Classic Shell: Forum

Couldn't live without this!
but, IMO, one of the things that is REALLY useful on the stock W10 start menu is the right click menu with all those of useful shortcuts.
Can that be made an option for Classic Shell? Or is it in there somewhere that I haven't noticed?

The Start Menu already contains all the items which the right-click menu (called the Power user menu or Win+X menu) has. Besides you can still access the Win+X menu with Shift+right click. You can also change it to regular right click (without Shift) from the Controls tab in Start Menu Settings.

_________________
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.

Is it just me, or does Classic Start Menu not turn up Modern Apps in search results? Things like "Settings", "Weather", "Music", etc.

What version of Classic Shell do you use? What version of Windows?

hello can i have start menu for windows 10. i have windows8. thanks advance

The windows 10 startmenu will likely not be supported in classic shell for a long time, if at all... However the upgrade to windows 10 will be free, upon its release. and I would recommend taking advantage of it

Confirmed "Apps" folder was empty, after installing the latest beta of CS just now it actually contains apps.

However, there's a new issue related to that folder. When you rightclick an app, one of the choices is uninstall, which doesn't seem to do anything. But if I go to settings->system->apps&features, there are a bunch of apps with a disabled (greyed out) uninstall button. I'm guessing those can't be deleted (for whatever reason), but the uninstall button in the rightclick menu doesn't go "greyed out" like in settings->system->apps&features.

Is that a bug in CS?

W10 build 10240.

What do you mean? I have Classic Shell currently on W10 Build 10240 and it's all working OK and I expect that to continue after the RTM final release at end of July.

Query for Ivo - you need those various addons enabled in Internet Explorer for the CS explorer bar to work. What if MS eventually does away with Internet Explorer altogether in favour of the new 'Edge' browser? What will happen then to the CS explorer bar?

Ziva - I don't know. I would expect they will move the addon management settings someplace else, like in Explorer, where they should have been in the first place.

What I meant was, classic shell will likely not implement a version of windows 10 start menu. so people on windows 8 wont be able to have the windows 10 start menu without upgrading (or unless some other means appears) ofcourse classic shell will be fully supported on windows 10

@JCee, ah, I understand now.

@Ivo, Ta for explanation.

Since I updated to v4.2.2 Classic Start no longer has "Disable Taskbar Transparency" which I had to enable to make my taskbar blurred when using AeroGlass. As Microsoft had taken away Taskbar Blur back few builds ago.

Yes, I know. I have a solution for the taskbar blur in the works.

Thanks for the reply back. Keep up the good work. I be lost without classic Start Menu

Thanks to the author, beta version 4.2.2 everything works well.
Inactive menu item "Run", please correct.
win 10240
Thanks

Thank you for the great software.

I have installed latest 4.2.2 beta on clean Windows 10 Pro RTM and have the following observations:

1) Transparency (glass) setting has no effect (Metro);
2) Color override setting has no effect (Metro);
3) Color of the menu is set to the one automatically calculated by Windows based on background, even though Windows itself is set to have black background and works correctly (Metro);
4) Trying to drop any shortcut from Desktop into the menu opens the Windows menu instead (this worked correctly on W8);
5) When right clicking network connection under Network Connections menu, it can be disabled, but cannot be Enabled anymore (must go to Control Panel to enable).
6) Feature request: Metro theme has a setting to use small icons, but it would be nice to have the setting to only make left side icons small and leave right side alone (like in original Windows menu);

Regards.

1,2) The glass settings only matter for skins that use glass (Like Full Glass and Windows 8). The Metro skin does not use glass. That's why changing the glass color has no effect on it. Even for glass skins, they can choose how much of the glass color to use and how much of their own color.

3) The menu doesn't care about that setting. It only applies to the taskbar and the Windows start menu

4) Where are you dropping the shortcut? On the menu itself? On the start button? Do you use the default Windows start button or the Classic Shell orb?

