Classic Shell Now Works in Windows 8 CP

[+Warwagon MVC]

I installed this on my Windows 8 tablet and I must say it's soooo much easier to access applications without having to stop and type crap. Also the control panel is also easier to access. over all it feels like a breath of fresh air even on a tablet.

No, i'm not joking!

The only question I have is, why isn't "Computer" listed on the classic start menu?

[V23]

Everybody's rushing to install a classic start menu but when Windows 8 is released and apps like Facebook, Twitter, etc. start appearing with live tiles, watch them come flooding back.

[McKay]

@McKay, just to be clear, you have read on the previous page that Classic Shell Start Menu also has a filter, right? Except that it presents unified results from programs and settings which is really an advantage IMO. No tabbing required, search, press Up/Down if required, press Enter. Plus another thing it does that Microsoft's methods don't do is partial word matches/searches. So you can search for 'rar' and see 'WinRAR'. But for me, the ultimate feature is customization of adding your own command, item or expandable folder. For example, to the Shutdown menu, I can add "Shutdown.exe /g" command which restarts and restores all running apps automatically.

But can it filter between files, apps or settings? And then if I select files can I further filter files down to Music, Pictures, Documents, Videos etc? Also this partial search? I type Zip and it comes up with 7Zip?

[Solid Knight]

Bring back Program Manager!

[D.J.P]

Never bothered with this for Windows 7 as I quite like 7 as it is.

But I'm going to give this a try on Windows 8 (maybe even my Windows 7 installation) to see if it makes 8 palatable to me.

Now we need someone to get rid of the full length wireless window, 7's is fine, I personally don't have dozens of wireless networks around me (like 5 maximum)

to have a list taking up one whole side of my screen is wasteful (I'm assuming this software doesn't do that)

[Dot Matrix]

Everybody's rushing to install a classic start menu but when Windows 8 is released and apps like Facebook, Twitter, etc. start appearing with live tiles, watch them come flooding back.

My bet is that more than quite a few users will be using Metro by the time Windows 9 is released. I really feel that once home a cansual users adjust, so will the 1%.

Not using Metro apps is a users perogative, but there's no reason to not like the Start Screen over the old Start Menu, especially, if you're just searching for an app. I don't believe people when they say they still need to dig through endless menus and submenus looking for a program "they can't remember". I just don't. Pin the app to the desktop taskbar or create a shortcut on the desktop and be done with it.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

My bet is that more than quite a few users will be using Metro by the time Windows 9 is released. I really feel that once home a cansual users adjust, so will the 1%.

Now this I agree with! If all my clients are using Windows 8, I will have no choice but to at least know my way around metro in order to help them. After all, not everyone will install Classic Shell.

With that said, if I ever get a user saying, "I've just loaded up Windows 8 for the first time and I want to know how to do this." I'll probably recommend getting something like Classic Shell so that they feel more at home with their system. After all, I won't know at that point how to do something using just Metro.

Although this is an interesting thought, and probably something for one of the countless discussion threads about Windows 8: By creating both the Metro environment and the desktop environment, do Microsoft not stand a chance of segregating their userbase? By this I mean that there will be many users who use and embrace Metro for it's simplicity, but then there will be many people who stick to the desktop environment because it's familiar to them. Surely there is a chance that you will have one user asking another one, "hey, how do I do this with the Metro interface?" and they get the response, "I don't know, I stick to the desktop"?

[Sulphy]

Its awesome!!!!!! Am very impressed... better than Start8 .... :)

[Dot Matrix]

Now this I agree with! If all my clients are using Windows 8, I will have no choice but to at least know my way around metro in order to help them. After all, not everyone will install Classic Shell.

With that said, if I ever get a user saying, "I've just loaded up Windows 8 for the first time and I want to know how to do this." I'll probably recommend getting something like Classic Shell so that they feel more at home with their system. After all, I won't know at that point how to do something using just Metro.

See, that's just the thing, you should be learning it anyway, to be ready for when customers ask about it. If you won't, someone else will. Couple months after launch, when they see it at Best Buy on desktops and PC's, they're going to be curious one way or another. You should be ready to show them the benefits as well as the cons, in an a neutral manner.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

See, that's just the thing, you should be learning it anyway, to be ready for when customers ask about it. If you won't, someone else will. Couple months after launch, when they see it at Best Buy on desktops and PC's, they're going to be curious one way or another. You should be ready to show them the benefits as well as the cons, in an a neutral manner.

That's the problem as it stands right now though, I can't find any benefits for an end user without them saying, "but that's not what I used to do" and then me saying something like, "once you learn how to use a computer again, this is much easier." I already have a hard enough time teaching people how to use the current interfaces, it goes in one ear and out the other for them. If they realise they have to learn something from scratch, I'll see this familiar glazed look in their eyes...

