Many users love to personalize the Windows design to make it feel their own and stand out from everyone else. Back in the Windows 7 era, this was easy and common: you could use themes and custom icons from other developers. With the arrival of Windows 10, all of those experiences vanished, thanks to the design and security features of Microsoft’s new operating system. But with Cairo, you can give your computer a fresh look and a style that’s truly yours.
Cairo is a small, free program (3 MB) that, once installed, becomes a regular part of the system. When you run it, it takes control of the default desktop and replaces it with the following features:
Dynamic Desktop
The platform shows your user folders right on the desktop. You can view one folder at a time and browse other directories using a small navigation panel with back, forward, home, and file explorer buttons. Cairo’s taskbar is a “drawer” where you can add and pin programs and see all running environments. At the top of the desktop, you’ll find a menu bar that looks a lot like the one in Mac OS X.
Programs Menu
The menu bar gives you options to open the list of installed programs and shortcuts. In the programs list, you can organize them into categories, and even create new ones.
Besides the programs list and system information, you’ll also find these functions: pin folders and create Stacks folders, which let you access a directory without opening it in File Explorer. When you click a folder from the menu bar, an overlay opens showing its contents along with a button to open it in File Explorer.
Cairo is a very good desktop environment for Windows 10 (it also works on previous versions), with a polished design and fully configurable. Most importantly, it doesn’t consume too many system resources.