5) The right-click menu is provided by Windows. This behavior has been around for a long time. Even in Windows 7 if you disable a network connection you can't enable it back from the same UI

6) I don't understand - in your first picture you have small icons on the left and the right side is left alone

@Sacrosanct,

1) Get Classic Shell 4.2.3 to control Modern glass transparency with the Metro skin on Windows 10 (from the "Skins" tab, not Menu Look tab)
2) and 3) The Metro skin only follows the SYSTEM color. The settings on the "Menu Look" tab related to color do not apply to it.
5) Try Classic Shell 4.2.3. This might have something to do with the state of the icons too.
6) For the right side item size to remain larger, you need to edit the "Metro.skin7" skin in Resource Hacker. Copy it somewhere else from C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\Skins, rename it to something other than Metro.skin7 and open it in Resource Hacker. Find/locate the section called "SMALL_ICONS". Change the 2nd and 4th values of "Main2_text_padding" parameter under that section to some higher value. Compile the script, save changes and copy the renamed skin back to C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\Skins. Switch to the modified skin from Settings -> Skins tab. Now you will have only the left side small.

_________________
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 don't know if this is a Classic Shell bug or a Windows 10 bug, but I've got 2 dead shortcuts in the Apps-menu that will not disappear. Both apps were uninstalled a while a go, just removed leftovers from C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Application Shortcuts and restarted explorer.exe, but the shortcuts remain.

The apps are "food & drink", "health & fitness".

@bartgrefte, in Windows 10, Application Shortcuts folder is not used by the Start Menu to show Metro app shortcuts. It uses shell:AppsFolder. Is it possible that some update to Windows 10 reinstalled them? Are you able to launch those apps? I experienced this after removing many apps. They were restored after some updates got installed. I had to use PowerShell (http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-remove-a ... indows-10/) to remove all apps from all user accounts to get rid of apps that kept coming back.

_________________
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.

Ah, so I was looking in the wrong place? As far as I know, they haven't been reinstalled, but that wouldn't explain the dead shortcuts (dead as in: I cannot launch them ). The shortcuts have a white icon, which usually happens to shortcuts if the file they link to doesn't exist anymore. If I click on them, a popup appears:


As for shell:AppsFolder, I cannot delete anything from there (using del-button). Plus right-click uninstall has never worked, already tried that in the Apps-menu and just now again in shell:AppsFolder, but lot's of apps have a disabled uninstall button in AddOrRemovePrograms. The weird thing is, the uninstall button is never disabled in the rightclick menu. (Bug?)

And let's not forget PowerShell: Get-AppxPackage | Select Name,PackageFullname doesn't list those apps.

Hey everybody,

I'm new here, but try to bear a little This might be a longer post, but I promise, I'm not trying to spam. I'm just seriously worried.

Does everybody agree that Win 10 start menu, while better than in Win 8, still sucks, though?
I can live with the tiles.. at least there's a way to configure them, arrange them the way you want, and remove the ones that you don't. I can live with this and actually sort of like it. But the way the developers imagine things should work is just a little incomprehensible. Why on Earth would someone need menus like most used/recently added? It's like they think people don't know what they're doing to their computers when installing a new app/program. I think most of us do, and when we install it.. we know how and where we want to access it. Feeding menus like these to us is just annoying. But ok. Let's assume they're necessary. I can, after all, remove them. Yeah! But if I do, I can not use that free space for anything else (shortcuts?). I can not drag and drop anything to that area since the cursor changes to a complete denial over such an action.

I still do think that people should at least be allowed to configure/adjust their OS the way they want it to be. Microsoft, don't tell people how things should be done just because you think it's 'easy'. I might be old school with this, but seriously, the good old classic menu just.. worked. Now I should be happy with 'new' layouts, because somebody thought it was better. Well if you did, please give us the tools and options to configure things.. give the people who think/use differently the chance to do it.

My current OS is Win 7 Pro and this is how I use the start menu, with the help of trusty Classic Shell.



We go from bottom to top. The shut down/log off icons, although they look old, they are where they should be - just above the start button. Then run, help, search, settings and programs (which is really the part 'all apps' now). Above that, I can add or 'pin' whatever I like, or leave it completely empty instead. But for me, I've always used it for categorizing the programs and stuff that I use most. I can do this on my own Windows, you need not interfere or hold my hand. And as you can see, I've sorted the stuff I use/want under those folders which expand and reveal the shortcuts that I need under that category.

dagello posted a link here a while ago with a screenshot that looks a bit better than the original Win 10 start menu. I'll just relink it here:



At least his left column seems nicer, because he can (somehow) add stuff there. But the white background is so Windows 7ish. Some way, he's kept the tile part unchanged and I think that is really one of the only good things about the Win 10 start menu.

