Classic Shell: Forum

Here is a list of additional programs/scripts/tweaks that help customize and improve upon windows. Ill do my best to aggregate all of the programs into the first post.
Freeware is preferable, but in some cases shareware may be posted (IE if there is no decent freeware alternative). In order to make things easier when submitting a resource link please include: Resource name, a brief description (2-3 sentences), Price (and duration of trial period if any), OS Compatibility list helps if you can find it , and link to website its hosted on.



Rainmeter

Compatibility: Win XP through Win 10
Price: Freeware
Link: http://rainmeter.net/cms/
Description: displays customization skins, like memory and battery power, RSS feeds and weather forecasts, right on your desktop. Many skins are even functional: they can record your notes and to-do lists, launch your favorite applications, and control your media player



QTTabsbar

Compatibility: Win XP through Win 10
Price: Freeware
Link: http://qttabbar.wikidot.com
Description: QTTabs bars primary function is to add tabs to windows explorer, making it easier to manage sessions with multiple tabs. QTTabs bar also has a variety of other customization features.
NOTE: It can be somewhat difficult to customize it to your liking but the end result is pretty good.




Agent Ransack

Compatibility: Win XP through Win 10
Price: Free FULL VERSION for non-comercial use. otherwise 40$
Link: http://www.mythicsoft.com/page.aspx?typ ... &page=home
Description: Agent Ransack is a search alternative to windows default search, it offers faster and better results, without a need to be indexed (which many believe is hard on SSD's), It can take advantage of the windows default indexing service if it isn't turned off.



7 Taskbar Tweaker


Compatibility: Win 7-10
Price: Freeware
Link: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Syst ... aker.shtml
Description: 7 Taskbar Tweaker enables you to tweak your Windows 7 taskbar.



Display Fusion


Compatibility: XP - 10
Price: 30 day free trial, and free stunted version; 25$ to buy
Link: http://www.displayfusion.com/
Description: Display fusion aims at multi-monitor functionality, from extending the task bar, to allowing separate backgrounds for each monitor and a host of other features including window snapping.



Fences


Compatibility: XP - 10
Price: Ver 1.0 is free, so disable updates; Ver 2.0+ cost $9.99
Link: http://www.filehippo.com/download_fences/6909/
Description: Fences is a desktop tool that helps organice your desktop icons into groups.



Cursor Lock


Compatibility: XP - 10
Price: Freeware
Link: http://www.snakebytestudios.com/project ... rsor-lock/
Description: Cursor Lock, allows you to lock your cursor, either on screen or in a window via hot-key, making playing in Window-mode far easier.
Note: the program itself is a little hard to configure innitially, and there is no option to start the program disabled (after a restart, your cursor will be locked in the active window, untill the toggle hotkey is pressed)



Explorer Toolbar Editor


Compatibility: Vista-10
Price: Freeware
Link: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.16
Description: This handy little tool allows users to add and remove buttons from the command bar (that blue toolbar added in windows vista, that changes depending on the folder) the only downside is you cant add custom button.



FileMenu Tools


Compatibility: 7-10
Price: Freeware
Link: http://www.lopesoft.com/en/filemenutools
Description: This program allows you to customize the right click context menu, with about 40 pre-built commands, or you can even add custom commands to any executable you wish. The only disadvantage i see is you cant pin directly to the right-click menu, but in a sub-menu labeled Filemenu Tools.
Note: The installer includes some crap-ware that you probably want to avoid, so pay attention when installing!



Folder X Options


Compatibility: Windows 7-10
Price: Freeware
Link: http://free-sk.t-com.hr/T800soft/software/FolderOptions.htm
Description: Folder X Options has 4 features: Disable full row selection, Add Sortby header to ALL views instead of just details, Enable icon Re-ordering (a feature lost in XP), and Keep focus on file pane.


