Ever since Apple introduced its Liquid Glass design language with the release of version 26 of its operating systems, translucency has been the talk of the user interface town. Many have (rightfully) pointed out the similarities between 2026-era Liquid Glass, and 2006-era Windows Aero — the latter of which served as Microsoft’s chief visual design system across Windows Vista and later Windows 7.
Microsoft, for its part, has reintroduced some translucency across its desktop operating system in recent years, with Windows 11 featuring gaussian blurs and other advanced Fluent 2 Design System and WinUI 3 theming techniques across the platform. This is a marked departure from Windows 8’s flat Metro design language, though it’s still not quite as transparent and glass-like as Aero was back in the day, or as Liquid Glass is today.
Thankfully, the mod community has stepped in to bring Aero back into Windows proper, and there’s no easier way to get started with Aeroifying your PC than with the third-party Windhawk program. Windhawk offers a variety of powerful, optional mods that can be downloaded and installed, and plenty of these modules can be used to turn Windows 11 into something more akin to Windows Vista.
As with many other Windows mods, the ones from Windhawk make low-level changes to the system files on your PC. As such, there’s always the chance of running into compatibility issues when installing a given mod, and certain Windows Updates may break functionality or result in unforeseen bugs. WIth this in mind, I recommend backing up important files and documents before proceeding.
Here are four Windhawk mods in particular that are capable of melding together the Windows 11 OS with an Aero-style aesthetic. When put together, these various free and open-source (FOSS) mods will transform your PC into something straight out of the mid-2000s (while also making it resemble a modern Apple iDevice, ironically enough).
Windows 11 Start Menu Styler allows you to customize the look and feel of Windows 11’s Start Menu to a rather great degree. Once the mod is downloaded and installed onto your system, you can select from one of many community-contributed themes, or you can opt to create your own theme from scratch. Certain themes that ship alongside Windows 11 Start Menu Styler are perfect for bringing about an Aero-esque visual overhaul, including TranslucentStartMenu, LiquidGlass, and TindedGlass.
Windows 11 Taskbar Styler
Bring Aero to the taskbar
Windows 11 Taskbar Styler targets your PC’s taskbar, with plenty of user-contributed themes to choose from. The system works much like the aforementioned Windows 11 Start Menu Styler mod, with a set of integrated themes that come right in the box. For the purposes of fostering an Aero look and feel, TranslucentTaskbar, WinVista, Windows7, WindowsGlass, and TintedGlass are all excellent options.
Aerexplorer
Bring Aero to File Explorer
Aeroexplorer makes several tweaks to Windows Explorer (aka the plumbing of Windows 11), with the intent of making the OS look and feel more like older platform releases. Using this mod, you can configure the system — and in particular, the File Explorer interface — to resemble that of Windows Vista. Note that Aeroxplorer requires you to switch on svchost.exe in the Process inclusion list by navigating to Windhawk settings > Advanced settings > More advanced settings.
Taskbar Show Desktop Button Aero Peek
Bring Aero to the desktop
When Windows Vista launched, it did so with a unique Aero Peek feature that allowed you momentarily take a glimpse at your desktop without any window obfuscations. Unfortunately, Aero Peek was later deprecated by Microsoft, even if the ability to select the far corner of the taskbar to show the desktop remains an option in Windows 11. Taskbar Show Desktop Button Auro Peek ports over Windows Vista’s more flexible version of the feature, complete with the ability to hover over the far corner to view your desktop without committing to the action.