My younger brother got the official update today and his start menu looks like this:



When I look at this, I think: instead of the stupid 'most used' apps list, why can't I use that space for adding shortcuts/folders that I really need? How can I re-locate the 'all apps' menu just under that 'most used' list? Did nobody think that instead of having a stupid scroll menu for 'all apps', the list could just expand on the new tiles area that they added? (this would've been perfect!).

I know this is just a rant. But at least, dear Windows.. give us a way to configure things. Drag&drop everywhere inside the start menu.. to and from, re-order.. option to disable all of the stuff that we don't need.

At least there's a way to still use the quick launch bar, which I love. That is REALLY where my 2-3 MOST used apps are. From Win 7, they want to clutter our taskbars by making us 'pin' things there. No, seriously.. taskbar is and always will be for the programs that are currently used. I seriously don't need a mess there.

I know all of you will be like "Use Classic Shell and adjust it so that you still use the classic menu'. Yes, for now that seems the ONLY real option. But design-wise, I sort of like the Win 10 start menu's transparency and some of the icons. Even the tiles are nice, kind of. What I hate is just the layout and inability to fully configure stuff the way you want it to be.

Can Classic Shell, now or in future versions, allow such options to reconfigure the start menu?

After removing every trace of those apps from the harddrive and registry, the dead shortcuts remained. So I did a full factory reset of W10, not keeping anything, to get rid of any leftover bugs from all the upgrading from one test-build to another. The dead shortcuts are gone now.

Unfortunately I still don't know the cause, but I'm guessing the (still buggy) Store messed some things up with those two apps. At least they are gone now

In regards to 1), what do you mean? I see nothing to control the glass on Skin tab, only on Menu Look tab. I'm on 4.2.3.
If only there was a way to make the glass options actually work for the Metro Skin so I could get it to be identical to my taskbar in terms of color, glass and transparency.
Suppose that would be a future feature request then, loving everything else about Classic Shell just let down with this one thing is all.

@SpringWater, Glass for the Metro skin is only available in the Classic or Classic with two columns style, it is not available for the Windows 7 style because the left side (the background of the "All Programs" treeview) doesn't support glass yet. But if you prefer to use Windows 7 style only, you can use skins like "Windows Aero" or "Windows 8" which can have glass for the right side column.

_________________
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've had to remove the Windows 10 upgrade and now can't get Classic Shell to re-install, is there a tool than can remove all trace of the original installation so I can re-install?

Thanks.

What error message are you getting when you try to install it?

_________________
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.

Hi everybody,
I've got a problem with CS (V. 4.2.1 German) on Win10: after installing CS, everything seemed to work fine, but after some hours, I realized that the Windows Start Menu as well as the tiles/apps wouldn't react any more. In fact, they were "gone"! Even after uninstalling CS, there was no way I could "re-activate" the Win Start Menu and the tiles/apps. How come? What could I do?

I

It says cannot remove old version?

@Graham Peter, in that case, download the installer of the older version that you have installed from http://classicshell.net/downloads and run it to uninstall it. Then download the latest version's installer and install it.

_________________
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.

Thanks,

I tried that and it won't let me install the same version, is there a tool out there that can strip out classic shell so I can re-install the latest version?

What's the best way to get from 8.1 & 4.0.6, to Win10 & 4.2.3?

1) Upgrade 8.1 to Win10, then upgrade 4.0.6 to 4.2.3 ?
2) Upgrade 4.0.6 to 4.2.3, then upgrade 8.1 to Win10?
3) Something else?

Besides Tiles, are there any notable Win10 features I won't have access to?

I've read several reviews describing performance improvements in Win10. Is there any reason to think that use of Classic Shell will impede those performance improvements?

Thanks in advance - Dave (zdave83)

Has Classic Shell ever been hacked to exploit a PC? Is there any reason to be concerned about this going to Win10 & 4.2.3?

Thanks in advance - Dave (zdave83)

@zdave83, For most painless upgrade, uninstall Classic Shell, upgrade Windows, install latest Classic Shell.

Classic Shell does not disable any Windows 10 features. You can still access the default start menu.

I am not aware of any attempts to hack Classic Shell. It runs inside the Explorer process, which should run as regular user and not admin. Hacking it will not achieve much. It is not different than any other program you run on your PC.

