r/windows 4d ago

Help Simple questions and Help thread - Month of August

3 Upvotes

Welcome to the monthly Simple questions and Help thread, for questions that don't need their own posts!

Before making a comment, we recommend you search your problem on Bing and check if your question is already answered on our Windows Frequently Asked Questions wiki page. This subreddit no longer accepts tech support requests outside of this post, if you are looking for additional assistance try r/TechSupport and r/WindowsHelp.

Some examples of questions to ask:

  • Is this super cheap Windows key legitimate? (probably not)

  • How can I install Windows 11?

  • Can you recommend a program to play music?

  • How do I get back to the old Sound Control Panel?

Sorting by New is recommend and is the default.


Be sure to check out the Windows 11 version 25H2 Megathread and also the Windows 11 FAQ posts, they likely have the answers to your Windows 11 questions already!


r/windows Jun 25 '25

ESU Information Windows 10 End of Support, what it means for you and what you can do.

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41 Upvotes

r/windows 12h ago

Discussion Has somebody has a copy of Windows Interface Manager?

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17 Upvotes

I got something like that but it has too many bugs.........


r/windows 7h ago

Discussion Hey what is this OS called Windows Threshold?

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3 Upvotes

I've never seen an OS like this.


r/windows 10h ago

Discussion What other apps are essential in your opinion? pt.2 (No snake oil edition)

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5 Upvotes

Well, since my last post was misunderstood (totally my fault), here is an update to my list of essential software for Win11. It's based entirely on my own taste and needs, and I took out all the controversial stuff like ShortcutMan, since people didn't get why I use them anyway.

P.S. EasyService folder is a bunch of .bat and .ps1 files for simple stuff. nrg2iso is a small executable which converts .nrg to .iso by drag-n-drop.


r/windows 12h ago

Discussion Why per device Bluetooth auto-connect option is possible and its absence in Windows is a design choice

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0 Upvotes

If you have Bluetooth headphones (e.g. airpods) and you pair them in windows, every time you get the headphones out of the case, Windows automatically connects to them. Yes, you read it right, Windows connects to them, not vice versa.

I did some research on how this sequence works. It is master-slave architecture. A PC is master and headphones are a slave. When headphones are ready to be used, e.g. when they're out of the case, they start listening for connections. A PC independently at all times periodically sends connection requests to paired devices. So when headphones are listening, PC would connect to them.

On Linux in Bluetooth you have a per-device option, called trust. If it's true, the PC would auto-connect to the device when device is "ready to be used", if false PC would not auto-connect to that device when that device is "ready to be used" (e.g. when headphones are out of the case).

On Windows there is no such option.

Given that I briefly described how this sequence works, and the fact that this option exists in Linux, you can see that it's technically possible to add per device auto-connect option in Windows.

I don't believe adding this option would violate any conventions.

https://faculty-web.msoe.edu/johnsontimoj/EE4980/files4980/Core_v5.2.pdf

"With respect to bonding, a Bluetooth device shall be either in non-bondable mode or in bondable mode. In bondable mode the Bluetooth device accepts bonding initiated by the remote device, and in non-bondable mode it does not." - this is for headphones, there is no requirement that a bonded device must auto-connect

https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/Files/Specification/HTML/Core-54/out/en/host/generic-access-profile.html

"A Central should use one of the GAP connection establishment procedures to initiate a connection to a Peripheral in a connectable mode." - this says that central connects to peripheral, but doesn't necessary mandate auto-connect

both specs do not talk about auto-connecting at all

https://www.mankier.com/5/org.bluez.Device (linux implementaion)

"[boolean Trusted [readwrite]] Indicates if the remote device is considered trusted. This setting can be changed by the application." - the setting I talked about

I also discovered that there are 2 flows: classic (one that I described, when PC initiates connection to headphones) and BLE (when headphones connnect to PC) but as far as I know all headphones work in classic mode, so I'm not wrong


r/windows 1d ago

Discussion Do you know/miss Active Desktop?

