How to Bring Back Classic XP Network Blinking Icon in Windows 7

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Any UI tweak to the new Windows 7 is almost impossible if they don’t support the old UI natively. But just like what we showed you on bring the old classic menu back, with a small utility you can do the same to bring back the old XP blink network icon in the notification area.

What you need:

Download the LanLights first.

Install it.

lan light thumb - How to Bring Back Classic XP Network Blinking Icon in Windows 7

Under the Options menu, Click “Change Status Icons”

That should will bring you this dialog

XP mode thumb - How to Bring Back Classic XP Network Blinking Icon in Windows 7

Pick the style you want your icon to be shown and save it.

Now you need to hide the Windows 7 network Notification icon. Go to Taskbar Right Click > Properties > Customize

taskbar thumb - How to Bring Back Classic XP Network Blinking Icon in Windows 7

hide network icon thumb - How to Bring Back Classic XP Network Blinking Icon in Windows 7

Under the Network Dropdown, choose Hide icon and notifications.

and You are all set !

By now you should see the Old XP Style Network icon appear

old network icon thumb - How to Bring Back Classic XP Network Blinking Icon in Windows 7

Of course you have to note that by doing this you will not have the ability to toggle in between which network(WIFI networks) you want to be connected. Since you will loss the “Jump List” from the original network notification icon.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Absolutely unoptimized application. It has a lot of features yes BUT the fact is that it uses so much CPU time that’s just insane for a tiny utility that should replace and be compared to once integrated features on previous Windows versions.
    The author should rewrite his algorithms and optimize them heavily in assembly if he wants to be taken seriously. The application as is it’s unusable due to too high CPU usage even on new fast machines (A 3-4% CPU time on a Nehalem Core i7 system, a 5-6% CPU time on a Core2Quad Q9650 system and 9-10% on a Core2Duo T2400 1.83GHz notebook it’s just unacceptable)

    • This only works for shortcuts:
      Copy shell32.dll from a Windows XP install from c:windowssystem32. Save it on your Win7 system someplace like an old Downloads folder. Then manually change whatever Win7 icons to their XP counterparts by right clicking on the shortcut, clicking Properties, and clicking Change Icon. You point it to the old XP shell32.dll file and then there are your more familiar icons.

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