NoelC

Okay, if you're talking about the look and feel of a few badly formatted dialogs, I agree. I more interpreted the "never see Metro/Modern" as "never see the Start screen". That said, after having used it and set up the associations the way I like it's been quite a while since I've seen the "you have new programs that can open this type of file" - literally weeks since I've seen a flat, big-font dialog. But I don't install/uninstall a lot of stuff in my host system; I use VMs for testing stuff. I even reconstituted the old Task Manager from the recovery environment. -Noel

Yeah, I use "dark" gray too, but it's not very contrasty, and I'm not all that fond of overall bright workspaces. It's a shame Microsoft chose to ignore their own desktop theme, even such as it is, as BigMuscle's Aero Glass can't improve the look of the Office applications as much. And it's not like ribbon-enabled windows HAVE to eschew the theme. File Explorer and Wordpad do okay. Looks like Avast! antivirus followed the Office team's lead too. Sigh. Who thinks borderless windows that have almost no contrast are better, really? -Noel

Heh, I'm trialing Office 365. My eyes hurt. Beyond that, I was surprised to see that all they've done in 10 years was rearrange the deck chairs. It's really no more functional that my Office 2003 was. -Noel

My wife wouldn't touch technical things - a bit like your mom, jaclaz. Last Christmas (2012) I got her an iPad. At first it intimidated her, but she really got to like it. Now she uses it all the time, even while away from home. For her it was a huge upgrade to move from always asking me to look stuff up or type things and feeling disconnected from the world to having full access to it. Of course she doesn't produce much data, she just consumes. But that's all she wants. By contrast, as a software company principal I'm in front of a powerful workstation all day and often well into the night. I had a beautifully set up Windows 7 environment, but I wanted to keep current so I set out to determine whether Windows 8.1 really could be made into a dynamite desktop development environment. At first I worked with Windows 8 / 8.1 on virtual machines, then I ultimately moved my host system up to 8.1 (with the byproduct being my having written a great book on how to do it), and I'm very happy with it now. After having tweaked it, it's every bit as good as Windows 7 for all my needs. I don't wish to come across as a Microsoft lover because I'm not. I think the direction they're taking stinks, and the reason we're still able to use the latest releases is that they've simply neglected to delete all the good functionality - yet. I'm just a happy camper because I've discovered how to reconstitute virtually all of the capability Windows 7 had in Windows 8.1. I'm here to tell you it's possible. -Noel

Absolutely it is possible. I'm running a Windows 8.1 system that's every bit as desktop-functional as a Windows 7 system. Metro/Modern doesn't creep in at all here. My workstation is a 100% desktop powerhouse. It boots straight to the desktop and can't actually run a Metro/Modern app because UAC is disabled. I've figured out how to do recurring System Image backups with shadow copy integration, and even made it much more secure than what Microsoft delivers out of the box. I've tweaked Explorer to be more functional (e.g., showing a higher density of files in the display, not showing Favorites or Libraries, etc.) and I'm running BigMuscle's Aero Glass for Win 8.1 RC to make it as easy on the eyes as Windows 7's Aero Glass implementation, and Ivo Beltchev's ClassicShell Start Menu replacement. This machine is on 24/7 and is what I run my software company from - I develop software with Visual Studio, do documentation, do web development, do graphics processing with Adobe Creative Cloud, do my accounting, collaborate with audio and screen sharing, listen to music, and tons of other stuff - often all at the same time. In short, it does everything I need with much capacity left over, and without any Metro/Modern BS at all. And it's perfectly stable. The longest it's run (between Windows Updates requiring reboots) is 17 days so far. I've written a ebook on exactly how I've done it called "Configure the Windows 8 'To Work' Options". -Noel

The problem is that Aero Glass is already running and the files are in use. Possibly the easiest way to update the software after it's already installed is to rename the 6 existing files (I put _RC2 at the end), then copy the new files from the .7z file into the same folder. Then reboot. This works because Windows allows you to rename a file that's in use. -Noel

I think VMware takes advantage of some shortcuts when your guest OS is the same as your parent OS. I noticed my Windows 8.x VMs sped up when I upgraded my host system to Windows 8.1. -Noel

It should be pretty easy to multiplex two different values into a longword with basic math. Something like... Longword = FirstShortword * 65536 + SecondShortword Getting the two back separated should be similarly easy... FirstShortword = Longword / 65536 SecondShortword = Longword - (FirstShortword * 65536) I'm not sure whether this addresses what you're struggling with as I haven't been following your work closely. -Noel

Looks good here with RC3. Thank you, BigMuscle! -Noel

Sorry, it's been renamed in Windows 8.1's policy editor. It's now "Display highly detailed status messages". -Noel

Offer to help them with the evaluation of Windows 8.1 acceptability for use in your office. My suggestion: Do a fresh, clean install, not an in-place upgrade. -Noel

There's an ability to ask Windows to display more detailed status messages... This might help you narrow down what's stalling. Excerpted from my book (note that the step-by-step assumes you have a Start Menu replacement in place): -Noel

Likewise, DOS Probie, to you and everyone! -Noel

If you uncheck the Show All Folders entry in the right-click context menu for a blank area in the Navigation pane, "This PC" becomes the root instead of Desktop. Might that solve it for you? I'd be interested in knowing any other implications, if any, of hiding all the various things you've hidden - that seems an attractive thing to do to me. -Noel

