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I had the same issue as the OP. Modern Alt-Tab is crap because the thumbnail preview is too small for me to make out anything, the icon is in such a wrong position that it's hard to focus on the icon and the text at the same time, and the window text is shown for only one window at a time. VistaSwitcher is more like a compromise because it shows large previews, is multi-monitor aware, shows the text of all programs at once and I can add exclusions. Enabling classic Alt-Tab on Windows 8 is useless, all the invisible windows show up hosted by Explorer.exe with different window classes (SearchPane, Shell_CharmWindow, MetroGhostWindow, SnappedDesktop, ImmersiveBackgroundWindow, ImmersiveLauncher, Start menu). Another tool I found was TaskList (attached to this post) which shows a simple compact menu of all visible windows right where the mouse pointer is. I found it on some Japanese website, hex edited to polish its English , it also has Aero Shake in the context menu. TaskLister.zip

There's VistaSwitcher which with the 'No Preview' option is clean and simple, no thumbnails, clear icons and text on clear background. Only thing is it lists programs vertically, not horizontally. It doesn't have Desktop and on Windows 8, even shows those dumb Metro apps.

XP is and will remain for me the best computing eXPerience I had. Those Microsoft clowns still haven't got rid of forced auto sorting in Explorer in Windows releases post XP. They basically gang-raped the Shell in NT6. Plus XP does not gradually fill up your C drive like Windows 7/Vista do thanks to Component Based Servicing. And don't even get me started on features removed...I will strangle those MS developers if I lay my hands on them. :angrym: Windows 8 is an outright scam that deserves a class action lawsuit for exchanging system features.

If there is an an option for that, users can set it without fully understanding what it does or the menu features it disables and then they will complain of slow performance and icons not loading fast enough. This trick works well enough. You can automate it from the cmd line as well.

In previous releases, there were responsiveness issues with submenus. So even with an SSD, icons cached will be faster. Plus, frequently used and highlighting features depend on this cache. These 2 features were added to the latest version of Classic Start Menu. Even Windows maintains its own icon cache. But if you still want to disable frequent writes to the cache, you can make the file read-only and it won’t get saved. Same trick will work for the log file as well. The cache file is not really required. It is just an optimization for fetching some information faster. It is used for icons, link targets, Metro app properties, etc.

Logging is enabled only for the beta, RTM will require setting a registry key to enable it for troubleshooting purposes. Caching shouldn't be disabled as it actually improves performance and only happens the 1st time you install it on any PC. Caching is required for 3 features: 1. For a "fast and fluid" experience of loading icons and pre-cached folders 2. Frequently used programs list 3. Highlighting.

Thanks. Here's another screenshot showing new Shutdown actions such as "Update and Restart" introduced in Windows 8:

The public beta of Classic Shell 4.0 is now available (as 3.9.0): http://www.classicshell.net The stable release will be 4.0.

Is there a screenshot of Everything at once?

Who're 'they'? Enforcing reboot? Where? What? who ever makes it previous versions didn't need reboot, new ones do I am on its team. Windows Installer wrongly claims it needs a reboot. Can you show a screenshot where it asks for a reboot? You have to close Windows Explorer and IE windows though before updating if you installed the Classic Explorer and Classic IE components. It integrates with Windows' Restart Manager to restart Explorer.exe and other in-use running programs automatically. If you installed just the Start Menu, then that definitely doesn't require a reboot. Btw how are you updating? Are you installing the new version over the existing one (recommended way) or uninstalling and reinstalling the latest (which will also preserve all your settings)?

You can rest easy that Classic Shell is never ever going to force any design choice on users or remove any currently available options. It's just a prototype/mockup that may or may not make it as a 4th style. Btw 3.9.0/4.0 beta users, do you like the current beta? Feel free to leave any feedback in the Classic Shell 4.0 beta section of the forum.

Hmm. Yes, it was inspired by the Start screen That is why the compact Windows 7 style and other compact styles will always remain available for those who prefer it. This (if it gets approved by Ivo) will be optional. The idea is to use more of the screen to show everything and reduce number of clicks/hovers to get to the program using the mouse. While it does increase clutter, it has key differences from the Start screen. It won't touch the screen edges completely or cover taskbar, so you can close it by clicking anywhere outside on 3 sides of the menu (top, right or bottom). Who're 'they'? Enforcing reboot? Where? What? If a reboot is required, it's what Windows Installer determines falsely. Though you never need to reboot to update or reinstall Classic Shell if you close in-use apps like Explorer. The Windows Installer's Restart Manager even automatically does it for you.

