this—brings minor risks. Will Microsoft throw a tantrum after the next Patch Tuesday? Possibly. Will users make questionable choices in their hunt for “classic” games, potentially infecting the office with ransomware? Only if someone wanders off Winaero’s safe path and starts Googling “free minesweeper download exe.” (There’s a special place in cyberhell for those.)
Nonetheless: the installer has stood the test of multiple Windows versions. Unlike Microsoft’s own offerings, it doesn’t shovel ads or telemetry into your system. Provided you keep a copy for emergencies, your Minesweeper supply looks safe for the foreseeable future.

Where Simplicity Still Reigns Supreme​

Modern Windows games, to their credit, try awfully hard. They give us daily challenges, coin systems, account syncing, even achievements. But let’s be honest: nobody asked for Solitaire to become a hobby you need to subscribe to, or for Minesweeper to gently coax you toward microtransactions. Sometimes, a tool that “just works,” quietly and faithfully, is the height of innovation.
Minesweeper—like Notepad or Calculator—fit the old Windows ethos: software should do a job well, then get out of the way. No one ever had to Google “Minesweeper tutorial” or “best strategies for Classic Hearts.” (And if you did, please, pick another hill to die on.)
The elegance of these simple games underlines the enduring appeal of clear, intentional design choices. As the software world stumbles toward ever more layered features, maybe it’s time for an IT professional revolution: less bloat, more brilliance.

The Hidden Leadership Lessons of Hearts​

Need an analogy for modern corporate life? Play a few rounds of Hearts. Watch as alliances shift, luck plays its part, and someone always ends up holding the Queen of Spades at exactly the wrong moment. (It’s a surprisingly good metaphor for project management, incidentally.)
For support professionals battling bureaucracy, a quick session of Purble Place offers more revelations: sometimes, the seemingly insurmountable challenge is just a matter of matching colors and not overthinking it. Replace “colors” with “helpdesk tickets,” and you’ve got yourself a new onboarding exercise.

IT Humor and Nostalgia: Partners in Productivity​

The true genius of restoring Windows classics is their impact on daily work culture. Humor, camaraderie, and the occasional inside joke about “That one guy who always loses at Spider Solitaire” are as vital to team morale as robust VPNs and locked-down admin rights.
In a software landscape increasingly obsessed with subscription profits, seeing the quiet return of classic games feels like karma in digital form. If you get a Slack message saying, “BRB, on a winning streak in Mahjong,” consider this your cue to celebrate—not scold. At least that user isn’t binging TikTok on company time.

The SEO Angle (For Those Who Care)​

For those crawling search engine rankings, know this: “How to bring back Minesweeper in Windows 11” and “original classic Microsoft games on Windows 11” are red-hot queries as people hunger for authenticity. The fact that people are scouring the web for a way to turn off ads and just flip a damn card speaks volumes about where software development sometimes forgets its roots. Take note, Microsoft.

The Last Word: A Love Letter to Digital Distraction​

As Windows evolves into ever more sophisticated iterations, it would do well to remember its humble, joy-dispensing roots. Classic games teach us not just logic, but the quiet pleasure of a few honest minutes away from the grind.
Thanks to a resilient group of enthusiasts, you can once again tap into that legacy—spend a coffee break solving for the last mine, or painstakingly maneuver cards into that final Ascending Order Showdown. All without a single ad or login nag screen in sight. Who knows? Maybe Microsoft will someday realize that progress and simplicity aren’t opposites after all.
Until then, grab the installer. Run a round of FreeCell for the soul. And if you ever get stuck, remember—sometimes, all it takes is a fresh install and a little bit of nostalgia to feel at home again in Windows.

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Source: Lifehacker How to Get Minesweeper and Seven Other Classic Games Back in Windows 11

 

[ChatGPT]

The disappearance of classic Windows games such as Minesweeper, Solitaire, Hearts, and Spider Solitaire from the default installation of Windows since Windows 8 has left a nostalgia-shaped gap in the user experience of millions. These simple, ad-free, and elegantly designed games served not only as pastime distractions but also as informal trainers in mouse skills and strategic thinking. Their replacement in the Microsoft Store, while bringing modernity, introduced ads, microtransactions, and mandatory logins, diluting the pure gaming experience these titles once offered.
Fortunately, a community-driven solution now brings the original Windows 7 games back to Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8 machines via a third-party installer created by Winaero, a trusted website known for Windows customization tools. This installer allows users to selectively restore classics like Chess, FreeCell, Hearts, Mahjong, Minesweeper, Purble Place, Solitaire, and Spider Solitaire, as well as the older "Internet Games" collection, although the multiplayer servers for the latter have long been shut down.

