Classic Shell: Forum

Just upgraded from XP to Windows 8. Naturally I installed Classic Shell and used it to make the start menu look and function as closely to Windows XP as possible. There are several problems still, but I'll list the main problem first.

In XP I could press windows key, then D (I'm left handed so I would do this using my right hand - very convenient) and it would show the recent items menu. I would use this often. By often, I mean sometimes over 100 times per day. You can't do this in any other operating system, and nor can you enable it through Classic Shell. I hope this can be implemented.

Other issues:

Can't make a shortcut to My Music on the start menu.
Can't re-order items on the righthand side of the menu (I want My Computer on top and My Documents second then the recent items menu third, etc.)
Can't hide the apps menu (seriously, I don't need apps)
Multiple My Documents & My Computer entries under Programs (there should actually be none) see screenshot: http://k44.kn3.net/F42C7DBEC.png
Would be nice to have similar search functionality as in Windows 7. Just press Windows key and start typing. Of course the exception should be if you begin with the letter D, in which case it should open recent documents instead of searching for D. (This was something that was very annoying in Windows 7)

In XP, I could right click, say, an mp3 file and click open with -> vlc, and it would play the music file without putting it in the recent documents list. I liked this functionality, as it meant I could use "right click -> open with" on any file to avoid putting it on the recent items menu. If I wanted something on the recent items menu, I could double click the file to open it. Seems this functionality has been lost with Classic Shell. Would be nice to have it back.

The recent documents and programs are displayed anyway in the left pane. Just hit the Win key to show them. Or use the Recent Items menu in the right pane if you want to see only the recent documents.

With the "Customize Start Menu" tab of the Settings window, you can do a lot of what you want, including re-order the items of the right panel, remove the Apps menu and add My Music.

The search works as you want it. Just hit the Win key to open the Classic Shell menu, and start typing in the Search box. Be sure to configure the Win key to open the CS menu in the "Controls" tab.

I agree that a way to launch a document without having it added in Recent Documents would be nice, but I'm not sure it's something that CS can control. IMO, the Recent lists are handled by Windows.

If you use the default Classic style for the start menu the Win,D key combination should work. 2 things need to happen:
1) The search box needs to either be disabled or not selected by default. Look at the Search Box tab in the settings
2) You need the Documents menu to start with D. If you use the XP or Windows 7 style it is called "Recent Items" by default. You can rename it back to Documents by changing the label in the Customize Start Menu tab

All of these can be fixed from the Customize Start Menu tab. Add, remove, rearrange and edit any of the start menu items
I can't open the screenshot. It gives me "403 forbidden" error


You can't have it both ways. The search box either has the focus or doesn't. I can't make an exception for the D key. That's just silly.


You can disable adding to the recent documents, but I don't think you can do it selectively. That's a Windows thing, not a Classic Shell thing.

The left pane only shows recent programs, never recent documents.


Was a bit worried about fiddling in there, but it seems okay. The only thing I could not find is My Music. It doesn't seem to exist.


It doesn't by default afaik. You need to edit the settings in Search Box first. Unfortunately this removes the shortcut to the recent items menu.

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In the settings it is called DocumentsItem, so it does start with a D. However on the start menu, it is called Recent Items. Not sure what to do here.


Except for My Music it seems.


Odd, I can still access it. Try this link: http://rapidhdd.com/images/740162Classi ... enshot.PNG


That's sad to hear. This is my invisioning of THE perfect start menu, and it sounds like it is either an impossibility, or an improbability. What it it were optional? Would it at least be codeable?


Any idea how to control this through Windows?

The accelerator corresponds to the first letter of the item's label. Double-click on DocumentsItem and enter a different text for the label.

You can add My Music by using a custom command. Add it to the menu, double-click on it, and pick My Music from the Link dropdown.

You probably have multiple My Documents folders or shortcuts in your Programs folder. Somebody must have created them on your machine.

