xpclient

That's quite an impressive product and website you've got there. While I prefer the Classic Shell for the Start Menu for its customizability, I am really interested in the other StartIsBack features like turning the Start Screen into a Metro-only Apps screen. Plus, it's nice to have Windows Search integration in the menu which Classic Shell lacks. This is the preferred solution over Start8 for me Congrats for 1.0 I can keep Win key to open StartIsBack and Classic Shell to open by mouse click - best of both worlds. Yes I am greedy.

Well now after seeing Windows 8, I appreciate just how much better Vista is compared to 8.

Do you mean it's worse than GDI 2D performance under Windows 7?? Then it's a serious issue!

For USB 3.0, I found ASUS/ASMedia's USB 3.0 controller which is fastest thanks to UAS and has both XP x86 and x64 drivers. Get a board with this.

Does anyone know which 7 series chipsets have XP drivers and RST drivers?

The latest Classic Shell 3.6.2 adds jump lists and ability to launch Windows Store apps from a neat sub-menu, along with faster skipping of the Start screen. Enjoy.

Welcome to Windows XP from Microsoft, the new version of Windows that brings your PC to life. Experience the best, experience Windows XP.

Microsoft just changes stuff to change stuff and makes the less perceptive think it's better and fresh. They don't make intelligent changes that actually improve the OS. A lot of techies have been wanting a better task manager for years. The new task manager is fine... kinda like a strange hybrid of ProcExp, but I think the only real problem I have with it is that it uses the Executable Name in the task list and not the Process filename. This is a problem because if some programs are not written very well (no duh huh?) and their names appear as generic listings. I should be able to get a screenshot of this behaviour in a little bit. Here I posted the picture in this thread: http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1016054 Yeah the Task Manager is improved, I am not denying that but it also has regressed in a number of ways if you read the article on my blog. The skill of improving something lies in improving it without causing regressions and a giant multi-million $ corporation with hundreds of employees dedicated to one component is not capable of improving something without breaking things and causing regressions? Not done. Simply not done. The Task Manager was not dormant after XP. It also improved in Windows Vista and Windows 7. They could have added new tabs in Windows 8 for Metro apps without destroying familiarity. Imagine if all the SysInternals tools are "re-imagined". Sure they would be "improved" but no one would want to lose features from Process Explorer right or even break their usual workflow?

it depends on the way you install the updates. My Installer is always fast. But the users who install with WindowsUpdate are in trouble. I've installed a fresh Win7 with Sp1 included and I had to install nearly 100 updates. This took some time. Imagine how long it takes in 2018 when you have to install 500 Updates :realmad: And for Win8, here you can now remove all replaced updates: http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1015509 So the WinSxS folder NO longer grows that much. I understand Andre but convenience is what I prefer. Your update installer is excellent but not all encompassing of all released updates. I wish Windows 7 had that superseded updates cleanup ability. Windows 8 is a deal-breaking OS in many aspects. I will move to it only out of compulsion.

As long as Microsoft keep removing features and customization for no reason other than dumbing down ("simplifying"), they ARE a bully. There is a drastic difference in the way Windows was made up to XP and the releases following that. Look at Task Manager for example. From NT 4.0 to Windows 7, it improved incrementally. In Windows 8, it's "improved" but it's worse than ever. But there is objectivity be damned. Users don't get it, if Microsoft says it's "improved", then by all means it must be improved. The real skill was if they have improved it making all the nice additions (which it does have) without breaking/re-imagining existing design.

Bingo. WinSxS gets too bloated over time even if you exclude the hard links. This is why XPwasmyIdea. I cannot tolerate disk eating monster operating systems and Windows 7 needs SP2 some day just as much as Vista needs SP3. People's 32 GB Windows 8 tablets are also going to fill up fast with WinSxS and extremely bloated 250 MB Solitaire, Mahjong games on the Windows Store when installed..

I generally agree with the OP. I am xpclient and XPwasmyidea. And to prove my eXPertise, I have written these articles as a summarized form of my knowledge: Features new to Windows XP Features new to Windows Vista (entire series) Features new to Windows 7 Features removed in Windows Vista Features removed in Windows 7 as well as Windows 98 Windows NT 4.0 Windows Me Windows 2000 and thousands of such articles: http://en.wikipedia....lient/Watchlist (Proof is in the edit history of those articles) That said, it goes without saying that I don't claim to be an all-encompassing eXPert and always learn something from MSFN eXPerts who're far more clever. What I am good at is User Experience and I will try to get inside Microsoft to fix their UX from within and replace a certain moron lady. I started with Windows for Workgroups 3.1 and have been an MS fanboy until Vista came along and I developed mixed feelings. But NT6 (Vista did bring some pretty important improvements to Windows as did Windows 7) along with an equal number of REALLY BAD regressions. For many years since 2005 (Vista Beta 1), I complained to Microsoft and struggled but they don't care much. Jim Allchin, Bill Gates were the people who cared. Allchin told me on Facebook how he had cancer during Vista development and how they lost their way. The new evil and clueless management does not care. But along with my home grown Classic Shell project with Ivo Beltchev as the developer, 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, and about 50+ such third party programs, I found that almost all regressions in NT6 are fixable. Not all, but almost all, nearly all. I did a Ph.D in XP to Windows Vista/7 migration. Took me 5-6 years. Windows 8, now that is a REALLY REALLY BAD product that everyone should avoid if you want to save desktop computing. It may not be bad for tablets but buying it means supporting Microsoft and their evil plans to further cripple the desktop. If Vista brought me mixed feelings, Windows 8 makes my blood boil with fury. Btw you can add DVD support to NTBackup using this addon: http://www.cristalink.com/fs/. MS Paint *can* rotate an image. Providing SATA support in XP is not easy without porting StorPort back which was introduced in Server 2003. Instead, manufacturer provided SCSIport drivers work well. XP Service Pack 2 brought a whole lot of changes (see that Features new to XP article and do a "Find on this page" for SP2 or Service Pack 2). Not all the things you say about MS are true or accurate but mostly what your point is - that is true. MS turned evil after XP by not caring about regressions in functionality and I so glad, the nice folks at MSFN get it too. The general population is dumb and blind of finer changes or have little to no understanding of under the hood changes - they fail to notice the regressions and only see what marketing shows them.

