xpclient

Yes the same key. Just a convenient GUI.

^^ No Ivo Beltchev is. It's thanks to him that it's so good. It's like this. Ivo Beltchev first created the Up button, copy dialog replacement and basic Start Menu. Then I liked the project so much that I joined him and started giving him feature suggestions and ideas about new features and how to improve the UX, feedback around how it should be designed, and did the testing and attention to fine details and usability. Together we make a nice team.

I disagree. Whilst I think the start screen will never make sense for desktop apps (poor for efficiency to have the desktop app launcher outside of the desktop environment), I do think it has its merits as a launcher for metro apps (one of which is live tiles) and I think it will evolve into something better. I also think I will like having the 2 environments completely separate. However, I come to that opinion after less than 2 days use of StartIsBack (so not sure if it is just a transient opinion) and I have not tried Classic Shell. Is there a screenshot of the Classic Shell metro app menu somewhere? Cheers Here's a screenshot. Of course, it is just a menu. On the desktop, the purpose of "Live Tiles" is already served for the past 17 years by the notification area/system tray and Vista onwards by gadgets. In fact, the beauty of gadgets or tray area is that they can notify you while you are multitasking with other apps. Whereas, you have to specifically open the Start screen from any app to see the Live Tiles, They are tied to the screen. Unlike gadgets which for example you can have "Always on top" tucked away in a corner while you multitask, you can't see Live Tiles without showing the screen screen. I personally consider Live Tiles pretty distracting and for the fraction of a second my Start screen is suppose open, I have no time to scan across them to see if there's anything new. Plus if you really do like Live Tiles, the Start screen is just a Shift+click or Shift+Win key away. Access to it is not prevented by Classic Shell. Of course, I did purchase StartIsBack as well because it can co-exist with Classic Shell. Win key opens Windows Start Menu. Mouse click opens Classic Start Menu. I am just not sure the evil things Microsoft won't do in future versions. They may take out the Start Menu code entirely including the jump list code and replace it by something "simplified".

There is now an easy-to-use tool to do this by Winaero thanks to the genius Sergey Tkachenko: Sign In Screen Color Changer

Desktop apps aren't disabled on the Start screen but it has a separate Apps menu in the Start Menu, distinct from Programs so Metro apps always remain separate. The idea is that even if you use Metro apps, you never actually use the Start screen. The Start Menu does everything the Start screen does except Live Tiles. If you really find Live Tiles that useful, you wouldn't be installing a Start menu in the first place.

Yes in 3 years. 'Only' 750,000 since Windows 8 got launched. Despite the Explorer component being basically crippled on Windows 8 in many ways due to MS's evil deeds.

Would be interesting to know how some of the other Start Menu replacements are doing in terms of downloads/sales. Clearly, there is significant demand out there for this sort of thing. --JorgeA Classic Shell has 2.5 million : http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/files/stats/timeline?dates=2009-11-28+to+2012-12-23

Sure there is. Just create a Autohotkey script that sends the Win key and pin it as the first item on your taskbar. Someone made it already: http://www.howtogeek.com/108838/make-your-own-windows-8-start-button-with-zero-memory-usage/

Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 have a configurable GDI object limit (via the registry) that defaults to 10,000 objects per process (but a theoretical maximum of 65,536 for the entire session. The reason the behavior you describe happens on XP is because the shared desktop heap is limited. Increase it and XP will scale beautifully on modern systems: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems] "Debug"=hex(2):00,00 "Kmode"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,\ 00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,77,00,\ 69,00,6e,00,33,00,32,00,6b,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00 "Optional"=hex(7):50,00,6f,00,73,00,69,00,78,00,00,00,00,00 "Posix"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,\ 00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,70,00,\ 73,00,78,00,73,00,73,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,00,00 "Required"=hex(7):44,00,65,00,62,00,75,00,67,00,00,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,\ 6f,00,77,00,73,00,00,00,00,00 "Windows"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\ 74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,63,\ 00,73,00,72,00,73,00,73,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,4f,00,62,00,6a,00,\ 65,00,63,00,74,00,44,00,69,00,72,00,65,00,63,00,74,00,6f,00,72,00,79,00,3d,\ 00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,53,00,68,00,61,00,\ 72,00,65,00,64,00,53,00,65,00,63,00,74,00,69,00,6f,00,6e,00,3d,00,31,00,30,\ 00,32,00,34,00,2c,00,31,00,32,00,32,00,38,00,38,00,2c,00,35,00,31,00,32,00,\ 20,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,3d,00,4f,00,6e,00,20,00,53,\ 00,75,00,62,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,54,00,79,00,70,00,65,00,\ 3d,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,\ 00,65,00,72,00,44,00,6c,00,6c,00,3d,00,62,00,61,00,73,00,65,00,73,00,72,00,\ 76,00,2c,00,31,00,20,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,44,00,6c,00,6c,\ 00,3d,00,77,00,69,00,6e,00,73,00,72,00,76,00,3a,00,55,00,73,00,65,00,72,00,\ 53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,44,00,6c,00,6c,00,49,00,6e,00,69,00,74,\ 00,69,00,61,00,6c,00,69,00,7a,00,61,00,74,00,69,00,6f,00,6e,00,2c,00,33,00,\ 20,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,44,00,6c,00,6c,00,3d,00,77,00,69,\ 00,6e,00,73,00,72,00,76,00,3a,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,\ 65,00,72,00,44,00,6c,00,6c,00,49,00,6e,00,69,00,74,00,69,00,61,00,6c,00,69,\ 00,7a,00,61,00,74,00,69,00,6f,00,6e,00,2c,00,32,00,20,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,\ 66,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,74,00,72,00,6f,00,6c,00,3d,00,4f,\ 00,66,00,66,00,20,00,4d,00,61,00,78,00,52,00,65,00,71,00,75,00,65,00,73,00,\ 74,00,54,00,68,00,72,00,65,00,61,00,64,00,73,00,3d,00,31,00,36,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems\CSRSS] "CsrSrvSharedSectionBase"=dword:7f6f0000

Whoever's idea it was to combine Win+X menu with the Start button context menu was great. Mind if we "steal" it for Classic Shell?

I am just so sad about where this whole thing is headed. Dumb consumers have no sense of quality and don't see the poor quality of the Windows 8 OS. They just want to run Apps. For them it's just a platform to run their Apps. And there is no other company in a leadership position to deliver quality OSes that advance computing. Whatever company tries to do their own commercial well-developed OS, Microsoft and Apple will drive them out of business with their patent lawsuits. American evil tech corporations suck for not delivering quality products in the constant money-sucking short life cycles.

Yes it's just rock bottom low and I find 99% of the population still struggling with computers after decades of using Windows. That's why it's getting more dumbed down by the day.

I believe everyone should just STOP upgrading their Windows because MS is too careless with their OS and they damage it in just as many ways as they improve it, ignore all feedback and then force it on you some day, whether you like it or not. Microsoft needs to be a more responsive-to-feedback and transparent company. With Sinofsky leaving, there's is little bit of hope but I am not sure Julie Green listens even a little bit to feedback either.

One improvement that I noticed Start8 has done is for each category of search result (Programs, Control Panel), it shows 5 results which is more useful as sometimes the result you want may not be in the top 3 (Windows 7 Menu and thus SIB only show 3 results). Of course, because Start8 is a fully independent program, it is free to make such changes. Can SIB add this or it's not possible? Another thing: In Start8, you can type for example: C:\Windows\system32\*.exe and it lists all the EXEs in system32!

Skin support is nice but it will only change the Start menu right? Not the Taskbar and window chrome? I think it will continue using UxStyle. That way, the style changes everywhere including Start menu. That said, you're doing a great job.

Leave it to Andre Ziegler to find cool undocumented reg values using ProcMon. You're amazing, man! Always find your posts helpful. I wish the horrible ugly logon screen should show an image like the Windows 7/Vista logon screen. That feature is "moved" to the Lock screen.

