3 sleek apps that make my Windows 11 PC more fun

• Paperclip by FireCube
• Lively Wallpaper
• Folder Icon Painter

Let’s face it: as an operating system, Windows 11 isn’t exactly revered for its fun, playful end-user experience. Microsoft’s bread and butter has always been enterprise, servers, and embedded systems, with the company generally privileging productivity and office work use cases above everyday consumer delight.

That being said, Windows 11 is a relatively free and open platform, hosting a massive backlog of powerful applications that can tweak the system and overhaul user interface elements. As such, third-party developers have been able to craft exceptional applications for the OS, some of which add real whimsy to an otherwise sterile digital environment.

Here are three software programs that I choose to run on my own personal PC, as they add some much-needed fun factor to the Windows 11 experience without compromising on productivity.

Paperclip by FireCube

The (unofficial) return of Clippy

Paperclip by FireCube is a non-Microsoft-affiliated application that brings Clippit of Microsoft Office Assistant fame to the modern PC. More commonly known as Clippy, the anthropomorphic paper clip virtual assistant was maligned in its heyday as an intrusive software element, while being retrospectively admired and memeified some quarter-century later.

Today, the modern third-party Paperclip app is a genuine delight to use. Clippy gracefully assumes his stylized Fluent Emoji form, perched on the desktop and always ready to chat up a storm. Under the hood, the chatbot is powered by a dedicated Large Language Model (LLM), mixing AI with free and open-source software to embed charming retro-futurism onto your PC.

Lively Wallpaper

Make your desktop whimsical and aesthetic

There are plenty of third-party motion wallpaper applications available for Windows 11, including the popular Wallpaper Engine found on the Steam storefront. Personally, I always spring for an alternative app known as Lively Wallpaper, which I find to be lighter, cleaner, and extensible enough to make for an enjoyable experience without overwhelm.

Lively Wallpaper is free and open-source, allowing you to set GIFs, video files, and even web pages as dynamically adjusting PC background wallpapers. Out of the box, the app offers a library of built-in options, including a lovely Fluids option that’s both reactive and mesmerizing. Each choice is expertly crafted, and it goes a long way in injecting some personality into any drab office environment.

Folder Icon Painter

Color coding is both practical and delightful

On macOS (and now on iPadOS and iOS, too), color coding folder icons is a useful organizational feature that helps with tagging files according to preference. Unfortunately, Windows 11-based PCs lack an equivalent feature at the native level, leaving third-party alternatives like the free Folder Icon Painter app to pick up the slack.

Folder Icon Painter works across both Windows 11 and the now out-of-date Windows 10, allowing you to select from a rainbow of colors to designate for specific folders on your system. Aside from helping with file management, color coding is simply a fun activity that livens up the computing experience in a small but appreciable manner.