This is why I run XFCE with the Chicago95 theme. Sure, it's Windows 95 but the 2000 UI wasn't a big divergence from memory. It's familiar and gets out of the way. https://github.com/grassmunk/Chicago95
The Chicago95 theme is great, but https://github.com/B00merang-Project/Windows-Classic (and many other repositories under the same GitHub user) is a nice addition: it has styling for other DEs and a theme for GTK 4. The GTK 4 theme doesn't remove the excess padding unfortunately, but at least it has a proper 3D beveled look which actually works great with the "responsive", mobile-ready apps.
