Classic Shell: Forum

Hello!

Hello I have a bunch of programs that are not in the programs folder and not a registered application (doesn't appear in appwiz). How can I add the folder that contains them to Classic Start Menu?

The start menu simply shows contents of folders. If all those programs are in the same folder, you can add it to the main menu as a custom item. If not, I would recommend adding a sub-folder inside Programs and creating shortcuts to those programs inside it.

Umm... Main menu? How? Where?

They are in subfolders of a same folder. So there is no way to add a folder and have exe-s in the subfolders (somtimes multiple leves) appear?

Go to the Customize Start Menu tab in the settings. Create a new custom item (drag the custom item from the right column to the left, somewhere near or inside the ProgramsItem). Double-click on it to open the settings. In the Link box enter the path to your folder.
This will add the folder to the start menu. However it will not filter exes. It will show all contents.
If you want a folder that only shows programs, you need to create a new empty folder and create shortcuts to the programs inside it.

Thanks!
But it the items don't show up in the search results. Do I need to wait for them to be indexed or something?

Right. only items inside the Start Menu folder are searched. Maybe you should put your shortcuts in a folder right under Start Menu.

I added the custom folder. I didn't make shortcuts. They're infeasible.

Then you can also add your folders to the PATH. The start menu searches the path for exes. It doesn't search sub-folders of folders from the path though. So you have to add all folders individually. Adding just the root folder will not work.

avada, you want to add a folder containing EXEs so the search box will search them, right? Open SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe -> Environment Variables ->. Under System variables, edit the value of 'Path', add a \; after the last path and add your path there. .e.g. if 'Variable value' is already:
%SystemRoot%\system32


modify it to be
%SystemRoot%\system32\;C:\Your Folder\;

This will add the folder to the system path. EXEs from all folders in the system path are searched by Classic Start Menu.

The next major version of Classic Shell, will add Windows Search integration so you can use the regular "Indexing Options" Control Panel to add folders to index and search.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

Unfortunately no. It's more like "program files". In sub folders. At first I only put a few stuff there but after a while I put most programs there, because windows keeps eating up drive c: like crazy (mostly because stupid winsxs I think).

I have windows search disabled because it kept pestering my drives ott much (or at least I thought so) when the screen saver enabled. But if CSM moves to windows search I might enable it.

"Major version" means it's not the next few?

Then your best bet is creating shortcuts to all the programs you want searched and paste them inside %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs or a folder inside %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. Then they will be instantly searched and even if you keep Windows Search disabled in the next version, they will be searched.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

ű

Any known mass shortcut creater tools?

You can do an Explorer search for *.EXE or *.* or whatever your criteria is in that folder. Then select them all and right clicking the selection and choose "Copy". Then open the Start Menu Programs folder or create a subfolder inside it, and do "Paste shortcut".

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

So, now that 4.0 is released is there a better way than making a bunch of icons for non standard locations?

With Classic Shell 4.0 having added Windows Search integration, you can enable indexing and add the folder to Indexing Options Control Panel. Let it get indexed. You can monitor how many items are indexed, how many are left to be indexed and control the speed of indexing using this gadget: http://gallery-live.com/sidebar-gadgets ... s%20Gadget Once it indexed, the programs (EXEs) or shortcuts (LNKs) should show up in Classic Start Menu search. Only thing is they will show under the "Files" heading, not "Programs".

The old path searching functionality is intact in Classic Shell 4.0. If you still prefer to keep indexing off, and they are EXEs, then you can definitely add all the folders to the system path and the EXEs will be searched even if the indexing is off.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

Maybe I'll try it. ATM I have the search service disabled, because it kept pestering the SSD and the HDD too often.

But why is it not possible to add a folder that's treated like the two program files locations? Those are searched and programs from the show up in the start menu without the indexing service. Is this handled by windows or CSM?

PS:
Is there a way to disable the unwanted Start Screen item in the start menu? Didn't find it on the customize tab or the special items tab.

The 2 program locations contain shortcuts (*.LNK files), not EXEs. If you put any LNK files inside the 2 Programs directories, they will be searched without indexing.

Classic Start Menu's path searching feature also works without indexing. You add as many folders as you want containing your EXEs to the System path as I mentioned earlier in this topic. Then they will be searched. Maybe in a future version, Ivo can add LNK file searching for the path searching feature so the LNK files don't have to be copied to the Start Menu Programs folders, but that's up to him to decide.

