Chicago95 theme for XFCE
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 5 desktop themes
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.
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.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 95%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 18 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Authentic classic Windows 95 look
“Not sure if you think Windows 95 is pretty, but I'm compelled to drop a link to this on every Xfce post”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “XFCE Is Great” “does a really great job of bringing that classic Win9X look to XFCE”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “Classic 7 is a Windows 10 LTSC mod to look 1:1 to Windows 7” “very convincing clone of early Windows GUI”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “EDE: Small and Fast Desktop Environment (2014)” - Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “EDE: Small and Fast Desktop Environment (2014)”
Praised as beautiful and great
“This is just beautiful, thank you!”
Comment from 27 Nov 2025 in “Google's new 'Aluminium OS' project brings Android to PC” “Chicago95 theme for XFCE is great”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “EDE: Small and Fast Desktop Environment (2014)” “The Chicago95 theme is great”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000” Nostalgic, familiar and unobtrusive
“It's familiar and gets out of the way.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000” “you've got some comfortable nostalgia”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Google's new 'Aluminium OS' project brings Android to PC” Used daily, including on work machines
“tried this in a VM and absolutely love it”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” “I use this on my work machine”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Less faithful to real Windows 95
“The Chicago95 theme for xfce gets you something similarish.”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000” “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.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux”
Other desktop themes people recommend
The four most recommended other desktop themes, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago95 theme for XFCEThis page | 18 | 1 | 95% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Zac-OS-9 | 8 | 1 | 89% | 1 | — | — |
| Platinum Mac OS 8 theme | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Breeze KDE Plasma theme | 5 | 2 | 71% | 3 | — | — |
| AeroThemePlasma | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
18 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The Chicago95 theme for xfce gets you something similarish.”
“The Chicago95 theme is great”
“It's familiar and gets out of the way.”
“does a really great job of bringing that classic Win9X look to XFCE”
“So far my favorite desktop for this is the Chicago95 theme for xfce”
“install it on devuan and you'll be fine”
“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.”
“You can try Chicago95, but it's only a XFCE theme.”
“Not sure if you think Windows 95 is pretty, but I'm compelled to drop a link to this on every Xfce post”
“tried this in a VM and absolutely love it”
“I use this on my work machine”
“brought back more familiar icons such as the notepad and terminal icons”
“looks a lot like this as well and is quite good”
“This is just beautiful, thank you!”
“you've got some comfortable nostalgia”
“very convincing clone of early Windows GUI”
“Looks more legit than Redmond97.”
“Chicago95 theme for XFCE is great”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.