Classic Shell: Forum

Hello. Thanks for making Classic Shell. It's an awesome utility. I've been using it for years and donated in 2009.

Recently, I did a reformat reinstall of Windows 7. I had forgotten how much it and Microsft SUCK.

I've been messing with this crap for a week now, just trying to get things the way I like them.

For some reason, Classic Shell is not behaving this time around (long, complicated, not worth explaining). So I finally decided to just run without it. So, after uninstallin Classic Shell, I set up the Start menu default in Win7 and "pinned" my favorite apps to the Start Menu, set it to display the last 3 opened apps below that and and turned off all the crap I don'
t want and it was OK.

But then I ran into some of the Explorer problems that made me install CS in the first place. I'm sure I don't need to enumerate them here.

So I reinstalled CS, after purging everything I could find that was CS related (reg entries, appdate etc.), and it trashed my Start Menu again.

What I mean by trashed is, it broke the Recent Apps list, whatever that's called, and completely altered the look and other things.

Isn't there a way to install CS and have it not alter anything until I alter it manually? I thought that's how it worked.

The truth is, there's only a few things I would like to alter. Is this not possible?

Sound like you want to reset the settings. Click on the Backup button at the bottom of the settings and choose Reset.

Yeah, no. That still completely alters the Start Menu etc. It changes all the programs that I pinned. It removes the Recently Used programs list, whatever that's called. And it deletes any settings changes I made to the Special Menu items, or whatever it's called (i.e Display Control Panel as Link etc.)

Anyway, it's cool if this isn't possible. Might be good to think about. Install CS, and you see NO CHANGES. Then you go in and tweak. Just a thought.

And if you guys could fix the most annoying thing in Explorer where you click on a file or folder whose column is partially off screen, and it automatically scrolls over one column to "adjust", thereby causing the file or folder you clicked on to jump out from under your mouse before you've had a chance to double-click it, GRRRRR, I would donate my freakin house.

I don't understand what you mean by "no changes". When you install Classic Shell it will use whatever settings are left over from last time you had it installed. If you don't like the settings, you can either reset them all at once, or selectively. The ones that differ from their default values will be bold.

The contents of the pinned section is controlled by the "Pinned Programs folder" setting. It can either use the root Start Menu folder to make it work like the classic menu, or use a dedicated Pinned folder %APPDATA%\ClassicShell\Pinned. Changing the settings will not affect the contents of those folders. It will just change which of the two is displayed in the menu.

As for the contents of the Programs menu, they are controlled by the software you have installed. And whatever modifications you've done yourself - move, delete, rename shortcuts, etc.

Classic Shell's Start Menu is independent of the Windows 7 Start Menu. It has its own defaults. Once you set it up, you are supposed to save your settings using the Backup button -> Save to XML file. Then they can be easily restored. Also, once you install it on any Windows installation the settings are retained in the Registry so even if you uninstall and reinstall Classic Shell, the same settings will persist unless you reset them. However if you freshly re-installed your copy of Windows and did not have a settings backup XML of Classic Shell, you will have to set up the menu again.

The pinned programs for example are not shared between the original Windows 7 Start Menu and Classic Shell's menu. The Frequently used program list is maintained by Windows. Right click the taskbar, select Properties, go to the Start Menu tab and turn it on if it's disabled.

Fixes cannot be done to the file pane (right side) of Explorer unless there is a documented API for that. The column bug is pretty well known and annoying but Microsoft does not care to fix it.

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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.