How to identify OS by window borders?

[I.M.O.G.]

There are some tricks I've read to identifying what OS you are running based off the toolbard and window borders... I just can't remember what those tricks are.

Can you help me out?

This looks like XP to me, but I wanted to confirm if it was that, vista, or win7:

 

[Shelnutt2]

That's defiantly XP, a good way to tell is by looking at the start menu icon and text. They vary in ever version after 2000. Windows 2000 had the 95/98 style windows icon. XP introduced the 16bit color icon, vista kept the icon and change the "Start" font to a stylized one. Windows 7 has the stylized font and a different logo with more alpha values.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Thanks Shelnutt2!

I think there are also differences in the window borders, the way the corners or colors appear when using the "classic windows" theme. Anyone know the details of that too?

Interested for future reference, I have a lot of other screenshots and it'd be good to confirm these things at times when the start menu isn't visible.

 

[hokiealumnus]

It's the start menu / taskbar that give it away to me. Unless you change it manually, in Vista and 7 the classic theme still has the time and date in the lower right, which makes the taskbar thicker than XP, and a little silly looking.

EDIT - Oh, you want it when the start menu isn't there...hmm. I have no idea how to tell. I think the top bar is usually a bit thicker due to the different minimize/maximize/close buttons. That's a guess though.