Well everyone has different preferences. and that is why it is so important and Windows remain configurable, customizable and tweakable, so everyone can work the way he wants. I found Flip3D extremely useful because it displays *large* previews where you can quickly identify the window. The problem with Windows 7/Vista Alt-Tab is that there too much transparency and the previews are too tiny for me to make out which window I am switching to. I have to look at the icon overlaid on each preview and even then, the text (window title) is not as readable on transparent glass. In contrast, Flip3D's large previews help me instantly identify which window I am switching to. Alt-Tab has another annoyance/bug in Windows 7. It tries to do an "Aero Peek" of the window and tries to switch to it. Added to it is a bug that sometimes the Alt-Tab list itself goes behind the Peeked window, making it unusable. I have the same problem with Apple's way. The thumbnails are not large enough so if they are multiple similar looking windows of the same app open, I cannot identify which is which (maybe my eyesight is not that good). Note that Flip 3D (Win+Tab) did not replace Alt-Tab, so you could use what YOU wanted. But in Windows 8, Flip 3D is replaced by just a vertical version of Alt-Tab and it works ONLY in Metro. So if you are running just Desktop apps, here is Microsoft's evil plan to cripple the desktop. Now NOTHING happens when you do Win+Tab while on the Desktop and no Metro is running. I don't quite like the Windows 7 Taskbar either. I preferred the Vista/XP which has clean separation of running and non-running apps. I use 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, without it, Windows 7 Taskbar is unusable for me. I cannot tolerate one open app on the far left and one open app on the far right and traveling huge distances with the mouse to switch between them. Also, the fact that the apps you start on the Windows 7 Taskbar combine the AppIDs so two windows of the same app are always grouped even if not combined is very annoying. I cannot have Notepad, Firefox, Notepad unless I use 7+TT to change the AppIDs. The point is: beginning with Vista, 7, 8, MS is breaking long-standing behaviors and removing choices/options which used to be configurable, so you have to work their way only. Everyone cannot work the way he pleases without resorting to third party utilities. E.g. Classic Start menu is gone in Windows 7 because Sinofsky felt it's "time to move on". Who's he to decide this? Let users have the choice like Vista had. He's really a control freak and that is showing now with Windows 8.

Blame this woman: It's like the Midas touch. Whatever product she touches, it becomes dumbed down, non-customizable and features stripped from it. The Green touch. Office 2007. Ruined. Windows 7 Taskbar. Ruined. IE9 Ruined. Windows 8 Ruined. What will Green touch next? Fear this woman.

If you have Classic Shell installed, you can use the command: ClassicStartMenu.exe -togglenew to switch to Metro. Or you can use explorer.exe shell:::{2559a1f8-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0} to directly switch to the "Apps" screen. Or MrGRiM's method which sends hotkeys.

^ Nothing is broken for me. PC Settings works. Maybe something else you did broke it.

Tihiy, you sure know how to design a clean, attractive UI. Those screenshots look very nice.

Well I have read this thread: http://www.msfn.org/...than-windows-7/ and do agree with many points made but all of the regressions Windows 7 took compared to Vista can be fixed I think. What is it that you like about Vista that Windows 7 doesn't have? Or do you not like about Windows 7 that can't be made Vista-like?

Ah, now I see what you mean. Everything elevates itself, always runs as admin. Even if you set deny permissions to entire Administrators group, Everything finds it. Make sure you use the latest EXE released in the forums: 1.2.1.451a What it can't do is index contents. It can't index network paths either. Its developer was last seen active in their forums in 2011 but forum registrations are disabled so no way to contact him. There is a cmd line as jaclaz mentioned, and also an SDK but there isn't a 64-bit one.

LOL I was asking for a technical explanation. What does it do behind the scenes to achieve that / how does it do it? How does it keep only Metro apps pinned there? Does it rename the "Start" string in some DLL and does it do anything to the desktop shortcuts (like apply the hidden attribute or something) to not show them on the Start screen?

Just out of curiosity, Tihiy, may I ask what does it do to rename "Start" to "Apps" and how does it keep only Metro apps there?

Everything requires administrator permissions. I don't understand what you mean by last line.

I use it daily. It reads the MFT and stores the names in a database of less than 10 MB. Obviously file names only-"indexing", no file contents. So "indexing" takes less than 30 seconds for even drives as large as 2-3 TB and you can get a list of the entire HDD's file system and can search the database! It's pretty amazing.