Classic Shell: Forum

Classic start menu has almost always a delay of 5 to 15 seconds the first time I open it after a reboot. Example: I point at a folder called Tools in the classic start menu, it will show it after 15 seconds, but then again next time with no delay. Now I point at another folder and same thing happens.

This started when Classic shell was updated for W8, any ideas how to fix this very annoying problem? thanks.

There may be many reasons what is causing the delay. One possibility especially if the slowdowns started after upgrading to Windows 8 is that your anti-virus may be blocking C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe as a false positive (some AVs have been reported to cause slowdowns) and therefore causing the delay. Check in your AV settings if there is a setting to exclude processes and add ClassicStartMenu.exe and Explorer.exe to it. The built-in Windows Defender in Windows 8 is a full-fledged anti-virus now which may be conflicting.

Are any of the items in your Tools folder located on a network share? Then it is likely to cause delays. Also, if any of your tools include AutoHotkey-compiled EXE scripts, then Windows Defender has a known hanging issue with it.

The slowdown may also be due to icon caching. Follow the performance tips here to speed things up more: http://www.classicshell.net/faq/#perf_startup.

_________________
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.

Thank you for the reply. I tried all of the suggestions of the performance section, including putting a simple skin, and what you mentioned about windows defender, none worked. I am on Windows 7, I meant this behavior started after Classic shell was updated to include Windows 8, but I never moved to Windows 8. It is not just the folder called tools, the delay happens for all my folders in the start menu.

Did you restart the menu by right clicking the Start button, clicking Exit and starting it again after checking "Delay loading of icons" on the General Behavior tab. That might be effective in eliminating the delay. Or you can check that option and logoff and login back to restart the menu automatically.

_________________
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.

Yes i restarted windows after changing those options.

Okay, I did the opposite to what it said in the performance section now and turned off "Delay loading of icons" and restarted. So far so good, no delay.

Well that only lasted for a couple of days, the delay is back again but a little better now with the "Delay loading of icons" off.

Any fix to this very annoying problem yet? thx

Please try the beta version 3.9.0 linked from the home page. It has many optimizations to the loading and caching of icons to prevent delays and increase responsiveness. And report if the delays are gone.

_________________
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.

Well i tried the v 3.9 beta, but it jumbled my start menu icons even after importing the saved settings. It also for some reason brought up Camtasia installer after every reboot. So i didn't get to see if it fixed the delay, had to restore the system to get the classic shell startmenu settings back.

When you say "saved settings", do you mean "saved to XML file"?

ya xml

Yes, version 3.9.0 does not migrate menu items and skin settings when an old XML file is imported.
This is being fixed for version 3.9.1.

I remember this initial delay was same on xp and Win7 with Windows own start menu.
Sometimes it would start fast and show menu, then disappear again. It may not be a fault of Classic Shell Menu.
I also tried excluding Autoit, Autohotkey, Classic shell service and menu, in Windows Defender as well.
I even put CSM in task scheduler, to startup even before login. No difference.
Could not really see anything long, in the event log.
After trying newer version, uninstalled back to 3.6.5 with xml backups working again.
I have to admit.
Windows 8 Start Screen does start up incredibly fast. Now if some wise person could copy the way MS starts that dark side,
Classic Shell menu would be 99.999 percent perfect.

I'm not sure if this link can help you in Win 7.

http://winaero.com/blog/speed-up-your-w ... se-tricks/

Will either do nothing, make a slight improvement, or if registry gets messed up,
Windows will score goal against, and you lose!
Just be very careful. Make a restore point before playing the registry game.

I tried this link for Win 8

http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-reduce-t ... windows-8/

Helps a bit on Win 8, fully loaded with x86 programs.

Of course if I put CSM on clean Win 8.1 install, there is no delay,
as there are no other programs starting, and checking for updates etc.
But no point of this test, if OS only to look at, not do anything.

Ya version 3.9.1 fixed the problem. Thx!