Are you facing any difficulty creating shortcuts to the EXEs you want and copying them to the Start Menu Programs folder? You can right click each EXE and click Create shortcut. Move that shortcut to the Programs folder. Or you can do a search for ALL EXEs, select them all, right click on any of them and select Copy. Then open Start Menu Programs folder and click "Paste Shortcut".


Finally, the third type is indexed results.

To remove the Start screen icon, right click it and choose 'Unpin from Start Menu (Classic Shell)'

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

My mistake. I actually meant "%ProgramFiles(x86)%" and "%ProgramFiles". But now I see that probably all/most programs that are installed there have .lnk-s too too.

The problematic part with shortcuts was that I have a lot of programs. That meant creating icons in bulk, and filtering out the useless ones. Also I have to do it manually if I add a new program.

Is that restricted to executable files? If not a user specifiable extension list would be welcome.

Huh. I guess it's a new way to do things. I have no clue how would I bring it back if I wanted to though.

For your case, the best solution might indeed be adding those directories one by one to your system path, so ALL EXEs from them will be searched. No need to create shortcuts.






Windows Search indexing supports both LNK and EXE (and any other additional file types for which IFilters are installed).





It's not permanently removed. To bring the Start screen icon back, go to the Main Menu tab in Start Menu settings and check the option: Show Start screen shortcut.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

Indexing stuff doesn't work.
I enabled indexing for two folders where I have programs, but they don't show up in the search field when I type.

On the other hand it finds stuff that are in the download/documents folder.

Hmm. Not sure why it didn't work for you. When I tried adding some EXEs and shortcuts, it worked for me. I also have a folder where there are some EXE programs and shortcuts and I have it added to Indexing Options. Only thing is they were listed under Files not Programs. Does Indexing Options show you as all items indexed and that indexing is complete?

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

What? Where?

Anyway I have the Window Search service enabled, I ticked the indexing attribute in the special attributes window and applied it to containing files/folders. In the CSM options I have "search files" ticked (not the sub-options). Am I missing anything?

In the Desktop Control Panel, there is a separate item called Indexing Options. Open it, click "Modify" and then you need to add the folder there which you want to be indexed and wait for it to be indexed. That is the correct way to tell Windows to index it, not the Index attribute in Properties.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

Ok... Thanks! Then what is that attribute for?

Edit:
Ugh. I have a bunch of folders popping up instead of exe files

The index attribute as I understand is for opting out a specific file out of indexing its contents in addition to file properties. It tells Windows Search to not index the contents of certain files.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

Ugh. The indexing settings are frustrating. All file types are checked by default and there's a lot of them. Also annyoingly I don't see a filtering option for folders, so useless keep popping up in search results.

The search box supports wildcard filtering so you could also type this into the Start Menu's search box: C:\YourFolderContainingEXEs\*.exe or C:\YourFolderContainingEXEs\av*.exe and so on. You could assign a shorter environment variable to your folder such as %apps% and then type into the search: %apps%\*.exe

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

If I have to use the searchbox in that cumbersome way I gained nothing by indexing...

Anyway. Does anyone know of a way to make the indexer ignore folders? And a better tool then the silly built in windows one that only allows unchecking filetypes one-by-one...

You still have the option of adding them to the system path even if indexing is turned off. How many subfolders are there? Couldn't you add all the subfolders to the system path separated by a semicolon as I mentioned above? Then all EXEs within them will be searched.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

Ok, so I figured out where are the indexing settings stored. In HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.
By adding a teszt extension it looks like HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.[extension]\PersistentHandler subkey with a value of {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} is what disables indexing for an extension

Now the question is what key for no-extension and folder...

My best tip was HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\* and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder, but apparently I'm wrong...

You can't prevent indexing of folders but you can prevent returning them in search results. The search box supports the Windows Advanced Query Syntax. So you can type:

<Your search term> —kind:folder(— means exclude items with the kind:folder).

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

I see. Well, it l'll go back to making .lnk-s then.

I got notifications for like a handful of old posts. What's happening?

Old posts? No idea. There is a link at the top of the post called "Subscribe topic/Unsubscribe topic".

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

I got that too. Like 400 emails this morning. I have noticed in the past that I don't get emails for some of the new post or topics. It is possible those emails got stuck or something, and I'm finally getting them after all this time.

It may be related to the upgrade to the new version of the forum software last weekend.

That must have been fun.