# Chicago95 theme for XFCE

18 Hacker News commenters recommended Chicago95 theme for XFCE and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free theme that makes XFCE look like classic Windows 95 with familiar icons. Critics note it is only an XFCE theme and lacks the original's attention to detail.

## Why people recommend it

- Authentic classic Windows 95 look (4 comments): "Not sure if you think Windows 95 is pretty, but I'm compelled to drop a link to this on every Xfce post" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587822)) "does a really great job of bringing that classic Win9X look to XFCE" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48134502)) "very convincing clone of early Windows GUI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45933442))
- Praised as beautiful and great (3 comments): "This is just beautiful, thank you!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46064377)) "Chicago95 theme for XFCE is great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45927715)) "The Chicago95 theme is great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591492))
- Nostalgic, familiar and unobtrusive (2 comments): "It's familiar and gets out of the way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48588683)) "you've got some comfortable nostalgia" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46044809))
- Used daily, including on work machines (2 comments): "tried this in a VM and absolutely love it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46308250)) "I use this on my work machine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46304181))

## What people warn about

- Less faithful to real Windows 95 (2 comments): "The Chicago95 theme for xfce gets you something similarish." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48610007)) "The consistency and attention to detail that made the Windows 95 user interface good just isn't there when reskinning an entirely different piece of UI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46598124))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Zac-OS-9](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zac-os-9.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Chicago95 theme for XFCE", https://hackerapproved.com/p/chicago95-theme-for-xfce/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).