------------ This is for easy copy paste-------------
Compatibility:
Price:
Link:
Description:

This post is for all cosmetic mods/themes/programs. that don't necessarily add function to windows, but do help make it visually appealing or stylish. The format should generally be the same as above.




Compatibility: Win8
Price: Freeware
Link: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.96
Description: Adjust the width of windows borders in windows 8. Simple and functional. While not running all the time (once you make your settings you can forget about it or the program with your settings remaining)

The current post limit is 60000 characters.
As for Display Fusion, we worked together to ensure our products are compatible with each other. I get a small commission if somebody buys DF through this site.

ah good enough, shame most of display fusions features are in windows 8 though, from what i read on the old forum i thought they did all the compatibility on there side though

IMHO personally though, DisplayFusion has slow performance.

_________________
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 used it for about 3 months before i had windows 8, it wasnt all that slow for me... but it does have a few inconsistencies when compared to the windows taskbar, and i would recomend if using it on windows 8, just removing the taskbar portion of the program

Here's a simple GUI tool to customize the command bar: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.16 Between the Classic Explorer toolbar and the command bar, all commands in Explorer fit on two compact rows vs the abominable ribbon. It's a good idea to put those commands on the command bar which the Classic Explorer toolbar doesn't have.

Since Windows 7 makes it impossible to add new items to the Windows Menu context Shell, like you could so easily do in Windows XP, this Solution lets you Add your own Items in a pop-out Sub-menu

Its a Program that lets you add any custom Right-click menu items of your choice to the Windows Menu Shell

It also comes installed with many of its own menu items.

it functions as a sub-menu in the existing shell, named "Filemenu Tools"

Download the Program Here, from http://www.lopesoft.com

FileMenu Tools is good but beware of the adware/crapware it bundles. With every version/update, it bundles new ways of installing crapware, some without option. I think crapware-bundling programs really suck.

_________________
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.

the version he linked to i dont seem to see any added crapware that i didnt select during install, you just have to click advanced and uncheck the crapware install, and then dont click next, click skip for the next menu (which they placed in the back position) and the rest should be just hitting next

although i think i saw another right click context editor, ima try to find it again and compare them to see which is better, and thus worth noting before i update the innitial

ya, i dont remember how it installed, but maybe it was a bit tricky

i've just gotten used to being extra careful during all my installs.. if it at least gives me the option, i'll let the developer make a few extra bucks, i dont mind

but i really hate it when it behaves in anyway abnormally or maliciously by installing anything anywhere or making any reg entries or shortcuts i didnt specify or expect, or making things difficult to uninstall etc..

but ya, sorry if its difficult, but i seem to remember not having any problems with this program

I'd love something better, something with the option to pin directly, not through a sub-menu would be great..

thanks guys

didnt seem like to many problems with me (as i described) quite a few programs try to install 1-2 bloat/crapwares you just have to pay attention during the install , something you really should be doing anyways.. so in a way they help correct a bad behavior XD..

but yea ill still look for that alternative i seem to remember.., but not tonight XD

ya.. or programs like Ghisler's Total Commander http://www.ghisler.com/

a great program for viewing files that explorer sometimes cant even see, and for file management... but everytime you start it you have to click a number which always appears in a different order, or it asks for a different number to click, 1, 2, or 3

a bit weird.. but its a great tool, and its his way of offering it free, while still trying to make some money on the side.. thats cool

its alot of work to make these free programs, i'm totally cool with them wanting to make some money, so long as its nothing malicious, devious, hidden, suspicious, or doesnt behave or uninstall like it should.. i even call anything that leaves unwanted icons, links, or folders around crapware too

it ask you to click a number?, hmm thats his way of offering the full featured version for free, and still giving the users a reason to buy it..., personally thats one of my preferred methods for shareware (aslong as the 'anoynances' are not to annoying

i really hate trialware, and will uninstall/not download something thats trialware regardless of the trial length (if its 6 months or more i might give it a shot, but only if theres no free alternatives)
ive actually donated quite a bit more to freeware than ive ever spent on software

in many, many countries, its difficult to obtain a credit card that you could even use online.. they give them away in developed countries, but alot of countries you have to put up hundreds of thousands of USD as collateral, your house, and everything, and it takes months to get it, if you can get it

so freeware is all a large percentage of the worlds population can even get..

