Classic Shell: Forum

I recently purchased an Asus transformer book T100, the newer model with the upgraded processor. It runs windows 8.1, which I am not used to. In case you aren't familiar, this computer is a tablet that can dock in a keyboard and runs full windows. I only just got used to windows 7 this year. After playing around with metro and the desktop mode for a little while I decided to try and make the computer run more like classic windows. I then searched up classic shell. Prior to installing classic shell and when using the computer as a tablet without the keyboard attached, any time I clicked on any text box, the onscreen keyboard would pop up automatically. Not the accessibility keyboard, but the mobile style tablet one. Also, although the classic desktop mode and most programs would not auto-rotate the screen when I re-oriented the tablet, some would, particularly some of the preinstalled microsoft apps, such as outlook. I can't remember all the apps that would do this but it was definitely some of them. Both the auto-keyboard and auto-rotate make the pc work much like a tablet, which is primarily what it is and it is a huge pain to use the tablet without these features.

After installing classic shell, these features no longer work. I can still manually pull up the keyboard and then scroll the screen behind and then tap back on the text box and then type on the keyboard, and I can still manually rotate the screen through the graphics options, but this is really not convenient. I cannot attribute the change to anything but installing classic shell. Is it possible that classic shell did this? Is classic shell supposed to do this? Is there any way to keep classic shell and get back these features? Will I get these features back after uninstalling classic shell? I wanted this thing to work like classic windows but since I will be using it like a tablet, I really need to have these features back.

thanks!

Classic Shell should not affect this functionality because all it does is it adds a Start button+menu to the Taskbar, and optional Explorer+IE addons. It is not supposed to do this and Metro functionality should not even be affected.

The easiest way to know if Classic Shell caused this or these features simply stopped working is to temporarily uninstall Classic Shell. When you uninstall, all of its changes are reversed and Windows behavior should return to the way it was before. All your Classic Shell settings will be preserved when you reinstall it. Note that Classic Shell does not do any permanent modification or improper/dangerous patching of Windows system files, nor does it change any Windows settings.

The touch keyboard is usually enabled by right clicking the Taskbar:


or by directly running "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ink\TabTip.exe". Also, the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service in Services.msc should be set to Automatic, see if it automatically got Disabled or set to Manual.

As for screen auto rotation, check in this article: http://www.howtogeek.com/129732/how-to-disable-screen-rotation-in-windows-8/ if each of these steps are enabled.

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Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Thank you for the excellent answer to my question. Also, thank you for going well beyond expectation and pointing me in the right direction as to how to resolve my issues. I will give your recommendations a try. I am out of my element with windows 8.1 and tablets in general and I find it frustrating that I can't really use the tablet as a tablet so it is just a small laptop to me right now. This is the opposite experience I have had with android devices which just seem to do what you want them too, but I really want this plus full windows functionality. I don't think any OS has provided this experience yet, and now I am hearing of hybrid windows/android systems to handle this desire.