Summary

• Windows 11 has its flaws, but you have plenty of options for making it work just how you want.
• From whole system changes to Start menu tweaks, these customization apps offer solutions.
• Whether you want a transparent taskbar or a macOS-style dock, there's an app for that.

I love Windows 11. As far as Windows versions go, I do think it's one of the best Microsoft has made, and a big step up from Windows 10 in terms of the overall experience. But that's not to say it's perfect by any means, and there are many parts of it people, including myself, would like to be a bit different.

Luckily, there's no shortage of options for making your Windows 11 experience work just right for you. I've tried many of these programs, and they all excel at different things, so if you want to get the best experience with Windows 11, I highly recommend checking them out. Many of them are also free, so you have nothing to lose. Let's get started.

10 WindowBlinds 11

Over-the-top theming

At the bottom of this list, we have WindowBlinds 11, one of the oldest Windows customization apps around. In theory, this app is amazing, because it can radically change the look of the taskbar, app windows, and the Start menu with totally custom themes, many of which are designed by the community.

There are some problems with this one, though. On Windows 11, many parts of the UI aren't customizable, including the Start menu (unless you're using Start11 too). That means whatever theme you choose will end up looking pretty inconsistent and it can even cause issues with some apps like Photoshop. With a price tag of $20, this one is much harder to recommend, but you can use a free trial to see if it looks good to you. Or check out our review, of course.

9 Files

A truly beautiful file explorer

While Microsoft has been modernizing the File Explorer a lot with Windows 11, it still feels like a wrapper around a classic UI that isn't changing that much. If you want a truly modern file explorer, the Files app may be the one for you. It truly modernizes the design of every part of the UI with a completely translucent UI, color options, and even redone dialogs like the Properties window and file transfers.

It even has some cool features that are missing from FIle Explorer, like tags to easily identify files in a folder, and a split view for seeing two folders side by side. The app isn't perfect, but it does give us a more modern experience with some very welcome bells and whistles. And best of all, it's free, though you can buy it on the Microsoft Store to support development.

8 OFGB

Get rid of ads (and laugh at the name)

Microsoft has become increasingly pushy with some of the suggestions and recommendations it shows throughout Windows. Some might even consider these ads, and the creator of OFGB, short for "Oh Frick, Go Back", seems to agree. This is a very simple and straightforward app that disables these "ads" all throughout Windows.

The app doesn't do anything you can't already do in Windows 11 normally, but a lot of these options are hidden deep in Windows 11's settings, so OFGB makes it that much easier to turn them all off. You can disable app recommendations and suggestions in the Stat menu, suggested content in the Settings app, personalzied ads, and more, all from one simple place. The app has been getting frequent updates, and the developer is working on adding more options to the app in the future, so it's a great little tool.

7 ExplorerPatcher

Fix the changes Windows 11 made

While I quite like most of the changes Microsoft made with Windows 11, there are clearly some downsides here and there. The new Start menu isn't the most efficient, since it moves the app list to a separate screen and requires more clicks, plus you're forced to have the Recommended section at the bottom. The new File Explorer menu is also a bit less capable than the Windows 10 Ribbon.

ExplorerPatcher is a very simply app that tries to fix a lot of these little annoyances. It can bring back the Windows 10 style Start menu, complete with tiles, or it can simply remove the Recommended section from the Windows 11 Start menu design. It can revert File Explorer to the Windows 10 design, and even tweak the taskbar (until Windows 11 version 24H2 comes out, at least). It even has options for changing the window switcher, the look of certain flyouts, and more.

It does all of these things at absolutely no cost and in a very lightweight app, so it's worth checking out if you're just curious to see what it can do.

6 Fences 5

Upgrade your desktop

The Windows desktop has remained mostly the same for decades, but Fences proves that there's a lot more that can be done with it. This app lets you create areas (called Fences) on your desktop, where you can sort your icons, separating them by type or using whatever criteria you want. You can create automatic rules to make things easier, or organize things manually as you see fit. Fences can be shown or hidden at a moment's notice, and you can even bring them up over your open apps, so you can access your icons without minimizing them.

One of the best parts of Fences is that it can also create folder portals, so a fence basically acts as a portal to any folder on your PC. This makes it that much easier to access your files, especially combined with the option to show your fences over your apps, so you can quickly open and send files this way.