How about this concept Start Menu?: (Note: It's not a screenshot of a particular style like the rest of the screenshots, this one is only a concept of putting 'Programs' in the main menu. No promises that such a menu will make it into Classic Shell.) It's almost full screen to keep your programs 1 click away but not truly fullscreen It will leave some space to its top and right to close it. And of course clicking the Start button or taskbar will close it too. Edit: Screenshot #2: What if it was resizable from the right edge so the user could choose to show just 1 or 2 columns instead of all?

On Windows 8, the Windows Aero skin (with rounded corners) is still installed so it's available from the Skins tab. However, because MS neutered glass on Windows 8, you would need to install BigMuscle's AeroGlass skin mod. Once that is functional, then simply turn on the option "Enable Aero Glass" from the "Menu Look" tab in CSM settings and you should be able to achieve that look with blur and all. Let me know if you can with BigMuscle's mod installed, the option turned on and the Windows Aero skin. Post your screenshot if possible.

New build supports Windows 8.1.

Remember though that Classic Shell was created in the first place to fix the Windows 7 Start Menu whose search functionality was excellent but its way of browsing All Programs sucked and cascading menus were missing along with some other customization that was also lost. What Classic Shell aims to be is a hybrid menu taking the best features from each of the Start menus and abundant customization available. And of course it fixes the rest of the components too, such as Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer 9 and above.

Nope. It has its own skinning system: http://www.classicshell.net/tutorials/skintutorial.html Windows Visual Styles cannot skin Classic Shell's menu because the feature set of the menu is more extensive/different.

This version has the user picture smooth fading animation and submenus fade effect. The animations for expanding/collapsing jumplists and the fade effect when showing "All Programs"/search results may dd in a later version. Latest 3.9.5 RC has all animations, including jumplist and fade animations. And of course, if you use the classic classic Start Menu, then the main menu and submenus fade.

If by "native" you mean resurrected Microsoft code, then it's not that. It does have the true Windows 7 style now with in-line treeview of "All Programs". However, it is 100% third party code, not one bit of Microsoft code. The advantage is that we can pretty much do any enhancement to it - the search now has Windows Search integration plus Classic Shell's regular EXE path searching and partial word matching, the usual CSM customizations are possible. For example, you can have an "Apps" menu in the right column. It even shows the options to install updates and shutdown/restart. Shift+restart/Shift+shutdown behave like they do on Windows 8. It also supports BigMuscle's revived Aero Glass. Here's a screenshot on Windows 7: On Windows 8, it uses a skin with square corners and colors to feel native. The various search categories can expand/collapse in place to show/hide more search results instead of opening an Explorer window. Here's a screenshot on Windows 8:

