WinCustomize Turns 25: A Quarter Century of Making Windows Yours

New updates on the way.

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 by bdsams | Discussion: WinCustomize News

Wincustomize was started in 2001 and in internet years, that's about as old as the Big Bang. And twenty-five years later, the site is still going strong delivering millions of themes, icons, wallpapers, and more to users around the globe.

When WinCustomize.com first landed, the desktop customization scene was the Wild West. There were scattered forums, random download sites, and a lot of broken links as well as a myriad of chat applications like AIM, ICQ, and others who had their own communities for desktop customization.

Windows, during the past couple of decades, has tried a few different designs that have ranged from corporate (Windows 95/98) to the opposite end of the spectrum with Luna for Windows XP that was often described as the Fisher-Price theme. And thanks to Microsoft's choices, theming Windows is also what makes Windows, Windows.

Over the past 25 years, there have been millions of downloads across skins, themes, wallpapers, icons, cursors, and more. The artists, the skinners, the tinkerers and the people who refuse to accept "stock" as good enough have helped keep WinCustomize fresh with new content all these years later. While the tools like WindowBlinds are fantastic for skinning, it's the community that brings the desktop to life with themes that bring out the personality of each individual user.

For the year ahead, we do have plans to continue to improve the site. The first major update will be a serious overhaul to the forums of this website that should improve performance, allow us to easily add new features, and eventually, new customization categories. And later in the year, we plan to add a new category that will make sharing Start menus a lot easier too.

Twenty-five years in and Windows keeps changing but the constant is that while Microsoft builds for the billions of users, WinCustomize makes it possible to make Windows yours.

To everyone who has created, commented, and shared ideas on WinCustomize, the entire team at Stardock thanks you for being part of this corner of the web.

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pelaird
Reply #1 Tuesday, March 31, 2026 4:54 PM

Wincustomize.com Is 25 Years Old

teddybearcholla
Reply #2 Tuesday, March 31, 2026 6:00 PM

DrJBHL
Reply #3 Tuesday, March 31, 2026 11:00 PM

Twenty five years of art, family and home away from home...almost lost it once....my profound thanks to those who saved it.

Thanks for SD and WC, Brad.

Jafo
Reply #4 Wednesday, April 1, 2026 1:47 AM

Wincustomize was started in 2001 and in internet years, that's about as old as the Big Bang.

Of course, those of us who were there at the 'Big Bang' just feel a little older....

.....older than dirt, it seems ...

Behind the scenes I remember the whiz-bang new 'Admin' site going online. It had that ultra-modern name 'Admin 2007'.

Stardock's Forum structure was, and still is unique, but still more quirky than clunky. You get to love the system....it's a bit like your favourite old sock.... [where sometimes you really think you might have lost its pair] ....

DrJBHL
Reply #5 Wednesday, April 1, 2026 2:52 AM

Pat

reply 4

Stardock's Forum structure was, and still is unique.

Put euphemistically. I think you were quoting Pat there, no?

T-Man
Reply #6 Wednesday, April 1, 2026 8:44 AM

Jafo

reply 4

older than dirt

Have you been talking to my wife? She uses that phrase all the time when talking about me.

Jafo
Reply #7 Wednesday, April 1, 2026 9:12 AM

T-Man

reply 6

Have you been talking to my wife? She uses that phrase all the time when talking about me.

Might have been "dirty old...."

Sed
Reply #8 Thursday, April 2, 2026 10:22 AM

WOW... I started June of that year

Phoon
Reply #9 Thursday, April 2, 2026 10:54 AM

Wow!!.. I joined in October 30, 2001. Member #132445.

Dcrew57
Reply #10 Saturday, April 4, 2026 5:13 AM

Wow! Sure doesn't seem like it has been that long. I have been onboard since 2005.

Hope we have more years in the future. We need more people interested in the art of skinning to keep the population going.

Rock on WC!

Moderator: Double post removed.

garfield_the_cat
Reply #11 Thursday, April 9, 2026 1:45 PM

Here's to another 25 years, whatever OS is going to be popular then.

Jafo
Reply #12 Thursday, April 9, 2026 8:48 PM

garfield_the_cat

reply 11

Here's to another 25 years, whatever OS is going to be popular then.

For me...still Windows 7 ...

Dcrew57
Reply #13 Tuesday, April 14, 2026 10:30 AM

garfield_the_catreply 11Here's to another 25 years, whatever OS is going to be popular then. For me...still Windows 7 ...

I think most would prefer W7. Myself included. It was the most stable.

DrJBHL
Reply #14 Tuesday, April 14, 2026 10:35 AM

Dcrew57

reply 13

I think most would prefer W7. Myself included. It was the most stable.

And was very skinnable.

Donald1957
Reply #15 Tuesday, April 14, 2026 10:45 AM

DrJBHL

reply 14

Quoting Dcrew57,

reply 13

I think most would prefer W7. Myself included. It was the most stable.

And was very skinnable.

Yes, we could even skin the browsers.

Chasbo
Reply #16 Tuesday, April 14, 2026 1:11 PM

I've been lurking in the shadows since 2005

DrJBHL
Reply #17 Tuesday, April 14, 2026 1:44 PM

Donald1957

reply 15

Quoting DrJBHL,

reply 14

Quoting Dcrew57,

reply 13

I think most would prefer W7. Myself included. It was the most stable.

And was very skinnable.

Yes, we could even skin the browsers.

Donald1957

reply 15

Quoting DrJBHL,

reply 14

Quoting Dcrew57,

reply 13

I think most would prefer W7. Myself included. It was the most stable.

And was very skinnable.

Yes, we could even skin the browsers.

Tbh, that's not solely MS's fault. It's the browsers' fault...at least the Chrome based ones. Firefox uses a different engine and remains skinnable.

naroon1
Reply #18 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 10:54 AM

DrJBHL

Quoting Donald1957,

Quoting DrJBHL,

Quoting Dcrew57,

I think most would prefer W7. Myself included. It was the most stable.

And was very skinnable.

Yes, we could even skin the browsers.

Quoting Donald1957,

reply 15

Quoting DrJBHL,

reply 14

Quoting Dcrew57,

reply 13

I think most would prefer W7. Myself included. It was the most stable.

And was very skinnable.

Yes, we could even skin the browsers.

Tbh, that's not solely MS's fault. It's the browsers' fault...at least the Chrome based ones. Firefox uses a different engine and remains skinnable.

Is it not possible to use Windhawk "Bring Back Borders" To Skin Browsers Now, or is it not compatible when used with Windowblinds/Start11.

I am using Chrome and its skinned albeit I Do Use "The Dark Side Of The Force" To Skin Everything These Days.

I seldom Boot Into And Use My Win 11 (The One I Have SD Progs on) except to update it monthly.

The-Reaper-Man
Reply #19 Tuesday, April 21, 2026 10:16 AM

Congratulations to WinCustomize, Stardock, and all the countless, artists that have graced this site for a quarter century!!! And to all the people who make this a beautiful community keep coming back to!

Donald1957
Reply #20 Tuesday, April 21, 2026 2:45 PM

The-Reaper-Man

reply 19

Used to be a much larger community. People were skinning everything they could. Now lots of these programs are no longer in use or rarely used.

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WinCustomize Turns 25: A Quarter Century of Making Windows Yours

New updates on the way.

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 by bdsams | Discussion: WinCustomize News