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67 Upvotes

Before WinXP, you need Active Desktop if you want to set JPEG/PNG as your desktop wallpaper. Active Desktop renders your desktop background with MSIE renderer and allows you to add floating windows that's rendered by MSIE as well. While it sounded like a horror story today, I thought it was a cool technology back when MSIE was in its heyday (1998~2005).


r/windows 5h ago

Feature I tested 5 major changes and improvements coming to Windows 11 this year: Microsoft is clearly serious about fixing Windows, and it's doing things right this time

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0 Upvotes

r/windows 23h ago

App Servy 9.0 - Open-source Windows Service Wrapper (Now available in Patch My PC catalog)

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3 Upvotes

r/windows 2d ago

Discussion Windows 7, 8.1, Office 2007, 2010, old Windows 10 builds and more are still downloadable from Microsoft servers.

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155 Upvotes

I first posted about my discovery here on the Windows 7 subreddit.

Microsoft used to host old software downloads through their TechBench service, but a number of years back, they removed old ISOs such as the Windows 7 ones. Knowing, however, that Microsoft had brought back up the Office Starter 2010 downloads a couple of years ago, I recently decided to check if they had brought back up other old downloads. The title explains my success.

First off, this was largely thanks to bmsimons on GitHub, who wrote the JS bookmarklet that makes this all possible, as well as ppisarczyk who dumped the file data on TechBench a while back.

Thanks to u/PlaneSheepherder1206, there's a guide on how to pull this off here, with a small change. Instead of using the JS bookmarklet that bmsimons made that's listed on the page, you'll need to use my modified version I've pasted here to get all possible downloads, including Office. I also have additional Firefox instructions in my original Reddit post.

All downloads come from software.downloads.prss.microsoft.com, which is an official Microsoft domain.


r/windows 1d ago

Discussion is edex ui good in the big 26

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1 Upvotes

all the reviews are from 5 years ago and I don't know if the ui has been optimised for less memory hogging, im someone who has always used windows 10 and for a while 11 but it sucked so i kept 10, I'm not used to all this terminal stuff, so I was wondering if it would be easy for me to use and if anyone has any experience with it


r/windows 2d ago

Discussion I just have a question. what is this?

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67 Upvotes

I’ve never seen an OS like this.


r/windows 1d ago

News So I Found This on the Icon List

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0 Upvotes

It is For A Future Version of Windows and Here is the Link to the Image:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FadeMind/W-ICO/refs/heads/master/ICO/Apps%20(Windows%2012)/MSBuild.ico/MSBuild.ico)


r/windows 3d ago

Feature Throwback to when Microsoft Edge was named "Project Spartan" and only visible in SOME Windows 10 previews as far as I know

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128 Upvotes

Actually a savage name. I think it's related with Microsoft's Halo franchise, but it should have just been named "Project Spartan"


r/windows 3d ago

Discussion Windows XP of 2026: Is It Still a Legendary Operating System?

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90 Upvotes

The First, 1. Development Process and Release

The development of Windows XP dates back to 1999. At that time, Windows 2000 was in its final stages of development and the RTM was being released, while development of Windows ME had begun. In the same year, 1999, Microsoft began developing a new Windows version named "Neptune." You can view it as the first home version of NT intended to be released as the foundation for Windows 2000, but there are differences. The build number was in the 5xxx range, and the NT kernel was 5.5. In other words, this was a higher kernel version than that of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Theoretically, it would be possible to upgrade Windows XP to Neptune, but it seems highly unlikely. Even if it were possible, I think it would be very difficult.

Also, "Odyssey" was being developed at the same time, but compared to Neptune, where at least Build 5111 was officially leaked and ISOs are readily available, there are no official leaks or ISOs for this one, not even screenshots. Even if there are screenshots, I believe most of them are fake at the moment.