most shareware/trial ware doesnt require a credit card innitially, not to mention other non-legitimate means of obtaining software

no idea what ur talking about

but i'm sure everyone who cant buy anything online even if they wanted to does

im saying that there are ways around purchasing most software, even if it has a version you can purchase

i suppose it has to be that way, otherwise we'd all be enslaved & oppressed by ruthless totalitarians

it is intended to work the way it does

but if you are making money from something, or you are able to, you should definitely pay the developer, if possible

for:

• disabling full-row select (for dragging & dropping files)
• Column Headers in all Views
• Enable Icon Re-ordering
• Keep Focus on File List view

• Batch Renaming folders with many parameters with an easy-to-use Modern Graphical User Interface

@JoeJoeSoft
I think i should probably focus more twards Integrated improvements on this list, a mass folder renamer is more of a specialist tool
if you could find a decent file renamer with good shell integration though.. that might be worth adding...

@T800;
ill add that to the list, in a few minutes after i test it out (it says for win7 but some of the features will likely work on w8)

@borderpadding
this issue is a rather tiny one , maybe ill make another post/topic specific to cosmetic only changes (yes it adds a few milimeters more space to do stuff.. but it is still cosmetic

ok, well, the main reason i put it there is that RenameMaster integrates itself into a folders context menu, so you have a quick way to rename a folder full of items, for example, you can delete "- Shortcut" from all files, or add any word or property to any place in the name, etc. and it also creates bat files and can save & run scripts..

I think its quite handy for when you're organizing start Menu Folder Items, etc..

i suggest, keeping the thread open to tools which are useful in the workflow of setting up any custom settings or configurations you might want to add, including cosmetic, or advanced user customizations, even things like Icon-Creators, etc.

otherwise we'll have several threads full of programs, which would seem more difficult.

just my two cents

reviewing the 2:

JoeJoe
Windows shell does need a more advanced renamer; however this one seems way to advanced @.@

the one in filemenu tools (you linked to it above, seems like a decent blend of advanced features and basic design
ill probably be adding filemenu tools soon actually.... cause ive been messing around with it, although some of the integeration is a little rough

For:
Editing/Customizing Skins

@ FileRenamer, there are many more difficult to use programs, that can do the similar things to FileRenamer, but this one is just drop down lists, its way more simple.. I used to use one where i had to add all my commands with special syntax to get the job done.. its made life much simpler.. for those of us who often find ourselves needing to rename items

Sure there are more complicated ones, with the same or more features
there are also simpler ones, with better integration and enough features
also its integration isnt so great, (it works on whole folders sure, but you cant select a bunch of files, and right click, to get its context. (atleast not without a 3rd party app)

you have filemenu tools installed right?
compare JoeJoes to the "advanced renamer" tool that it comes bundled with filemenu tools, just to see if theres any features you really need that you can only do in Joe joes (i know joe joes is more powerful, just wondering if you truely need/use that extra power)

In my personal opinion UI should be as minimal as possible, any button you dont use, is a button not worth having

filemenu tools would work fine for most uses..

u cant believe how may times i've needed that one though.. probably most people dont.. i'd go with filemenu tools one, its a bit more complicated though, imo

i actually found it a bit simpler , the fact that the other one bombards you with like 20 options right off the bat in a single little section.. is kinda unnerving

so your saying you still needed that one because filemenu tools wasnt powerful enough? or because you didnt have filemenu tools installed?

it wasnt powerful enough for a couple projects.. where i was extracting databases to thousands of text files, naming them with a line from within the database, adding to the name to keep them in order, where the entire name was separated with underscores too, then renaming them all to completely different normal names to put them in various different orders

but filemenu tools is way powerful too, but i think rename master is easier, since it just asks you questions of what u want to do, so u just click buttons more than trying to figure anything out..

