How to get the 2000s feel on modern PC/laptop.

1. RETROBAR

RetroBar is such a neat tool, you download it and it transforms the bar at the bottom of your PC to any previous version of Windows you desire! Like 90s, XP, 7 and so on. 

2. BETTERDISCORD AND MSN/WINDOWS LIVE MESSENGER

Downloading BetterDiscord allows you to use custom html to turn your discord into a 2000s style social app, like MSN was, and there are plenty of premade codes on the website if you're not confident in coding yourself.

MSN/Windows Live Messenger isn't ACTUALLY gone but the og server is, someone (Escargot) in fact has created a NEW working server to run the original app through! So yes, you can still use MSN. Make an account to get an email and create a password that works, then download MSN! Make sure to download the Windows 11 patch too, if you are using Windows 11, or it won't work. You can even get Yahoo mail again via this, it's INCREDIBLE work done to restore some nostalgic favs. Here is the site!!

(NINA and ESCARGOT can also run other old socials like AOL, AIM, Yahoo mail and possibly more if you research!)

3. STYLUS

Stylus (here for firefox, here for chrome, here for opera gx, here for microsoft edge, NOT AVAILABLE ON SAFARI) is a Browser extension that allows you to, again, use custom code but for webpages. For example, if you search then add premade codes from the UserStyles site to Stylus, you can turn Tumblr into 2013 tumblr, YouTube to 2011 YouTube, and so on.

4. OLDSCHOOL SITES OR ONES INSPIRED BY OLD SCHOOL SITES

I mean, you guys already ARE by being on here haha, but there's more than just this website for social stuff! Even if this may be one of my fav sites yet.

Another Myspace dupe that doesn't have the video content that FriendRewind does, is SpaceHey (if you reside in the UK like me, you will need a VPN, a good free mobile VPN app is 'Hide.me VPN' on app stores. Unfortunately I'm yet to find a non-dodgy PC VPN that's free, unless you use Firefox which has a free one inbuilt). Previously there was Myspace.windows93, however you can no longer make accounts on there even though the site is still up to view.

A VampireFreaks dupe, that isn't really a dupe but more a place for people to be nostalgic about the OG VampireFreaks social media, is VampFreaks. A site that's been around since the early 2000s that's very similar to VampireFreaks is VampireRave. If you want the user rating aspect of the OG, SoEmo is a good site for this.

Recently I stumbled upon a new dupe, one for Bebo, called Beebzly! 

There's also a forum based on general old 2000s forums called NuclearBoom. Plus a bunch of NeoCities sites with things from tutorials, to photo editors, to help with coding your FriendRewind profile.

Some sites that are still up are of course Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter (I refuse to call it anything else), LiveJournal, Flickr and so on, but a more niche social site is FriendProject which some original scene girls actually used. There's also a roleplayer version of this site, called Roleplayer.me ! Something cool about these sites is you can change the date of your blog entries to 2009.

There are also some super cool old web inspired mobile apps if you prefer those, like PI.FYI that has a website too (it's a beautiful mess just like old websites were), and a very new app which is only available on IOS currently called PikoChat which draws inspiration from both pictochat on the Nintendo DS and the frutiger aero aesthetic of the 2000s.

Old avatar games are also still available, there's probably still a lot out there but my favs are IMVU and SecondLife, these two hold a lot of personal nostalgia for me!

5. Download and use old Windows Movie Maker!

This is also personally nostalgic to me, and I have a tutorial here on how to do it.

There are also sites like this that let you lower the audio quality for your music, so you can add crispy sounding sounds on Movie Maker.