Classic Shell 4.0 is now released. :w00t: as we crossed 1,00,00,000 downloads!!!!! Major new features: • New "Windows 7" menu style that replicates the look and feel of the Windows 7 start menu ◦ the programs show in a tree inside the main menu ◦ search results and jump lists show inside the main menu ◦ dedicated shutdown button ◦ Start Menu animations like the original (added in RTM) ◦ the unparalleled customizability you've come to expect from Classic Shell • You can search for files as well as programs, using the Windows Search • The menu can show the most frequently used programs • Programs can be pinned directly from Explorer • New programs are automatically highlighted in the menu • The list of Classic Shell settings can be searched to easily find the setting you need • New more reliable way to start on Windows 8, that doesn't use a service • The start menu can use the native Windows 8.1 start button • New status bar for Explorer that shows the total size of the selected files and the free disk space • Improved support for downloading and installing language files • Many improvements to performance and responsiveness Other new features: • When searching a Classic Shell setting, you can right-click on a setting and choose "Locate" and it will show you which tab it is on • New shortcut in the Start menu to open the Start screen (Windows 8 and above). It even shows the background color of your Start screen!! • Start Menu in Windows 7 style can show All Programs by default if you don't want to see Recent/Frequent programs • Windows 7 treeview style can show folders first • New setting for the Windows 7 style to control the height of the main menu • The items in the All Programs tree can be rearranged with drag and drop, just like in the cascading menu • You can drag and drop website addresses (URLs) from the address bar of all major browsers now into the Start Menu to pin them • With Classic Start Menu running, the Start Screen will also open using Win key on the correct monitor with the mouse pointer • Most skin bitmaps (like the user frame) now support masks and can be tinted with the glass color • In HKLM version of settings, you can add “_Default” to a setting name to override the default value without locking the setting for all users • You can type “none” for the label of a menu item to keep it blank (previously, "none" was only possible for getting a blank icon) • To permanently hide a program from the Start Menu's Frequent list, use this "NoStartPage" method: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/284198. • To permanently hide a Modern app or some new desktop app shortcuts from the MFU list which won't hide with "NoStartPage", use this method: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd378459(v=vs.85).aspx • The search results category headers can be expanded/closed within the menu itself using Enter key or by clicking them. Clicking on the header's text (or Ctrl Enter) opens results in Explorer • Support for wildcard filtering of paths in the search box e.g. C:\Windows\*.exe or %tmp%\*.log • Store, PC Settings and other Modern app shortcuts from Programs folder are listed in the Apps folder on Windows 8+ • A new turn off monitor command that you can add to your Shutdown submenu • File search can search your emails (Windows Mail, Live Mail and Microsoft Outlook) if they are indexed by Windows Search • Nested settings. Dependent settings are offset from their parent and greyed out if parent setting is disabled • Computer/This PC item can now show a list of drives as a menu without expanding each drive further • Secondary Tiles for Modern apps show the personalized tile name and can be launched from the menu as well • "Install Updates and Shutdown/Restart" functionality like the original Start Menu • Aero Glass rendering if the MSFN member BigMuscle's AeroGlass for Windows 8 mod is installed • Enhanced keyboard shortcuts like Home/End/Page Up/Page Down in addition to F2, Del, Alt+Enter etc working everywhere • Shift+Win uses a hotkey instead of a keyboard hook so it will give less problems and work with elevated programs • The icons and data are saved to a cache on disk at %APPDATA%\ClassicShell, so the menu should stay responsive all the time. If you don't want repeated writes to the disk such as in case of an SSD, set the Read-only attribute for the %appdata%\ClassicShell\Datacache.db • Right-click for the Win+X menu works even when all corners are disabled when using the Classic Shell button • New setting for the icon size for the Classic button • Classic IE9 renamed to Classic IE as it has title bar and status bar enhancements for IE9, IE10, IE11 and future • The installer and binaries are digitally signed • New setting to override the color used by the menu in its glass areas • Improved support for systems like Nvidia surround and AMD Eyefinity that modify the position of the taskbar • The Start Button settings are applied live and you can see a preview of the button image in the settings dialog • The Windows 8.1 setting to skip the Metro screen can be accessed through the Classic Shell settings • The installer uses better compression that reduces the download size by half • Language related improvements (See here how to translate Classic Shell: http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1344&p=6973#p6973) ◦ Country flags in the Languages tab ◦ Language files can be downloaded directly from the settings to %ProgramData%\ClassicShell\Languages ◦ The auto-update checks for new language files ◦ Old language files can be used if newer ones are not available ◦ Currently unsupported languages can be added later ◦ The settings in the skins are localized (and their tooltips) ◦ The names of the menu commands are localized ◦ The Settings dialog has a place to put the name of the translator • Note: Classic Shell 4.0 no longer supports Windows Vista • It's FREE!!!

Exactly. Use ERUNT to revert to a previous copy if you think a lot of junk has accumulated. Registry cleaners are CRAPWARE and should be avoided.

Oh I you're right about the last point. I removed it. Can you show me a screenshot of the status bar if it exists? Also, 1 click every single time is not very productive. There is already an additional click introduced due to UAC prompt. Yep the color calculation method isn't the exact same as what Windows 8 uses. But it goes give you the option of using average color or dominant color.

It does. Download Winaero's AeroRainbow: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.13

The Task Manager is also full of regressions in functionality: http://xpwasmyidea.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-microsoft-broke-task-manager-in.html and it seems you didn't try RTM. RTM does not ship with the old Task Manager. Both TM.exe and Taskmgr.exe start the new pretty one. It's pretty but slow and breaks the workflow for all previous task manager users. Of course, that's just my opinion. Good for you if you found it improved.