_________________
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.

wow, great tool..

do u suppose saving the backups on the C drive is best, for Command accessibility, or off the C drive for safety, but at least on the primary Physical Drive

^^ That's up to you, depending on what drive letters you can access.

_________________
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.

when I restarted my computer, it gave me a bunch of errors saying it couldnt write the file, proceed to next file.. it went on and on, so i just clicked no to stop the prompts

when i opened Erunt again and tried to save it again, it said the folder already existed overwrite? i clicked yes, then it said the contents couldnt be deleted

do you think this has to be that it doesnt have Administrator Privileges?

^^ Of course. I assumed you would read the FAQ on the site. ERUNT has to be run as administrator to work. But they recommend disabling UAC, absolutely NO IMHO. If you want to correctly do it at startup (by default, startup apps can't run as admin), use an app like Startup Unblocker (http://www.jimmah.com/vista/Applications/autostart_admin_program.aspx). Startup Unblocker uses Task Scheduler's COM APIs to schedule it as a task to run with admin privileges at startup. It will automate the work of having to set up any program to run as admin at startup via a neat, simple UI. Btw note that ERUNT consumes lots of CPU so your startup might be slowed down if the registry gets very large. As an alternative, you could schedule ERUNT via Task Scheduler to run when your PC is idle for x number of minutes. When PC is idle, nothing else is running so the daily registry backup will finish more quickly and nothing will be slowed down.

_________________
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.

cool, think i'll go with the Task..

thanks

Adds Size of the Folder information to Windows 7 Explorer.. its not a column, but opens a small window that displays all folders & their sizes where ever you navigate to. if anyone figures out how to add a folder size column, let me know


A very awesome Explorer Replacement with 12 layouts of up to 4 window panes, that can show filesize in a column

Go to Menu>Extras>Data Size Information>Show Q's Internal Data Size Information

then go again to Menu>Extras>Data Size Information>Show Folder Size

Replaces the system clock automatically, and actually works on Windows 7 x64

• After Download, Extract it to a Location of your choice, and open the folder "x64" and click on the .exe file there. (if your Windows is 64-bit, otherwise open the Win32 folder)
• Be sure to click "Replace System Clock" as it starts up and runs through the wizard
• On the "About" tab, you can opt to "Start T-Clock 2010 x64 When Windows Starts"
• On the "Clock Text" tab, you can select any font you have installed, any size, any color "..."
• And you can select the following Font Styles:
  
  • Anti-Aliased
  • No Aliasing
  • Clear Type XP
  • Clear Type Natural
  • Draft
  • Proof
  • Default Win2000
  • Bold
  • Italics
• You can adjust the Vertical Spacing in case you use multi-level taskbars,, and the Horizontal spacing as well..
• It can also make the Entire Taskbar Transparent (dont go above 85% or it will disappear!)
• On the "Time format" tab you can specify hh:nn:ss ddd, mm/dd/yy in any order.. note "nn" for minutes, and not 'mm', which is used for Months
  
  • Use 'dd' for "Date #", and 'ddd' for "Wed", and 'dddd' for "Wednesday"
  • Use 'mm' for "03", 'mmm' for "Mar" and 'mmmm' for "March"
  • Use 'yy' for "13" and 'yyyy' for "2013"
  • Use '/', '-' or '.' for separating punctuation, such as 03/13/13, 03-13-13, or 03.13.13
  • Use: \n for a Line Break
  • such as: "hh:nn:ss \n dddd \n dd.mmmm.yyyy " to give you the layout in the image below.. at font size 10
• It has customizable Menu Items you can create to files or paths, or use command Line & Switches for tasks, etc.. you can add to the menu
• It has Alarms, Timers, Stopwatches, Timer Watch, Display Properties, A Calendar, and links to Task Manager and access to other system functions as well..

