Click here to Skip to main content
15,885,366 members
Articles / Desktop Programming / ATL

Classic Shell

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.99/5 (135 votes)
23 Feb 2010MIT33 min read 955K   10K   195  
Classic Start menu and other shell features for Windows 7 and Vista.
CLASSIC SHELL
Version 1.0.0

Classic Shell adds some missing features to Windows 7 and Vista like a
classic start menu, a toolbar for Windows Explorer and others.

The latest version can be found on Source Forge:
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Report problems in the Classic Shell help forum:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/forums/forum/1049756

For answers to frequently asked questions look here:
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/faq.html


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

1) Classic Start Menu

Classic Start Menu is a clone of the start menu from Windows 2000, XP and Vista that
sadly is missing from Windows 7. It has a variety of advanced features:

*	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

*	Available for 32 and 64-bit operating systems

*	Has support for skins, including additional 3rd party skins. Make your own!

*	Fully customizable in both looks and functionality

*	Support for Microsoft�s Active Accessibility


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

2) Classic Explorer

Classic Explorer is a plugin for Windows Explorer that:

*	Adds a toolbar to Explorer for some common operations (Go to parent folder,
  Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Properties, Email). More buttons can be added manually

*	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


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

3) The source code

Classic Shell is open source, and the source code is licensed under the terms of the
MIT open source license. See the LICENSE.txt file in the main directory.

By viewing downloads associated with this article you agree to the Terms of Service and the article's licence.

If a file you wish to view isn't highlighted, and is a text file (not binary), please let us know and we'll add colourisation support for it.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The MIT License


Written By
Software Developer (Senior)
United States United States
Ivo started programming in 1985 on an Apple ][ clone. He graduated from Sofia University, Bulgaria with a MSCS degree. Ivo has been working as a professional programmer for over 12 years, and as a professional game programmer for over 10. He is currently employed in Pandemic Studios, a video game company in Los Angeles, California.

Comments and Discussions