165 replies to this topic 12 votes

[Andrea Borman]

No,don't whatever you do try this app it is not safe to do this. And it could stop Windows from working.

You cannot disable the Metro theme in Windows 8 CP or in Windows RP safely and still have Windows work.

If you want the Windows 7 Windows Explorer use Ribbon Disabler from Winaero,which is proven to be safe,here-http://winaero.com/c...comment.news.20

Or Classic Shell here-http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
Which gives you both the start button and Windows 7 start menu and boots straight to the desktop.

And many other start menu software now does the same thing. It is a safer option than hacking your system. Andrea Borman.

[+Brando212]

AndreaBorman, on 20 July 2012 - 14:49, said:

No,don't whatever you do try this app it is not safe to do this. And it could stop Windows from working.

You cannot disable the Metro theme in Windows 8 CP or in Windows RP safely and still have Windows work.

If you want the Windows 7 Windows Explorer use Ribbon Disabler from Winaero,which is proven to be safe,here-http://winaero.com/c...comment.news.20

Or Classic Shell here-http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
Which gives you both the start button and Windows 7 start menu and boots straight to the desktop.

And many other start menu software now does the same thing. It is a safer option than hacking your system. Andrea Borman.

for once I actually agree with you Andrea

[Tihiy]

Sure, third-party programs which hack explorer in memory are safer than microsoft ones patched on disk.
Also, ribbon is still there, my precious.

[Shaun]

articuno1au, on 13 July 2012 - 15:10, said:

Yeah, I'd be EXTREMELY careful using this.. Also, kinda defies the point of having Windows 8 tbh.

No it doesn't the start menu is not the only reason to go to Windows 8, For me its the only reason not to move to it.

[Andrea Borman]

Well Tihiy,I have read your posts on MSFN forums here-http://www.msfn.org/...-for-windows-8/

And some people over there say your patch works. But some people here on Neowin Forums say it has caused side effects,like not being able to manage networks,notification and loss of other features. So this still cannot be deemed safe to use.

Where did you find this software anyway Tihiy? Andrea Borman.

[farmeunit]

DKAngel, on 13 July 2012 - 15:59, said:

serously wish people would stop trying to change windows 8 into windows 7

Because that affects you personally how?

[Tihiy]

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So this still cannot be deemed safe to use.

Yes. This is definitely not for average user yet. I'm sorry if it confuses people.

Quote

Where did you find this software anyway?

I made it.

[Andrea Borman]

In Windows 8 Developers Preview you could disable the Metro theme with a registry edit and it was safe to do so. But you cannot in Windows 8 Consumer Preview or in Windows 8 Release Preview.

So forget this registry or system hack. And I also read about another app that claimed to disable the Metro theme that was from a Chinese website.
That was posted on a thread on Eight Forums here-http://www.eightforu...o-disabler.html

But that was not without side effects either.

So if you want the start button and Windows start menu use Classic Shell like I do. See my picture of my start menu on Windows 8 RP. Or use another start menu software as these are all safe to use on Windows 8. As well as on windows Vista and Windows 7. And some like Vi Start and Start Menu 7 can be used on Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows,Windows 2000,98 and 95. To get the Windows 7 start menu.

And classic shell and the other start menu software has now been updated. And the new version now boots straight to the desktop.Skipping the Metro start screen. Andrea Borman.

[Jack 0Neill]

http://www.neowin.net/news/start8-087

Start8, better, safer, and far more trustworthy.

[Nashy]

All these "trustworthy" programs had to start at a Beta didn't they? Give the bloke a chance. This is the perfect time to be testing these sorts of releases, before the OS is actually released.

[Javik]

Most of those issues have been fixed. As you can see from my screenshots, the "open with" dialogue works fine, and the network management panel still works

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[Andrea Borman]

Quote

Tihiy wrote-
Yes. This is definitely not for average user yet. I'm sorry if it confuses people.

Quote

Andrea Borman asked-
Where did you find this software anyway Tihiy?

Quote

Tihiy said-
I made it.

Well may I suggest that Tihiy make a detailed video showing EXACTLY what his software does. As proof that it does not break or damage Windows 8.

Because if we were to use this software to disable the Metro theme and it broke Windows. We would then have to reinstall Windows.And I and other Windows users would not be happy about that.

So I think Tihiy is being irresponsible releasing this software to the public. Because other Windows users will think that it is safe. But when they use it it could well break Windows.

So unless Tihiy who made this software is sure that it is absolutely safe,he should remove it from the Internet now. Before someone who does not know what they are doing downloads this and breaks their computer. Andrea Borman.

[Dot Matrix]

Som, on 22 July 2012 - 10:30, said:

I like this hack, maybe desktop manufacturers will see that it can be done know and include it as an option in their desktop range...

Not gonna happen if they wish to continue selling desktop machines. Microsoft would come down on them like a bag of hammers.


If all you wanna do is cling to Windows 7, why are you wasting time with this?

[Detection]

Works well, I just patched my 8 install in vmware and it has made it the 8 with start menu we were looking for, apart from a few things not working fully, for general use it works

Given time and tweaking, it could be the solution Metro haters are looking for

[Andrea Borman]

Well I tested this so called software out on my other netbook. And when I extracted the zip file to the desktop and ran it. All I got was a command prompt Window saying" cannot find Explorer exe." And nothing happened. It did not disable the Metro theme and the Metro theme is still there and my computer is still working.

But just now when I had a look again at Tihiy's instructions he says-

Quote

Tihiy wrote-
Installation: grab c:\windows\explorer.exe and c:\windows\en-us\explorer.exe.mui from windows 7 system or installation CD (with 7-zip). It must be 32-bit version (if it's 64-bit, grab files from SysWOW64 dir). You can use Windows 7 files from same language build or en-US build.

Extract them to directory like "c:\explorer7". Extact attached archive to that directory too. It should look like this:
C:\explorer7\explorer.exe
C:\explorer7\en-US\explorer.exe.mui
C:\explorer7\patchex7.exe
C:\explorer7\wrp32.dll




Launch patchex7.exe. It will patch windows 7 explorer.exe. Then choose "7" to set it as default shell in registry, terminate current explorer.exe and log you off.
After log-on you should see Windows 7 desktop.
To uninstall, launch patchex7.exe again, choose "8" to reset shell to default explorer.exe in registry.

So that's it. Tihiy did not put the shell files from Windows 7 in his patcher. The software is just a command prompt and you have to find the right shell files in Windows 7 and copy it into the patcher exe.

But tell me who is going to do that? And how many people are going to know exactly what files to copy? And also we are talking about going into shell files on Windows 7, that are most probably hidden files anyway.

The answer is not many people. So I think we should forget about this software. And just stick to Classic Shell,Start Menu 7 or Vi Start. Or another start menu software. True,they don't disable the Metro theme. What they do is give you a start button and Windows 7 start menu on top of the Metro theme.

But as I said before,once you've got one of these software's installed,most of them boot straight to the desktop now. Skipping the Metro start screen. So if you have Classic Shell or another start menu software installed,you don't know that the Metro theme is there.

As the Windows 7 start menu in Classic Shell,Start Menu 7 or other start menu program you installed. It takes over all of the start menu functions and does exactly what the real Windows 7 and Windows XP start menu does.So you don't have to deal with the Metro start menu. Andrea Borman.