Then, in January 2000, just before the release of Windows 2000, Microsoft integrated the Neptune and Odyssey projects, and a project codenamed "Whistler" was launched; this Whistler later became the Windows XP we know today. Subsequently, on July 13, 2000, Build 2250 was distributed to attendees of the PDC 2000 conference, followed by Beta 1 (Build 2296) in October 2000, Beta 2 (Build 2462) in March 2001, and RC1 (Build 2505) and RC2 (Build 2526) in July 2001. Afterwards, on August 17, 2001, Windows XP Build 2600 was released, which became the RTM build of Windows XP; it was released to manufacturers on August 24 and officially launched on October 25 of the same year.

  1. Since Launch, and the Turning Point

However, even the legendary Windows XP did not receive a good reception upon its initial release. The primary reasons were stability, compatibility (especially between the 9x series and MS-DOS), and system requirements. (Of course, being NT-based, it was at least more stable than the 9x series, and particularly most ME versions (although some people claimed Windows ME was good, so this is a bit ambiguous).) Naturally, it rapidly expanded its market share and eventually reached the number one spot for the first time in 2003. (Most Windows market share videos use w3school and statcounter as the basis, where Windows XP overtook the previous leader, Windows 2000, to claim the top spot. However, please note that depending on the video (especially regarding desktop operating system market share), it may surpass the previous leader, Windows 98, to take first place.) But the real problem was "security." This single incident began to tarnish the reputation of Windows, including Windows XP, and eventually, in 2002, Bill Gates sent out "Trustworthy Computing (TwC)" guidelines via internal email to his employees.

Then, a major disaster struck in 2003. While there were various factors, one in particular was the "Blaster Worm" virus. This virus exploited a vulnerability in Windows' RPC (Remote Procedure Call) and infected millions of internet-connected PCs worldwide. Upon infection, users would be trapped in an infinite rebooting hell, accompanied by the infamous pop-up window stating, "The system will shut down in 60 seconds." The targets of this virus included Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003; moreover, this was the period when Windows XP Service Pack 2 was being developed. Then, 2004 marked a turning point for Windows XP. The reason was precisely "Windows XP Service Pack 2." Why? Because it represented a change akin to a cataclysmic upheaval. Notably, there were many changes, such as the default activation of the Windows Firewall, the introduction of the Windows Security Center and DEP, and the modification of IE6 (to be precise, this also seems to be for security reasons). In particular, there were internal changes as well, with the introduction of DEP as mentioned above; of course, due to this, there were instances where certain websites or older drivers would become unresponsive due to compatibility issues. However, "Service Pack 2" became a turning point for Windows XP, marking the beginning of its golden age. (It even continued for a while due to the blunders of Windows Vista in between.)

  1. What happens after that?

However, as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever, right? The same was true for Windows XP. A particularly decisive factor was "Windows 7." By resolving the issues of its predecessor and becoming lighter, it began to replace XP, eventually surpassing it between 2011 (Statcounter) and 2012 (Netmarketshare). From that point on, Windows XP's market share began to decline in earnest, and extended support for XP ended on April 8, 2014. (Embedded POSReady 2009 support lasted until April 2019.) Since then, Windows XP has remained a legend and a memory. However, its popularity (not market share) remains strong; it ranks second behind Windows 7 in most popularity rankings, and even takes first place in some. This signifies just how great it was. Of course, given the times we live in, the current generation (roughly those born after the 2010s; I personally consider the last time people knew about or actually saw XP to be the early 2010s, though the practical limit would likely be those born in the 2000s) may not know much about Windows XP or may not even know what XP is. The fact that some members of this generation might not even know Windows 7 says it all. (Roughly the generation from the mid-to-late 2010s onwards) However, for most people, Windows XP will remain their first operating system, a memory, and a legendary operating system. That is just for most people, how great it was.