After upgrading to Win10, I'm not getting any jump lists in the Start Menu anymore.
They work fine in the taskbar, but if I wanted to use the taskbar to open my programs, I wouldn't need to use Classic Shell.
How do I get my arrows back?

@TheCuza: What version of Classic Shell do you use?

I tried both the stable version and the newest one with no luck.

Download the Classic Shell Utility from here: http://classicshell.net/downloads/
Run it and send me the log file.

I can't seem to attach a file to a PM, only to a forum post.
Do you want me to attach it here or send it in a email or something?

You can use the FileDrop folder at the bottom of http://classicshell.net/downloads/
Or attach it here if you are OK with it being public.

I've uploaded it to FileDrop.

Classic Shell 4.2.3
Since 4.2.2 I'm not able to have taskbar & start menu blurred from BigMuscle's AeroGlass. Using Windows 10 AeroGlass is blurred way to much for my likings. Is it possible to add a feature to control how much blur to use. Also using Classic Shell on Windows 10 it text shadow never works whilst it works on Windows 8.1

thanks Ivo

Hello,

Classic Shell version 4.2.1 installs just fine on Windows 10 pro, but disappears after every reboot.
Don't know why, but Windows 10's startup menu doesn't appear, only every once in a while after pressing 10 times on the button. That's the reason I chose for Classic Shell.

How can I prevent Windows from reversing its installation?
Thanks!

Frank

Some relevant data:



System
Windows version (real): 10.00.10240 64-bit
Windows version (reported): 6.02
Windows version (registry): Windows 10 Pro 6.3
Computer: USER-PC
User: Frank (Frank)
User Languages: nl-NL|en-US
Thread Languages: nl-NL|nl|en-US
Monitor: 0, 0 - (1536 x 864)
Taskbar: 0, 834 - (1536 x 30)
Start Menu folder: 'C:\Users\Frank.User-PC\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu'
Programs folder: 'C:\Users\Frank.User-PC\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs'
Common Start Menu folder: 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu'
Common Programs folder: 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs'
Skip to Desktop: 1

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced:
Start_SearchFiles: 0x00000002 (2)
ServerAdminUI: 0x00000000 (0)
Hidden: 0x00000001 (1)
ShowCompColor: 0x00000001 (1)
HideFileExt: 0x00000000 (0)
DontPrettyPath: 0x00000000 (0)
ShowInfoTip: 0x00000001 (1)
HideIcons: 0x00000000 (0)
MapNetDrvBtn: 0x00000000 (0)
WebView: 0x00000001 (1)
Filter: 0x00000000 (0)
ShowSuperHidden: 0x00000000 (0)
SeparateProcess: 0x00000000 (0)
AutoCheckSelect: 0x00000000 (0)
IconsOnly: 0x00000000 (0)
ShowTypeOverlay: 0x00000001 (1)
ShowStatusBar: 0x00000001 (1)
ListviewAlphaSelect: 0x00000001 (1)
ListviewShadow: 0x00000001 (1)
TaskbarAnimations: 0x00000001 (1)
StoreAppsOnTaskbar: 0x00000001 (1)
EnableStartMenu: 0x00000001 (1)
StartMenuInit: 0x0000000B (11)
ReindexedProfile: 0x00000001 (1)
TaskbarSizeMove: 0x00000000 (0) - unlocked taskbar
DisablePreviewDesktop: 0x00000001 (1)
TaskbarSmallIcons: 0x00000001 (1) - small icons
TaskbarGlomLevel: 0x00000000 (0)

Policies:
SHRestricted(REST_HASFINDCOMPUTERS)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOCHANGESTARMENU)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOCLOSE)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOCOMMONGROUPS)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOCONTROLPANEL)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NODISCONNECT)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOFAVORITESMENU)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOFIND)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NONETWORKCONNECTIONS)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NORECENTDOCSMENU)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NORUN)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOSETFOLDERS)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOSETTASKBAR)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOSMEJECTPC)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOSMHELP)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOSMMYDOCS)=0
SHRestricted(REST_NOSTRCMPLOGICAL)=0
SHRestricted(REST_STARTMENULOGOFF)=0
SHRestricted(REST_FORCESTARTMENULOGOFF)=0

