Choosing the perfect Windows customization style can be overwhelming — there are thousands of wallpapers, themes, tools, widgets, docks, and UI mods.
So instead of guessing, we asked our community to vote for their favorite real-world setups.
After hundreds of submissions and votes, these 3 builds ranked highest — based on:
✔ Aesthetic appeal
✔ Usability & workflow
✔ Performance & stability
✔ Uniqueness
Each setup includes wallpapers, tools, UI tweaks, widgets, and productivity add-ons, plus full installation steps.
Let’s begin!
🥉 3rd Place – Minimal Colorful Mountain Desktop (by Thunder4814)
A lightweight, vibrant, and productivity-ready design featuring:
- A colorful minimal mountain wallpaper
- A translucent taskbar, start menu & notifications
- A floating minimal clock
- A fast productivity launcher
📌 Step 1 — Wallpaper
- Open the linked wallpaper website
- Select the correct resolution
- Right-click → Open in new tab → Save image
- Right-click image → Set as desktop background
📌 Step 2 — UI Transparency (using Windhawk)
Install Windhawk → search & install each module:
| Module | Setting | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Taskbar Styler | Simply Transparent | Floating translucent taskbar |
| Start Menu Styler | Down Arrow Style | Cleaner minimal menu |
| Notification Styler | Transparent Style | Modern notification center |
📌 Step 3 — Floating Clock Widget (via V-Widgets)
- Install VWidgets
- Select Clock Widget
- Open Customize → Appearance
- Set Opacity → 0
- Font size: 120
- Font type: Magneto (install separately if missing)
Resize until no edges are cut off.
📌 Step 4 — Add Productivity (Flow Launcher)
- Install Flow Launcher
- Enable Run on Startup
- In Plugins → enable Everything Search
- Install Everything when prompted
Shortcut: Alt + Space
🥈 2nd Place – Modern macOS-Inspired Glass Desktop (by Smile)
A more advanced, animated, Apple-style desktop using:
- A minimal abstract wallpaper
- A premium dock & top bar
- macOS-style clock
- Full system theme + blur
⚠ Uses more performance due to dock & effects
📌 Step 1 — Wallpaper
Same method: download → right-click → Set as background
📌 Step 2 — Dock + Top Bar (using MyDockFinder)
Purchased through Steam
After installation:
- Open Explorer → Hide Taskbar
- Open Dock Settings → Appearance
- Enable Custom Blur
- Set values around 10
- Set icon scaling: Size 100 / Scale 120
- Change to Tahoe Icons in workshop
Disable preview bubbles:
Settings → Minimize → Enable “Minimize to Dock”
📌 Step 3 — Apple-Style Modular Clock (Rainmeter + JaxCore)
If antivirus blocks install → temporarily pause
Install JaxCore → Modular Clock → Apple Style
Adjust widget size under Style Options
📌 Step 4 — macOS-like Theme + Blur
Install from Windhawk:
- UXTheme Hook → install
- Download Night Owl Theme
- Paste theme files into:
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\ - Select via Settings → Personalization → Themes
For translucent Explorer:
ExplorerBlurMicah → Download → Extract → Run script
🥇 1st Place – Aesthetic Animated Glass Setup (by Miscellaneous)
Clean, animated, modern — and completely free!
Uses:
- Lively live wallpaper
- Glass dock + top bar via Seelen UI
- Optional widgets
📌 Step 1 — Animated Wallpaper
Install Lively Wallpaper
Select the shown theme from library
📌 Step 2 — Glass Dock + Top Bar (Seelen UI)
- Install via Microsoft Store
- Open settings
- Install theme using linked preset
- Activate under Resources → Themes:
- Glass Dock Style
- Bubbles Top Bar
📌 Optional: Glass Widgets (New Widgets)
Choose:
- Calendar
- Monitor
- Weather
Change accent color → white
📊 Performance Comparison
| Rank | Setup | Performance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥉 #3 | Minimal Colorful | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Most lightweight |
| 🥈 #2 | Mac-Inspired | ⭐⭐⭐ | Heaviest due to dock |
| 🥇 #1 | Animated Glass | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Medium load, still smooth |
🎯 Final Thoughts
Each setup provides a unique style and different workflow advantages:
- Prefer speed & clarity? → Choose Setup #3
- Want premium macOS-like feel? → Setup #2
- Want modern animated aesthetic? → Setup #1
You can also mix features to customize your perfect build
📦 Download Center
🥉 3rd Place Setup – Minimal Colorful Desktop
🥈 2nd Place Setup – macOS-Inspired Glass Desktop
🥇 1st Place Setup – Animated Minimal Glass Desktop
Follow us on YouTube (@Unknown Tech) for video tutorials, tips, and full walkthroughs for every step.
Have questions or want the code/snippets used in this video? Join our Discord or check out the Downloads section below!
📺 Want to see it in action? Watch the full video on YouTube.
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Disclaimer for Source Code / Tutorials
The code examples and tutorials are provided for educational purposes only. Use at your own risk. I do not accept any liability for damages resulting from the use of this code.