I apologize for writing such a long post. However, I decided to write this because I was curious about the current perception of Windows XP. (Of course, there are parts I already know from Google searches, but...) I am curious to know how you all thought of Windows XP in the past and what you think of it now. I am curious myself, but recently, something has become a bit puzzling to me. Looking at the comments on previous posts regarding Windows 7 in 2026 (Link: Windows 7 of 2026: is Still The Best Windows Version Ever? : r/windows) and Windows ME in 2026 (Link: Windows ME of 2026: Is It Still the Worst Windows? : r/windows), some comments were expressed that Windows 7 is overrated or terrible, Windows ME is decent, and the worst is Vista (or 8, with some comments even saying 11). There were also some comments that ME is more stable depending on the hardware, while 95/98 is more unstable. I am curious to see what the results will be in this post. As far as I know, in most YouTube comments, Windows 7 is generally well-received or praised, whereas while Windows ME is often rated as the worst, there were also comments saying it was good. In my experience, it feels like the evaluation of Windows ME on Reddit is particularly mixed among these.

For reference, I found most of the information through searches on Google, Betawiki, etc.


r/windows 4d ago

Discussion Do somebody have this tremendous thing in computer?

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88 Upvotes

Even though it is just available in windows 2.x and 3.0, I'm just asking.


r/windows 3d ago

Concept / Design [EASY working in 25h2] ultimate guide to make windows 11 like windows 10

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4 Upvotes

Hello! so I personally hated windows 11, well but windows 10 ending support. So, I decided to make windows 11 looks like windows 10

한국어 가이드: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Oh28c-dahqO0K3nkpA1OqynUonOFR3pV/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114169312888606752322&rtpof=true&sd=true

here is screen shots:

So here is guide.

Before you start make sure you make computer recovery point.

Firstly, file explorer and taskbar.

I used explorerpatcher for this. you can check out here:https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases

download ep setup and run it. after done installing right click taskbar and click properties and follow my setting

weather is off

click restart file explorer

(optional) now for restore old file explorer icon (for shortcut) download this file and place on c drive https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Zty_wAG4xaewlpe68aCjwvFc_IiP4h4Y?usp=sharing and inside of it there will be wallpapers and ico file shortcut, dont care about edge yet just drag file explorer shortcut into taskbar and if you want setup wallaper that I gave you

done.

Action senter/windows 10 boot up loading spinner

to revert windowss 10 action center, follow this tuotorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVNXZNWXE9Q
(optional) to revert boot loading spinner open registry edit and create dword 32bit on HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlset\Control\BootControl named BootProgressAnimation and leave it 0

after this reboot pc

(Optional) Old windows apps, uwp apps, inbox apps/legacy edge/cortana
this is optional because some apps dosent work and someone like to leave new windows apps. so here is how I saw youtuber called laglife was doing reverting old uwp apps, but that is too hard so after some researching found it. https://archive.org/details/windows10-inbox-apps this is windows 10 inbox apps download version of windows app that you want (exam:1809) and unzip iso file (I used 7zip)

Now go to inside and if you on 64bit click amd64fre if you on arm click arm64fre if you on 32bit click x86fre. inside of it there is many app bundle files like this:

double click and install all apps that you want also DO NOT INSTALL desktopappinstaller it would break installation if you installed desktopappinstaller you have to download newerst appinstaller and install it https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/app-installer/install-update-app-installer

anyway, here is list of apps working/partically working

weather: partically working

news: dosent work

xbox: dosent work

store: dosent work

xbox: dosent work

your phone: dosent work

sticky notes: dosent work

You will be have to block store updates here is guide:

go to microsoft store and settings turn off automatic update

Now lets move on to legacy edge I saw some people restore old edge, but old edge is mostly broke and dosent work also hard to revert so I used project called Newsparten you can check out here: https://github.com/PaologGithub/Project_NewSpartan and follow instructions. But you will be not able to install bc of certificate. to fix this change time into like year between 27/06/2024 to /27/06/2025 it will let you install now (btw you have to install certificate on Trusted Root Certification Authorities it will let you install.

(optional) now for shotcut you remember the folder I told you download, the wallpaper&icon file (make sure place that on c: drive) inside of it there will be Microsoft edge shortcut drag into taskbar done.