Fences is a paid app, but it is a very useful one that you can likely get a lot of value from.

5 OpenShell

Classic options for the Start menu

OpenShell isn't an app I personally love, but it does have some interesting features if you're nostalgic for the older eras of Windows. Among the tons of customization options available, OpenShell's main attraction is that it can replace your Start menu with designs from Windows 7, XP, or even Windows 95. Indeed, these are truly classic options, and it's something you can't really get anywhere else, so at the very least, you have to commend OpenShell for having something that stands out.

On top of that, there are hundreds of settings here for fine-tuning very specific options so you can make Windows work just right for your needs. The UI is packed to the brim and it can feel overwhelming, but it is a free app, and it's worth checking out.

4 StartAllBack

StartAllBack is the main competitor to Start11, and it has some great features of its own. As a Start menu replacement, it's a little less versatile, since it's limited to the Windows 7 style, but it does have a few different designs available to make it fit really well in Windows 11, and it feels right at home. Plus it has one of the smoothest animations I've ever seen when opening the menu, it's beautiful. The Start menu also has a lot of customization options so you see the shortcuts you want, displayed the way you prefer.

But the best part of StartAllBack, for me, is that it can also enhance the File Explorer. Solutions like ExplorerPatcher can bring back the Windows 10 File Explorer, but StartAllback takes the Ribbon from Windows 10 and makes it feel completely at home in Windows 11, with completely redesigned icons that look fantastic. Plus, it forces dark mode for all the File Explorer dialogs Microsoft hasn't updated yet.

Much like Start11, this is a paid app, but at $5, it offers some fantastic options to make Windows 11 better. Be warned that currently, the website for StartAllBack has been marked as unsafe for reasons unknown to the developer, but visiting the website is safe.

3 TranslucentTB

It's all in the name

Windows 11 may be a beautiful operating system in many ways, but Microsoft still has never offered a proper transparent taskbar in Windows. And while apps like Start11 and StartAllBack do give you that option, there's no reason to pay for that when you have an app like TranslucentTB (TB stands for taskbar).

The name says it all here, but there's a bit more to TranslucentTB than just enabling transparency. You can choose between the official Mica style, the Windows 10 acrylic, or a completely clear look, plus choose an opacity level (for styles other than Mica) and a color for the taskbar. Plus, you can remove the spacing line that usually sits above the taskbar (you might not have noticed it, but it becomes much more obvious with a transparent taskbar, or choose to keep it. it's really cool.

2 ObjectDock

Now it's more like macOS

Most of us are probably never going to use macOS as their main operating system, but that doesn't mean everything is bad. Many have wanted a macOS-style dock in Windows for a long time, and Stardock's ObjectDock delivers. This app was recently updated for Windows 11, and it works like a charm. It basically turns your taskbar into a macOS dock, with some slick animations to make the whole thing feel more lively. I personally love the zoom animation that makes icons way bigger than they should be.

On top of the primary dock, you can also create plenty of secondary docks that support tabs, so you get launchpads for all your apps. These aren't nearly as cool, but the primary dock is honestly enough to make this app worth it. You d need to pay $5 for it, though.

1 Start11 v2

The best Start menu customization tool

Stardock is a company with many years of experience in customizing Windows, and one of the company's latest apps, Start11 v2, shows just how true that is. Start11 is the most reboust suite of tools for customizing your Start menu. It offers a ton of styles for the Start menu, including some based on Windows 7, 10, and 11. And the WQindows 1 designs are actually phenomenal, with the abiliy to create groups, tabs, and pages to truly turn your Start menu into a powerhouse. It even powers up the taskbar with the ability to pin folders to it, plus browse those folders directly without having to open File Explorer.

On top of all that, it has a ton of customization options, with colors and patterns for both the taskbar and Start menu, plus colors for individual groups, and even the ability to change the color of app icons on the Start menu so you can create a more consistent theme. This is my go-to Start menu replacement, and it's absolutely fantastic. However, it does cost $7, so it's not for everyone.

There's still more

There are a ton of Windows customization apps out there, and these are just the ones I've tried so far, but I keep experimenting with more tools to find out what other cool options are available. Options like Free Commander make for a great File Explorer replacement too, but even that's not the end of it. We'll keep checking out more of these options in the future, so stay tuned.