Oh no. I have no objections. I just thought it is important to mention the products that are based on Classic Shell.

Rejoice and cheers for Sinofsky going!!! But I don't trust Grandma Green either. She is responsible for ALL the UI blunders at Microsoft - Ribbon, Metro everything fullscreen nonsense. Whatever she touches is "re-imagined" and uber-dumbed down. She can't maintain continuity of anything apparently.

Yeah the new DISM commands to reduce WinSxS bloat are a much-needed improvement. And on my laptop with UEFI, it boots in 2 seconds thanks to Hybrid Boot. SMB 3.0=TONS of new features. Sadly, they're not enough for me compared to crippled desktop.

Only thing for me is file copy dialog although the file overwrite/conflict dialog is a huge step back IMHO because it lacks details like size, date modified you need to make overwrite decision and increases number of clicks for everything except "Yes to All" or "No to All". The Task Manager is a regression. File History is a regression over Previous Versions. Reset and Refresh doesn't preserve desktop apps (so unless you're a Metro fanboy or don't know how to clean install, there's not much point to it). The Explorer Ribbon is a step back from the command bar (or you could use the customizable Classic Shell Explorer bar). Multiple monitor improvements? Their blog says 14% desktop users have multi-mons and considering how for desktops, Windows 8 is an abomination, I don't see the point there either. USB 3.0? You need a new controller for that anyway - get one that has Windows 7 drivers. Hyper-V? At the cost of giving up Virtual PC? No way, especially when it requires SLAT-enabled CPU and the experience is half-baked. ISO mounting in the Explorer? That is for n00bs. I have been mounting ISOs from the shell since Windows 95. Actually, there is no value at all because they have lost the backward compatible design religion. Backward compatibility doesn't just mean being able to run older apps, it applies to system components and features too. You preserve what works and build around it. Even if you rewrite from scratch or overhaul, you try to retain the previous component's features as user's workflow depends on them. Everything in Windows 8 has been reckless modified breaking long-standing Windows behaviors and features and nothing is configurable either, it's uber-dumbed down. It's not that I can't learn or adapt to change, but I am not convinced the change is better by breaking previous design. To make everything Apple-like and simple, they cut features, they cut whatever little customization Windows has (compared to Linux, it's "little"). Reg values are getting broken and unsupported. Features just disappear. NOT DONE. This is just *my* opinion. Others may see it as "vastly improved" but honestly, I can't trust anything new to last in Windows 9. It will be "re-imagined" again. It shows total disrespect for the user. To profit, they will do anything and sell you a different OS as "Windows". Which is what they're doing with Windows RT. There is no transparency either. Windows 8 supposed to be a transitional OS where everything will move over eventually to Windows RT and the desktop dropped 3-4 iterations later? For the folks who chose Microsoft because they were not Apple, it's the end of the road and there is no other company which can produce innovative, user-friendly OSes with such leadership. The new stuff in Windows 8 is not bad, it just is an insult to the old stuff and to the ways of working of the user and the features he depended on.

Then you haven't been customizing Classic Shell to see how much it can be customized. Anyways, here's the EULA for Viva and here's the one for Win8 Start Button.

I finally installed this. Very nice. The reg tweaks [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer] "AddSearchInternetLinkInStartMenu"=dword:00000001 and [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\SearchPlatform\Preferences] "EnableSearchingSlowLibrariesInStartMenu"=dword:00000001 also work. LOL and how nice it is to have Alt+F4 'close' the Start screen.

Viva Start Menu and Win8 Start Button are based on Classic Shell (with no other differences I could tell other than different orb and defaults).

Just purchased it and got the activation code. $3 for 2 PC license is a steal for original menu code compared to Start8 which is a clone and $5 per license. Hope you continue to fix bugs and that it continues to work (it will of course as long as MS doesn't update their code). I never thought I would buy this. Classic Shell is my baby but this is like Start menu insurance.