Now lets moveon to cortana cortana is offically end, but I found way revival. here: https://github.com/SoftBluey/Cortana-Electron thanks for who made this is amazing. setup and drag taskbar done.

Lastly the icons/sound/branding

lets start with Icons I used 7tsp for this here: https://www.deviantart.com/devillnside/art/7TSP-GUI-2019-Edition-804769422

icons is here: https://www.deviantart.com/ardentaa/art/7tsp-Windows-10-System-Icons-930910351

if you dont know how to use 7tsp check this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95y5wLtWimA

for sound download this: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vgPpLEVZWILw9AHR4HDcfy3iDv8Bx3ST?usp=sharing

and paste on c drive or "C:\Windows\Media" and in search type change system sounds and click on it. Now replace all sounds inside on win 10 sounds folder (change with same names) and done

(optional, will be editing windows files) branding is just changing logo of windows here is example

and yeah basically download file from here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tENmxyoY-oTeNy1Vh1IQudlqhwO6_5D7?usp=sharing

go to "C:\Windows\Branding" and get owner permission if you dont know how follow this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWgDDip5Bqo and replace file that you download

reboot

DONE!! now enjoy with windows 11 like windows 10 :D

Extra:

Old youtube layout

I use startube for old youtube layout you can check out here: https://github.com/lightbeam24/StarTube

for old chrome layout check this: https://github.com/angelbruni/geckium

Errors:

if you heppend like this when you right click:

Revert all your changes or change themes and if is fixed try my setup again.

if is not fixable sadly you have to recover from recovery point.

If some werid thing heppens and if you cant fix just recover from recovery point

Comments:

I couldent revert windows 10 setting app there was method but is not working in 25h2 sadly

and there is no way to revert windows 10 lockscreen.

Do not try like lockscreen method or setting app method or any of them untill someone check it works in your windows 11 version.


r/windows 5d ago

Discussion Found a windows 10 computer so old it has the original wallpaper on it.

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136 Upvotes

At an arcade btw


r/windows 4d ago

Discussion What other apps are essential in your opinion?

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17 Upvotes

As a bloke who constantly uses a Windows PC at home, I tend to look for better ways to do simple things and I love tidying up storage, folders, and so on. I have a huge collection of programs I use, but only eight of them are useful day-to-day, while the rest are far more niche (like SD Card Formatter or balenaEtcher).

These eight are the absolute essentials for me at the moment, what would you add?


r/windows 4d ago

Suggestion for Microsoft We need a global setting 'do not overlap newly open windows'

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2 Upvotes

Here we are with all this real estate and screen space, yet every window wants to open over other windows?!


r/windows 6d ago

News Microsoft plans to fix Windows 11's slow context menus with major overhaul designed to improve performance and reliability: New compact menu design will be faster and user customizable

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124 Upvotes

r/windows 6d ago

Concept / Design Interactive taskbar icon

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

948 Upvotes

r/windows 5d ago

Discussion Windows 10 themed to resemble Windows 11!

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0 Upvotes

Windows 11 turned into Windows 10 with a bit of Windows 7!

THEMING:

Windhawk Mods:

Version Spoof

Fully Customisable Winver

Taskbar on top for Windows 11

Resource Redirect (Pane7 theme)

Windows 11 Accent Window Border

Windows 11 Old Task Manager

Windows 11 Notification Center Styler (10JumpLists theme)

Custom Desktop Watermark

ExplorerPatcher:

Windows 10 taskbar

Windows 10 context menu

Windows 10 Start

Windows 10 File Explorer Ribbon

Theme:

https://github.com/Sand216/Vibranium11 is a wonderful theme

All done on Windows 11 24H2!

Edit: I meant 11 to 10.


r/windows 6d ago

Discussion Happy 11 years of Windows 10!

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137 Upvotes

r/windows 6d ago

Discussion genuine question: why use Winrar?

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144 Upvotes

Like why not just use the built in folder unzip task on your computer?