I built a Windows 98/XP/7 taskbar for macOS because the Dock drives me crazy

#productivity #showdev #sideprojects #ux

I switched from Windows to Mac a few years ago and there's one thing I never got used to: the Dock.

Don't get me wrong, macOS is great. But the Dock has always felt like a downgrade from the Windows taskbar for actual window management:

You can't see which windows are open. The Dock shows a tiny dot under running apps. That's it. If Chrome has 5 windows open, you'd never know.
Minimized windows disappear. They shrink into some tiny thumbnail on the right side of the Dock that's easy to miss entirely.
No window titles. When you have multiple VS Code or Chrome windows, there's no way to tell them apart without hovering or using Mission Control.
Notifications are easy to miss. A small red badge vs. a flashing orange taskbar button — not even close.

So I built RetroWin — a fully functional Windows-style taskbar that runs on macOS, with pixel-perfect recreations of the classic Windows 98, XP, and Windows 7 themes.

What it does

3 classic themes — Win98 (gray 3D borders), WinXP (blue Luna), Win7 (Aero glass). Not just color swaps — every button, border, gradient, and icon is faithful to the originals.
Real window management — Every window gets its own taskbar button. Click to activate, click again to minimize. You can see window titles, merge or expand multi-window apps, and pin favorites.
Start Menu — A working Start Menu with your apps, pinned programs, system functions (shutdown, restart, lock screen), and a Run dialog.
System tray — Clock, volume control, input method indicator, and custom app icons in the tray area.
Notification flashing — When an app has a new notification, its taskbar button flashes orange, just like Windows.
Multi-monitor support — Independent taskbar on each display.
Auto-hide & scaling — Hides to the screen edge, 50%-200% scaling.

Screenshots

Windows 98:

Windows XP:

Windows 7:

How it compares to uBar

Some of you might know uBar, which is the main alternative in this space. The key differences:

RetroWin	uBar
Focus	Faithful classic Windows themes
Themes	Win98, WinXP, Win7
Start Menu	Full classic Start Menu
Price	Free (core features)
Nostalgia factor	Maximum

If you want a practical modern taskbar, uBar is solid. If you want to feel like it's 2001 again and you just installed XP on your first PC, that's what RetroWin is for.

It works alongside the Dock

RetroWin doesn't replace or modify the Dock. You can run both at the same time. Most people hide the Dock (System Settings → Desktop & Dock → auto-hide) and just use the taskbar.