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run:
ETDWare: %ProgramFiles%\Elantech\ETDCtrl.exe
IgfxTray: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxtray.exe"
HotKeysCmds: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\hkcmd.exe"
Persistence: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxpers.exe"
RtHDVBg: "C:\Program Files\Realtek\Audio\HDA\RAVBg64.exe" /SF3
NvBackend: "C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\Update Core\NvBackend.exe"
IntelTBRunOnce: wscript.exe //b //nologo "C:\Program Files\Intel\TurboBoost\RunTBGadgetOnce.vbs"
AmIcoSinglun64: C:\Program Files (x86)\AmIcoSingLun\AmIcoSinglun64.exe
ETDCtrl: %ProgramFiles%\Elantech\ETDCtrl.exe
EvtMgr6: C:\Program Files\Logitech\SetPointP\SetPoint.exe /launchGaming
AdobeAAMUpdater-1.0: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE\PDApp\UWA\UpdaterStartupUtility.exe"
Classic Start Menu: "C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe" -autorun


HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run:
OneDrive: "C:\Users\Frank.User-PC\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\OneDrive.exe" /background
GoogleChromeAutoLaunch_D63910AB0B27803A38992F870A7C5791: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --no-startup-window


Classic Start Menu
User settings:
Version: 0x04020001 (67239937)
MenuStyle: Win7
SkinW7: Metro
SkinVariationW7:
SkinOptionsW7: C26EAF5D|5D3248DC|1FC64124|33C166BF|
EnableStartButton: 0x00000001 (1)
SkipMetro: 0x00000001 (1)
StartButtonType: AeroButton
NoTaskbarTransparency2: 0x00000000 (0)
MenuItems7: Item1.Command=user_files\0Item1.Settings=NOEXPAND\0Item2.Command=user_documents\0Item2.Settings=NOEXPAND\0Item3.Command=user_pictures\0Item3.Settings=NOEXPAND\0Item4.Command=user_music\0Item4.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED\0Item5.Command=user_videos\0Item5.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED\0Item6.Command=downloads\0Item6.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED\0Item7.Command=homegroup\0Item7.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED\0Item8.Command=separator\0Item9.Command=games\0Item9.Settings=TRACK_RECENT|NOEXPAND\0Item10.Command=favorites\0Item10.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED\0Item11.Command=recent_documents\0Item12.Command=computer\0Item12.Settings=NOEXPAND\0Item13.Command=network\0Item13.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED\0Item14.Command=network_connections\0Item14.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED\0Item15.Command=separator\0Item16.Command=control_panel\0Item16.Settings=TRACK_RECENT\0Item17.Command=admin\0Item17.Settings=TRACK_RECENT|NOEXPAND\0Item18.Command=devices\0Item18.Settings=NOEXPAND\0Item19.Command=defaults\0Item20.Command=help\0Item21.Command=run\0Item22.Command=apps\0Item22.Settings=ITEM_DISABLED\0Item23.Command=windows_security\0
OpenMouseMonitor: 0x00000001 (1)

@TheCuza - I don't see anything wrong with your system.

Which programs don't have jumplist in the start menu? How did you add those programs to the start menu? Do the same programs when pinned to the taskbar show a jumplist?

@FrankNL, You should use version 4.2.3 for Windows 10.
Install it and let me know if the problem gets fixed. If not, send me the entire log file from the Classic Shell Utility.

Any "Tasks" jumplist won't show up (Firefox/Chrome, CCleaner, Steam, etc.). I can get "Recent" jumplists to show up on programs such as Notepad, but I don't care about those.
I added them to the Start Menu the same way I did before. Right click and choose "Pin to Start Menu (Classic Shell)".
"Tasks" jumplists show up on the taskbar just fine.

When I reinstalled Classic Shell after upgrading, all my settings and pinned programs were still saved. Maybe I need to wipe all trace of Classic Shell from my system to fix this problem?

And I suppose I should ask, is anyone else having trouble getting jumplists to show up in the Start Menu?

But did you pin the executable directly, or from an already existing shortcut? The correct thing to do is to pin the shortcut that is created by the installer of that program. Shortcuts contain extra information that makes the jumplists work. Creating a new shortcut by pinning an exe file will not have that information.

Yeah, that's what I did.

I'm getting the same problem as @TheCuza, however this was not the case when i originally upgraded to Win10, earlier today i had jump lists but now i do not. I have no idea what could have happened as I have not changed any settings or installed/uninstalled any programs. Jump lists are enabled in the classic shell settings and I am running version 4.2.3