It is hard to navigate Windows 7 start menu, especially, those who are familiar with XP start menu. Some of the old features like Classic start menu is missing in Windows 7. There is no option to bring them back. But, don’t worry, There is a software called “Classic Shell” Which can bring back the Classic start menu, Classic Explorer & other features in Windows 7, Vista & Windows 8. Read below for more details about “Classic Shell”.
What is Classic Shell?
Classic Shell is a collection of features that were available in older versions of Windows but are removed from Vista and Windows 7. It has a classic start
menu for Windows 7, it adds a toolbar for Windows Explorer and supports a variety of smaller features.
Features:
Classic Start Menu
Classic Start Menu is a clone of the original start menu, which you can find in all versions of Windows from 95 to Vista. It has a variety of advanced features:
list of 13 items
• Drag and drop to let you organize your applications
• Options to show Favorites, expand Control Panel, etc
• Shows recently used documents. The number of documents to display is customizable
• Translated in 35 languages, including Right-to-left support for Arabic and Hebrew
• Does not disable the original start menu in Windows. You can access it by Shift+Click on the start button
• Right-click on an item in the menu to delete, rename, sort, or perform other tasks
• The search box helps you find your programs without getting in the way of your keyboard shortcuts
• Available for 32 and 64-bit operating systems
• Has support for skins, including additional 3rd party skins
• Fully customizable in both looks and functionality
• Support for Microsoft’s Active Accessibility
• Converts the “All Programs” button in the Windows menu into a cascading menu
• And last but not least – it's FREE!
list end
Classic Explorer
Classic Explorer is a plugin for Windows Explorer that:
list of 7 items
• Adds a toolbar to Explorer for some common operations (Go to parent folder, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Properties, Email). The toolbar is fully customizable
• Replaces the copy UI in Vista and Windows 7 with the more user-friendly “classic” version similar to Windows XP
• Handles Alt+Enter in the folder panel of Windows Explorer and shows the properties of the selected folder
• Has options for customizing the folder panel to look more like the Windows XP version or to not fade the expand buttons
• Can show the free disk space and the total file size in the status bar
• Can disable the breadcrumbs in the address bar
• Fixes a long list of features that are broken in Windows 7 – missing icon overlay for shared folders, the jumping folders in the navigation pane, missing
sorting headers in list view, and more
list end
Toolbar in Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer in Vista doesn’t have a toolbar like the one in Windows XP. If you want to go to the parent folder you have to use the breadcrumbs bar.
If you want to copy or delete a file with the mouse you have to right-click and look for the Delete command. The right-click menu gets bigger and bigger
the more shell extensions you have installed, and finding the right command can take a while.
To solve the problem, the Classic Explorer plugin adds a new toolbar.
Hold the Control key when clicking the Up button to open the parent folder in a new Explorer window.
Hold the Shift key when clicking the Delete button to permanently delete a file.
Additional Up Button
Some people have asked if I can make a small Up button and put it next to the Back/Forward buttons in the title bar of Explorer. If Up is the only button
you need from the toolbar, this will save you screen space:
Up button in the title bar
Right-click on the button to bring up the Classic Explorer settings.
New copy UI
In Vista when you copy files and there is a conflict,
for starters it is half a screen full of text that you have to read. Also it is not immediately clear what parts of it are clickable. You have to
move the mouse around to discover the UI like in a
Lucas Arts adventure game.
And finally the keyboard usability is awful. To tell it “yes, I know what I’m doing, I want to overwrite all files” you have to press Alt+D, up, up, up,
Space! It is harder than performing the
Akuma Kara Demon move
in Street Fighter 3. There is a time and a place for that stuff and copying files is not it.
The Classic Explorer plugin brings back the simpler dialog box from Windows XP
It is immediately clear what is clickable (clue – the buttons at the bottom), there is easy keyboard navigation (press Y for “Yes”, A to copy all files)
and you can still see which file is newer and which is larger. And of course just like in Windows XP, holding down Shift while clicking on the No button
means "No to All" (or just press Shift+N).
If you click on More… you will get the original dialog from Windows. From there you will see all the details and you’ll get an extra option to “Copy, but
keep both files”.
Important Note: Only the UI is replaced. The underlying system that does the actual copying is not affected.
Alt+Enter in the navigation pane
Alt+Enter is universal shortcut across Windows to bring up the properties of the selection. But in Vista and Windows 7 it doesn’t work in the left pane
that shows the folders. It works fine on the right where the files are. This is broken compared to Windows XP where Alt+Enter works in both places.
To solve the problem, the Classic Explorer plugin detects when you press Alt+Enter and shows the properties for the currently selected folder.
Status bar
In Windows 7 the status bar in Explorer doesn't show the free disk space and the size of the selected files. Classic Explorer fixes that:
When no files are selected the total size of all files in the folder is shown.
Classic IE9
Classic IE9 is a plugin for Internet Explorer 9 that:
list of 3 items
• Adds a caption to the title bar so you can see the full title of the page
• Shows the security zone in the status bar
• Shows the loading progress in the status bar
list end
System Requirements
Classic Shell works on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Both 32 and 64-bit versions are supported (the same installer
works for both). Some skins for the start menu require Aero theme to be enabled. Others require at least Basic theme.
Change log:
- Fixed some minor problems found in the previous release
- Improved compatibility with Windows 8 and removed the features that are no
longer necessary or possible
- Added customizable "Windows Explorer" item to the start button context menu
- Added a new "paste shortcuts" command to Explorer
- Added an option to hide the user picture from the Windows start menu
- Ctrl+Shift+Enter can launch commands and documents as administrator from
the start menu
- Added a customizable hotkey for the Up button
No comments:
Post a Comment