[Dot Matrix]

That's the problem as it stands right now though, I can't find any benefits for an end user without them saying, "but that's not what I used to do" and then me saying something like, "once you learn how to use a computer again, this is much easier." I already have a hard enough time teaching people how to use the current interfaces, it goes in one ear and out the other for them. If they realise they have to learn something from scratch, I'll see this familiar glazed look in their eyes...

That's exactly who this UI is geard towards. It's a fairly simple UI with no 'quirks' to it.

[rseiler]

@McKay, so you are saying that you prefer the search results to be categorized - how? by just a title/heading like the Vista/7 menu categorizes results or keep them separate screens like Windows 8 does? Many people I heard complaining about the Start screen want exactly the opposite and found the separate screens - Apps, Settings and Files to be an additional unnecessary step towards launching what you searched for quickly as you have to click or navigate to Apps, Settings or Files to launch a results from that section on the Start screen.

I might have been one of those people--having results on separate screens is a pain in the neck, especially when you can't anticipate where a certain result will fall. I much prefer how it's done in Classic Shell, though I do miss the W7-style categorization.

Questions/comments:

-Has anyone put together all the tweaks necessary to achieve the W7-style look shown on the first page? Just changing the skin, enabling two columns, and configuring Search Box isn't enough. Perhaps there should be a mode where you could just choose it and all the things that need to change would (kind of like how I expected the skin change to work)?

-I saw the comment about it not having file/document search, and that it never will, but why? I'm talking about things in the index. Is there not an API to it? Search worked very well in W7.

-I thought it might be fun to use the light-blue W8 logo for the orb button. Has anyone put together one of those three-state png's yet, like this one for W7-style (which was posted somewhere here or elsewhere, I forget now?

http://i.imgur.com/9tAAy.png

[techguy77]

My bet is that more than quite a few users will be using Metro by the time Windows 9 is released. I really feel that once home a cansual users adjust, so will the 1%.

Not using Metro apps is a users perogative, but there's no reason to not like the Start Screen over the old Start Menu, especially, if you're just searching for an app. I don't believe people when they say they still need to dig through endless menus and submenus looking for a program "they can't remember". I just don't. Pin the app to the desktop taskbar or create a shortcut on the desktop and be done with it.

Let's say i install Windows 8 which won't happen but hypothetically i do. First thing i would do is to uninstall every Metro App and then i am left with useless start screen since i am not giong to pin anything on it, so at that point i'd rather switch to Windows 7 style start menu. MS does not provide solution for that case because they assume people will have some Metro Apps there.

[Darrian]

-I thought it might be fun to use the light-blue W8 logo for the orb button. Has anyone put together one of those three-state png's yet, like this one for W7-style (which was posted somewhere here or elsewhere, I forget now?

http://i.imgur.com/9tAAy.png

I just used the same png that I used to hack into explorer in Win 7 (from Deviantart) and it worked great.

[~Johnny]

Let's say i install Windows 8 which won't happen but hypothetically i do. First thing i would do is to uninstall every Metro App and then i am left with useless start screen since i am not giong to pin anything on it, so at that point i'd rather switch to Windows 7 style start menu. MS does not provide solution for that case because they assume people will have some Metro Apps there.

Uh, yes they do. Because normal applications pin perfectly fine to the start screen (and my current start screen is all desktop apps right now anyway)

[Growled Member]

Sounds like a great way to make Windows 8 more usable for us desktop users.

[delete]

Awesome! Windows 8 is now usable and not just a toy.

Amusing to read all the off topic spam from the astroturfers. They've become rather hysterical and defensive.

[Fraud OS 11]

Anyone wanting to help with the translation, please leave a message in the Classic Shell forums:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/forums/forum/1049756

[Fraud OS 11]

-Has anyone put together all the tweaks necessary to achieve the W7-style look shown on the first page? Just changing the skin, enabling two columns, and configuring Search Box isn't enough. Perhaps there should be a mode where you could just choose it and all the things that need to change would (kind of like how I expected the skin change to work)?

-I thought it might be fun to use the light-blue W8 logo for the orb button. Has anyone put together one of those three-state png's yet, like this one for W7-style (which was posted somewhere here or elsewhere, I forget now?

http://i.imgur.com/9tAAy.png

Okay here's the XML, original Start orb and the skin I use to create a Windows 7 Start menu clone:

https://skydrive.liv...!499&parid=root

Extract the items from the Skins folder to ..\Program Files\Classic Shell\Skins and then import the XML. Then right click the Start orb and click Exit. Start the Start menu again from C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe. Or simply logoff and logon back after importing the XML. Restarting the menu is important for the icon size settings to take effect.

@Warwagon, 'Computer' is on the list by default in this XML settings file.

[Fraud OS 11]

Okay, I had to update the file to change a few defaults. Here's the new link: https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=a616959a82cc762e&resid=A616959A82CC762E!500&parid=root

[Fraud OS 11]

Here's a tutorial and ready-made skin for those who want it step-by-step: http://www.askvg.com/download-classic-shell-skin-to-get-windows-7-look-like-start-menu-and-start-button-in-windows-8/