Update: Check out an updated fork called T-Clock Redux: https://github.com/White-Tiger/T-Clock

Here is a cool site.. I'd be interested in knowing what programs people find useful on there..

I use System Folders Customizer, which was apparently developed by a 13-year old

the Site is here:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/list-free ... ndows-club

Edit: apparently the above site from windowsclub has a bunch of adware or other crap.. at least the program above was clean when I got it.. its the only one i've used from their site.. so, i guess use the others at your own risk...

I found this cool little portable 88kb program called Signal NetStat 2. it can help you troubleshoot problems with add-ons, extensions, tools, and other things which you suspect are covertly accessing the internet, etc..

Click on a Remote IP Address that your computer is connected to, and it will list the Port numbers & Local Port Numbers it uses, as well as the status of Listening/Wait/Connected status of each port, and also the Host Name

Scroll through the Remote IP list, click it, and the Host Name will scroll automatically after you click

You can click "Block" to block an IP's Access to Ports

Click "Show Hosts" to display the Hosts, and "Show Listenings" for Listening Status

you can also click to Get DNS & click to Get IP

I suggest not turning on "refresh every 5 seconds" since it takes a little while to refresh, and just refresh when you want to see whats going on

here is the executable: Signal NetStat 2.exe

its Canadian.. so, its harmless..

After you get your Host & IP, you can look them up on Hurricane Electric Internet Services at http://bgp.he.net/ to get IP Info, WhoIs, DNS, & RBL data

and search the Host online for more details

works with Windows 7 to customize the appearance of shortcut arrows, their size, or remove them completely.

hard to find a reliable Download site though.. just search for FxVisor64.msi or FxVisor32.msi

Its a very small file, capable of switching your default Audio Playback Device with one-click of a mouse button

Great for headsets or headphones you often need to change back and forth to your regular speakers with

It also Monitors Sound Decibel Levels

Download the File Here: Audioswitch Download

The Source Project is here:
https://code.google.com/p/audioswitch/

• Run the Program
• Right-click the Programs icon to Automatically Switch with one-click
• Left-Click to Select & Monitor Devices
• Set a Hot Key by Holding Down Ctrl for 3 seconds, then pressing the Hotkey of your choice while still holding Ctrl (or Alt/Shift, etc)

The default Icon is a bit hard to See on the Quick Launch or small Icon Start Menu... I use this one at the moment:

Compatibility: Xp-Windows 8
Price: Freeware
Link: http://ejie.me/
Description: Adds tabs, that preform pretty similar to chromes, it can be unstable at times (especially in conjunction with QTTabsbar), and doesn't have to many features, but it is aesthetically pleasing, and from the looks of it, is still being improved.

I still need to do some more testing on it before i add it to the first post though .

I use Classic Shell with Clover and I've got a compatibility issue.

Clover 'overide' the XP classic navigation pane ( connected folders with lines ) since the last update.

Strangely, if you open a explorer windows with the win+e shortcut, clover DOES open with the xp classic navigation. But , if you open a new tab OR open a windows explorer windows but the launching explorer.exe or else, the XP classic navigation won't work ?!

Any idea ??

clover doesnt seem to have alot of options right now, so if clovers overridding classics menus sometimes, you have 2 options, disable the feature in classic shell; so its the same in both situations. or try to contact clovers creator to get it fixed.

also i suspect that the feature isnt intentionally disabled, so it probably wont get any support. (it might be an update issue, IE clover using a copy of explorer.exe, and classic shell writing to the origional)

ill try out sagethumbs later,

also this reminded me of my current file conversion program Format Factory ----> http://www.pcfreetime.com/
Its freeware and supports quite a few formats, from images, to videos to music...

As for converting the video files, I always use a program called AppGeeker video converter, http://www.appgeeker.com

It's a media encoder that can switch a video from one format to another and has quite a few options, works great on my computer.