Restoring the Golden Age of Windows Games​

After downloading and running the Winaero installer, all chosen games are neatly organized in a new "Games" folder in the Start menu. Launching any of these games reveals their original Windows 7 aesthetics and gameplay—there are no ads, no prodding for in-app purchases, and no online leaderboards cluttering the screen. The games are even tweaked slightly under the hood to better support modern high-resolution displays, ensuring a crisp visual presentation without altering the gameplay or look that users remember fondly.
This restoration goes beyond mere nostalgia. It represents a reclamation of simplicity and user-focused design principles exemplified by classic Windows software such as Notepad and Calculator. Unlike many modern iterations of software and games bogged down by "features" like ads or subscription models, these games "just work"—quietly, faithfully, and without distracting noise.

Why the Classic Games Matter​

These games were more than digital time-wasters. Minesweeper helped users develop risk assessment and counting skills, Solitaire and others proved accessible distractions for users of all ages, and even Hearts taught players about shifting alliances and risk in a strangely apt metaphor for office politics. For IT departments, these games also served as a low-stakes training ground for new users to develop interface familiarity and mouse precision.
The removal of these staples from Windows installations has sometimes been met not only with disappointment but also frustration. The new Microsoft Store versions, burdened by nags for premium features, online account logins, and a barrage of ads, strip away the unobtrusive charm that made the originals beloved.
The Winaero installer’s resurrection of these games is thus a subtle but pointed critique: that in the rush to modernize, companies can sometimes trade genuine user experience for monetization and added complexity.

Practical Considerations and Risks​

One caveat with the Winaero classic games installer is the risk of breakage after major Windows feature updates. Because Microsoft’s updates occasionally modify system files these games rely upon, the games may stop launching until the installer is re-run. While inconvenient, this risk is relatively modest compared to the joy of having these games back, ad-free and fully functional.
Because the installer is third-party software, IT professionals and security-conscious users should exercise standard precautions: scanning the installer for malware and sourcing it directly from Winaero’s reputable website. Downloading random executables from unofficial sources promising classic games is a recipe for malware infection.
Despite such risks, many users report that the installer has been reliably maintained and compatible across multiple Windows versions, offering a rare no-nonsense gaming experience in today's often bloat-heavy or ad-driven software environment.

The Broader Context: Balancing Progress and Nostalgia​

The reintroduction of these classic games invites reflection on the digital progress narrative. Modern Windows releases continue to bring exciting features: from improved gaming performance with DirectStorage and Auto HDR, tighter security with TPM 2.0, to smarter multi-tasking interfaces. Yet in some ways, complexity has increased, and user experience has suffered in niches.
The classic Windows games remind us that software elegance often lies in minimalism and clarity. Their revival signals that, while progress is vital, so too is respecting the intangible qualities that made earlier software resonate—simplicity, immediacy, and unobtrusive fun.

Conclusion: Playing the Classics on Modern Windows​

For Windows users seeking to regain the uncomplicated joy of classic games without ads, subscriptions, or log-ins, the Winaero classic games installer is a godsend. Installation is straightforward, the games are true to their original form, and while some care is needed when updating Windows, the payoff is a familiar respite from today’s software complexities.
These games offer a brief but satisfying distraction from work, a friendly challenge for the mind, and a communal nod among users who remember clicking away happily in an earlier technological era. Inside the chaos of modern computing, the classic Minesweeper or FreeCell can be a tiny sanctuary of calm and clarity.
For those missing their old Windows 7 games on Windows 11, this solution is well worth trying—to reclaim a piece of digital history and to rediscover the pure, unadulterated fun of the classics.

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Source: How to Get Minesweeper and Seven Other Classic Games Back in Windows 11