Caveat that I haven't had to use this yet, as I'm hanging onto Win10 at the moment, but Stardock has a customizable taskbar/start menu app:
https://www.stardock.com/products/start11/
I do use their Fences app which has been super useful
this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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Did you know there is no way to natively see a clock with seconds in Windows 11 unless you enable it permanently in the corner?
Anyway, just another issue you can fix, along with yours, by re-enabling Windows 10 features in the Windows shell (explorer.exe) using ExplorerPatcher
...is what I would say if I wasn't here to preach for KDE Plasma
Thanks. I use KDE plasma on everything personal. But this is my work laptop. I hope that one works...I saw it might trigger some AV alerts.
Interestingly, ExplorerPatcher recommends not using it on work machines. Dev knows their target audience, LOL. Probably more of a CYA type thing, you know, in case M$ break something and leaves it inoperable, but for a work machine I'd want to run it as stock as possible.
But it's probably the only software that fits your need of being FOSS... Did you get better?
I use ExplorerPatcher in a work environment and sometimes the contents of the active cell(s) in Excel get briefly drawn in the top-left of the lock screen when resuming from sleep, after the picture loads but before the clock does. Not a problem for me because unlike some people, I don't store passwords in a spreadsheet protected by the password "qwerty", but still, I wonder if EP is causing this. I'm not uninstalling it though, I love the semi-transparent taskbar I can put the progress printout of a long CLI operation behind while working in a maximized window. Also I don't need to use another third-party program to show a clock with seconds when using Windows 11.
Speaking of setting up a Windows work device with admin rights, there is little that helps more than CTT's winutil.
Reminder that what DOESN'T leak spredsheet contents on the lockscreen is KDE Plasma. And pretty much every distro shipping it eliminates the need for winutil by incorporating a sane package manager out of the box and no hard-to-remove bloat, dark patterns, telemetry or ads.
ClassicShell.
No longer in active development since 2017, Open Shell is the current project:
Nice. I guess I need an update. It just works.
This...seems more focused on WIn7 look-like for the start menu. I guess a reminiscent of the Win7 to Win8 move? But I meant the taskbar, where the active applications minimize to. Windows likes to group the tasks together in a bundle, with a massive bulky button. I like to have smaller icons but ungrouped tasks, so I can see each one individually without having to click bundles to find an individual window. Does Open-Shell-Menu do this, too?