Windows XP Taskbar Download is a graphical user interface element that has been part of Microsoft Windows since Windows 95, displaying and facilitating switching between running programs.
RetroBar – Windows XP Taskbar Download, Me, 95-2000 taskbar in Windows 10
If the modern look of Windows 10 is not to your liking, there are many third-party tools that allow you to more or less change the interface to a more classic one. Today I came across RetroBar – another free program for this purpose, which allows you to change the look of the taskbar.
Downloading, launching, and using RetroBar
You get Windows XP Taskbar Download for free from the developer’s GitHub page. The program comes in an archive and does not require installation – just copy the unpacked file to a convenient location and run it.
If you do not have .NET Core on your computer, you will be prompted to download it from the official Microsoft website (required for RetroBar to work). Please note: on the official website there are links to download components for console applications (Console App) and desktop applications (Desktop App), you should download the second option.
What do we see here? The classic start button from Windows 95 (the menu itself does not change, but can change it differently: Classic Start Menu for Windows 10), quick launch buttons, buttons for open windows with captions (can also be enabled using 10-ki: How to enable captions for buttons on Windows 10 taskbar).
To open the RetroBar settings, right-click on the taskbar and select “Properties”.
In the options you can:
- Choose a theme: Windows 95-98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, or Windows XP.
- By clicking the “Select Location” button, specify the folder from which shortcuts will be placed in the list of quick launch buttons.
- Enable or disable the display of the clock in the notification area.
There is no option to enable RetroBar to start automatically when you log in, but you can add the program to autoload yourself if necessary.
What else should be considered when using the utility:
- RetroBar removes the original Windows 10 taskbar context menus, which can be useful and used by many, the right-click menu on the Start button also does not work (but it can be called with the Win + X keyboard shortcut).
- The program works fine with OpenShell, but the option to replace the Start button does not work when using this combination, but even without it you can achieve interesting results (screenshot taken on Windows 10 21H1):
I can’t say that Windows XP Taskbar Download is of real practical value, but it may well interest fans to experiment with the design of the system.
Windows XP Taskbar Download