Are you suggesting that D should be treated differently from other letters? How will you search for something starting with D? Like "Defrag.exe" or "Desktop Gadget Library"? As an alternative try pressing Alt+D.

You can disable the recent documents from the start menu properties.

Ok cool, that worked.

Music custom command - it shows My Music as a menu rather than a link. Is there a way to change this? http://rapidhdd.com/images/857050My_Music.PNG

I created multiple shortcuts to My Documents & My Computer when I was attempting to get them as shortcuts onto the task bar, but I never placed them into the Programs folder, and nor should Classic Start have done so, as it is not something Windows XP would have done by default - nor any other version of Windows that I know of. Perhaps this is just Windows 8 acting up again. Anyway, I've deleted the extras seemingly without further problems.

Yes exactly, as optional of course. I would never search for defrag.exe as first, I'm getting an SSD very shortly (this week) and second, I used defraggler for my normal drives, as it is superior. As for desktop gadgets, well I have no use for them. But for other things starting with D - well put it this way: I would use the search perhaps several times a day. I would use the recent items menu dozens, perhaps even a hundred times a day. For me, losing the ability to quick search for items starting with D, whilst retaining the ability to search for other items, and retaining the ability to press Winkey and then D to quick access the recent items menu would be a huge bonus. I'd have the best of both worlds from Windows XP and Windows 7 start menus. However if this cannot be done, I guess I'll stick with Winkey+X, GodMode, and the Control Panel, as the things I'd be searching for are usually various system tools.

Why would I disable the recent documents? I use them a lot. See, the problem is I sometimes have several documents sitting in the recent documents menu that I would like quick access to. These change too frequently to bother making shortcuts, but I still don't want to over-write their position in recent documents with worthless junk that I only access once. Example: I currently use a text file called "notes" that I access fairly frequently. Let's say I go to My Pictures to browse some wallpapers I have there. In XP, instead of double-clicking the first image and then using the arrow keys to scroll through the other images, I could right-click -> open-with and then scroll with the arrow keys. This would generally avoid placing the first image into recent documents, avoiding the possibility of over-writing the "Notes" shortcut. On a side note, Linux Mint (LMDE) had a fairly horrible implementation of recent documents. As you scrolled through images it would insistently place each and every one of the images you scrolled through into recent documents, making the recent documents menu utterly useless.

check 'dont expand'

If you don't search often then make the search box not selected by default. To search for something either click on it or press Tab to go to it.

I thought you were asking how to disable the recent documents. Either way, when you open documents from Explorer I have no control if they will be added to the recent list. There may be a difference from XP, but that's expected because it is a different OS.

@Aeed,

1. You can do this: Go to Search tab in Settings, select "Access normally" and then check "Selected by Default". This way you can just press Windows key and start typing.
2. Now as for your Win key, then D requirement, you can use Win, then Alt+D. To do this, go to Customize Start Menu tab in settings. Double click the item called "DocumentsItem". Erase the label field and type there: Recent '&Documents' or just '&Documents' (without the quotes). Click OK twice. Now you can press Windows key, then Alt+D.
3. To make a shortcut to My Music on the Start menu, again go to Customize Start Menu tab, add a Custom item from the right column by dragging and positioning it where you want. Double click the Custom Command. In the Link field, choose My Music. If you want to show it as a link instead of as a menu, check "Don't Expand".
4. To hide the Apps menu, just go to Customize Start Menu, select the "Apps" item and press Delete key once on your keyboard. This will remove "Apps".
5. To reorder items on the right side, you just drag and drop to re-position them on the Customize Start Menu tab.
6. In Vista and later, you can't use the Open with trick to prevent adding documents to Recent items menu. You can however exclude specific file types from appearing in Recent documents. This article explains how: http://www.officehackery.com/2009/11/hide-specific-file-types-from-windows.html A free tool called NirSoft FileTypesMan has an easy to use GUI to do it (you can have to uncheck the box Don't add this file type to 'Recent Documents' for that file type).

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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.