Moving away from Windows 11 after living on it for such a long time can be difficult, and especially so if you're switching to Linux and using Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distros out there. I've mentioned before that Ubuntu is one of the major reasons why more Windows users don't switch to Linux, and a big part of that is the GNOME desktop environment being so different. You wouldn't be blamed for missing the familiarity of Windows.

But that's where GNOME extensions come in. The interface in GNOME is extremely customizable once you set up an extension manager (sadly, Ubuntu doesn't come with one, but it's easy to install), and with that, you can easily make it so that you never have to miss Windows at all. I used the extensions below to stop missing Windows, and you might want to do the same.

Dash to Panel

A Windows-like taskbar

Right off the bat, Dash to Panel is one of the most important extensions here because it brings back one of the most recognizable elements of Windows: the taskbar. In Ubuntu, apps are shown in a bar on the side of the screen, and there's a bar along the top for things like the time and system actions, which feels very unusual for a Windows 11 user, but Dash to Panel brings things back to the bottom with a look that's much more similar to that of Windows.

In fact, Dash to Panel offers a wide range of customization options that let you make the experience much more personalized, with a range of freedom you would never get in Windows. You can move icons to the left, center, or right of the screen, change the sizes of certain elements, and more. It's an easy recommendation considering it doesn't just replicate Windows, but improves it significantly.

ArcMenu

Why not a Start menu too?

If you're worried about missing Windows and you can't imagine living without core tenets of the platform, then you might want a Start menu replacement, too. GNOME uses a full-screen experience to show your apps, so ArcMenu brings things back into a floating menu that's much more compact and doesn't take over your entire screen.

In addition to being closer to a typical Start menu, ArcMenu is much like Dash to Panel in that it elevates the experience much more so through a wide range of options that can customize almost everything about this menu. Not only can you chance the overall style, but you can precisely adjust the width and height of the menu and its different areas. You can change the color for the background and highlights, and much more to make it look and feel exactly how you want it to.

Blur my Shell

A little extra touch

If you want to give GNOME a little extra visual flourish and more of a Windows vibe, Blur my Shell is another great addition to the arsenal. There isn't much here functionality-wise, but it can apply a blur effect to certain surfaces of the GNOME shell, so you can dial in the visuals to your liking.

You can go much more in-depth than you might expect for a series of visual tweaks, so it's pretty cool to see, but overall, this is one of the more optional items on this list.

Clipboard History

One of Windows' best features

I've said it before and I'll say it again, but the clipboard history in Windows 11 is one of its best and most underrated features. It feels like too many people don't know about it, but it's incredibly useful for bringing back things you copied previously, and it can save a ton of time. Most Linux desktops don't have an equivalent out of the box, with the the Clipboard History extension for GNOME, you can get an experience that's arguably even better. With this extension, you get a clipboard history that lives on your dock (or taskbar), and it opens and functions much more smoothly than its Windows counterpart. It's easier to add items to your favorites so they persist across reboots, too, so the experience is just better overall.

Emoji Copy

Yes, I like emoji

In a similar vein to the clipboard history, I also love how Windows lets me easily add emoji to a text using a dedicated flyout. But once again, Windows is ousted by what other developers can do, because Emoji Copy does the same thing, but much better.

Similar to the extension above, Emoji Copy lives on your taskbar or the menu bar at the top of the screen, and it pops up with a keyboard shortcut to give you quick access to the emoji you use most frequently. And another similarity to Clipboard History is that this implementation feels a lot smoother and more useful than that of Windows, since you can see many more emoji at once and the menu just feels more responsive overall.

Tiling Shell

FancyZones for Linux

The final big one for me is Tiling Shell, an extension that makes windows management infinitely better than what you get out of the box. Ubuntu comes with an extension called TIling Assistant that tries to mimic some of the tiling features Windows 11 has, but falls short pretty significantly. But Tiling Shell goes beyond and instead mimics FancyZones, a tool that's included in Microsoft's PowerToys suite.

This isn't natively part of Windows, but it was one of the features I was most worried about losing when moving away from it, and Tiling Shell replicates it about as well as I could have hoped for. You can create custom layouts (or use one of the presets) to perfectly organize all your windows, and snapping a window into a given position is easy because all you need to do is hold down the key of your choice and move the mouse into any part of that area.

Tiling Shell is my favorite of these extensions for productivity, and it comes highly recommended to just about anyone.

GNOME can be great

At first glance, GNOME is not a very welcoming experience for Windows users, but it only takes a little bit of work to get it looking a lot more familiar, while still being much more flexible than what Microsoft gives you. You can check out all the extensions above to make your experience much better, but there's even more you might be able to find by perusing all the available extensions.