You need to request a new key for each PC by providing the Machine-specific ID to BigMuscle's site. -Noel

No, I don't think so. It ranges from once every few days to a few times a day. At the moment it's been about 3 days since I've seen it happen. It also seems to take a little extra time following a reboot. -Noel

That's my current theory as well. There was a time not too long ago that AMD drivers would cause the screen to wake back up after it had gone off. They apparently have some trouble managing the power-down state. The monitors are the only things I allow to be turned off, by the way. In other news, BigMuscle and Ivo Beltchev (author of ClassicShell) have been communicating, and I've been contacted to test changes pursuant to my request to have ClassicShell better manage Taskbar transparency. Things are looking good for a future release of ClassicShell. I feel I should once again express my sincere gratitude to folks like BigMuscle and Ivo who are paddling against the current in order to make Windows 8(.1) a more usable and pleasant product, despite MIcrosoft's efforts to "wean" us off serious computing and onto video games. -Noel

That's good to know, Hancoque. Thanks. I am trying to figure out what else I use that can affect DWM in this way (though I'm not absolutely certain it's not a basic Windows problem). It only happens during monitor power-down conditions. Occasionally I do get an error message in the event log, but not always. The last one was on the 25th... The Desktop Window Manager has encountered a fatal error (0x8898008d)- System - Provider [ Name] Desktop Window Manager - EventID 9020 [ Qualifiers] 49152 Level 2 Task 0 Keywords 0x80000000000000 - TimeCreated [ SystemTime] 2013-12-25T15:57:16.000000000Z EventRecordID 7034 Channel Application Computer NoelC4 Security - EventData 0x8898008d Note that I'm not the only one who's ever seen that (an Internet search turns up a number of folks reporting 0x8898008d). Notably many/most are using ATI video interfaces. I've even found one thread that claims disabling Aero Peek causes it. Do you use an ATI or nVidia card (or other)? -Noel

Yes, I'm okay with the Win 8.1 Alt-Tab function overall, but I don't ever find any use in minimizing all applications and on a few occasions have accidentally done so then have had to bring them all back. I'd prefer Alt-Shift-Tab take you to the lowest item in the Z-order instead. -Noel

I'm curious... Does anyone here besides me run their system for long periods without rebooting? My systems stay on 24/7 and regularly go weeks between reboots. Right now, the last install that required me to reboot was more than 6 days ago, for example. I'm wondering if the (very) occasional DWM restarts I'm seeing may be the result of a resource shortage after running it for a long time. I have had several more over the past days, and I finally did find something that didn't recover properly - Outlook 2013 didn't repaint its controls properly after one such DWM restart. I'm not convinced it's BigMuscle's software that is causing these restarts, as there are never any error messages logged in the debug.log. I have installed a newer ATI Catalyst release (I'm now on 13.12) since having seen the first restarts under 13.9, and I've seen a few of them with 13.12 as well. -Noel

Thanks for that info, Andre, I should get some time to experiment myself soon, but if you have a moment I'd like to ask a few questions (assuming you have already experimented)... Does killing that thread once after login keep it gone? Or does it come back under some situations? Does it save a lot of resources to kill it? Does killing it cause errors in the event logs?-Noel

In case you feel you can make do with just replacement theme atlas graphics, BigMuscle has published at least one theme atlas file on his download page. That doesn't require anything more than putting a file in a folder and setting up a registry key. It's what I use. This screen was grabbed with the RC0 version, but it looks exactly the same now. -Noel

Here's what I use to squeeze things a bit closer together. Some of this is impossible to set from the UI. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]"AppliedDPI"=dword:00000060"BorderWidth"="-15""CaptionFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\ 00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00"CaptionHeight"="-255""CaptionWidth"="-225""IconFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,\ 00,00,01,00,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00"IconSpacing"="-885""IconTitleWrap"="1""IconVerticalSpacing"="-1095""MenuFont"=hex:f5,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,\ 00,00,01,00,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00"MenuHeight"="-225""MenuWidth"="-225""MessageFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\ 00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00"MinAnimate"="1""PaddedBorderWidth"="0""ScrollHeight"="-225""ScrollWidth"="-225""SmCaptionFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,\ 00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00"SmCaptionHeight"="-255""SmCaptionWidth"="-255""StatusFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\ 00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00"Shell Icon Size"="32"-Noel

I'm not completely convinced in Windows 8.1 it's working the way it did in Vista. Could it have been turned back to Z-order? It's the kind of thing that took years to get used to using most effectively, then once they changed it I felt irritation for some years - until I kind of forgot about it and learned to look at the Alt-tab list more carefully. I'd probably be fine with the ordering it's in now but for the Desktop entry. Can that be eliminated separately from all other changes? -Noel

I'm using IE11. I choose to use IE because of its security model and version 11 because that's what came with Windows 8.1. People dis IE, but it has its merits. I haven't run across the option to drop down to IE10 on Windows 8.1, though I'm not saying it's not possible. But I don't have a lot of reason to do so; I'm on a lot of forums and this is the only one I can't paste text into. Perhaps the folks that run this forum are doing it as a protest against Microsoft or something. But to keep on-topic here, I just wanted to mention to BigMuscle that after 3 days straight running with Catalyst 13.12 drivers I finally did see a DWM self-restart. As before, it's completely harmless (happening when the system is left idle and monitors in screen save power down). It leaves nothing unexpected in the debug.log. Once AGForW8 is released without the console window I'll never notice it happening. -Noel