Classic Shell Returns For Windows 11 (with and/or without) ExplorerPatcher installed

CLASSIC-SHELL IS BACK FOR WINDOWS 11


Just some FYI. The Open-Shell start menu is back and you might know that if you run it with ExplorerPatcher installed, you can use in any Windows 11 edition to replace that awful OEM start menu

Note: The newest version below seems to run on the Windows 11 Devel branch without ExplorerPatch installed.

• https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases/latest/download/ep_setup.exe
• https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/t0ugjyhjk2ymlxuk/artifacts/OpenShellSetup_4_4_173.exe

A new version is near completion and will post when it's ready. I ave been told that some are even running .173 version on Win 11 without the Explorer mod installed. Let me know if this is the case for you.


Tim
ARS N9NU

Sweet!

Thanks for the info. I do not use Open Shell anymore but I recommend it to a lot of prople that need it for the transition to 11.

glasskuter said:

Thanks for the info. I do not use Open Shell anymore but I recommend it to a lot of prople that need it for the transition to 11.

Click to expand...

Whilst I preferred the W10 menu, in the end the W11 menu is not really that different (more so since live tiles got ditched).

People seem to get so worked up over a menu. A menu is just a list of items you run. The icons part are your favourites, and the rest you select from the a-z list.

People seem to forget the menu is a means to an end, not the end itself.

So, I would not recommend any 3rd party menu to a person transitioning to W11 as its menu works ok.

If people need a slicker menu (as you say), they can install one later. I rather dispute people really need a slicker menu but it is a bit like climbing Everest because it is there i.e. there are slicker menus, so they want one.

I doubt slicker menus seriously add anything in terms of overall productivity, and you always have hassle of needing to maintain a 3rd party menu.

The problem with this forum is we often lose sight of what vast majority of rest of the world will do - I bet way less than even 10% of total users would ever install a 3rd party menu. Look around all your "average" user friends - how many of them have a third party menu.

My experience most use the default menu (I have not seen a single instance of a third party menu). In the corporate world, I have never seen a 3rd party menu installed.

In fact, most of my friends have a mess of desktop icons but they don't care so long as they can click icon, run program.

I'm sorry what is new here? Maybe I don't understand your post. Both of these programs have existed for quite a while.

@cereberus I am in total agreement but some folks are so resistant to change and no amount of cajoling will convince them to try something new. I swear some of them would still be using XP if they could buy a new computer that had it. For the most part, I think it's because they are scared of computers in the first place. My husband is the worst of the bunch. He becomes a raving lunatic if there is the least little change in the appearance of his screen.

I have been using Open-Shell 4.1.1160 in Windows 11 without the Explorer Patch for about a year now and it has always worked. It first didn't work until I used the Custom Start button then it worked. I glad to see someone is updating it still.

I've been using CS/OS since W8 and love the features it offers over the standard menu.

Spunk said:

I have been using Open-Shell 4.1.1160 in Windows 11 without the Explorer Patch for about a year now and it has always worked. It first didn't work until I used the Custom Start button then it worked. I glad to see someone is updating it still.

Click to expand...

Hmm I tried once but my WiN7 button is too small as the 11 button still shows in vertical

Using 4.4.170 , its the latest stable version , in Win11.
Works awsome , computing gives you more fun with this great software............

Yeah...

glasskuter said:

I swear some of them would still be using XP if they could buy a new computer that had it.

Click to expand...

I have a friend like this, and he's proud of it, and has to mention his liking XP and still has a PC with XP that he uses everywhere we go. It's embarrassing to me, but I guess some folks like living back in 2001.

It hasn't been anywhere!

Never used Explorer Patcher and have been using Open Shell since day 1 on Win 11 also 4.4.170 on 11 Beta, 11 Preview and Win10.

RD Mercer said:

I have a friend like this, and he's proud of it, and has to mention his liking XP and still has a PC with XP that he uses everywhere we go. It's embarrassing to me, but I guess some folks like living back in 2001.

Click to expand...

Jeez - I forgot XP was 21st century !

glasskuter said:

@cereberus I am in total agreement but some folks are so resistant to change and no amount of cajoling will convince them to try something new. I swear some of them would still be using XP if they could buy a new computer that had it. For the most part, I think it's because they are scared of computers in the first place. My husband is the worst of the bunch. He becomes a raving lunatic if there is the least little change in the appearance of his screen.

Click to expand...

Yeah - I have a 70 year old friend who whizzes around mobile ordering stuff, paying bills, watching movies, bbc iplayer etc, and knows how to use facebook far better than I do, but put her in front of a laptop, she is scared to press a button. It's a mindset thing - "computers are used by experts but anybody can use a mobile phone"

However, I feel a lot of folks here on this forum are quite capable of handling change but pride themselves on NOT using MS menus.

glasskuter said:

@cereberus I am in total agreement but some folks are so resistant to change and no amount of cajoling will convince them to try something new. I swear some of them would still be using XP if they could buy a new computer that had it. For the most part, I think it's because they are scared of computers in the first place. My husband is the worst of the bunch. He becomes a raving lunatic if there is the least little change in the appearance of his screen.

Click to expand...

I am living proof to the contrary. I can't stand the recent Explorer interface, I'm unable to be productive without OpenShell. However, I am far from being afraid of computers, I made very advanced modifications in the system. Also, it's not a problem with the switch, because when I was a kid (in the 2000s), my parents used an iMac G5, so I knew very little about Windows XP. The first Windows I experienced was Windows 10.

RD Mercer said:

I have a friend like this, and he's proud of it, and has to mention his liking XP and still has a PC with XP that he uses everywhere we go. It's embarrassing to me, but I guess some folks like living back in 2001.

Click to expand...

This is no coincidence, because XP is one of the best Windows in terms of ergonomics (along with Windows 95 and NT4).

If I find a 2001 chair more comfortable than a 2021 chair of the same brand, that doesn't make me a backslider. For ergonomics, it's the same. There should be no consideration of mode and time, it goes against the very definition of ergonomics.

cereberus said:

Whilst I preferred the W10 menu, in the end the W11 menu is not really that different (more so since live tiles got ditched).

People seem to get so worked up over a menu. A menu is just a list of items you run. The icons part are your favourites, and the rest you select from the a-z list.

People seem to forget the menu is a means to an end, not the end itself.

So, I would not recommend any 3rd party menu to a person transitioning to W11 as its menu works ok.

If people need a slicker menu (as you say), they can install one later. I rather dispute people really need a slicker menu but it is a bit like climbing Everest because it is there i.e. there are slicker menus, so they want one.

I doubt slicker menus seriously add anything in terms of overall productivity, and you always have hassle of needing to maintain a 3rd party menu.

The problem with this forum is we often lose sight of what vast majority of rest of the world will do - I bet way less than even 10% of total users would ever install a 3rd party menu. Look around all your "average" user friends - how many of them have a third party menu.

My experience most use the default menu (I have not seen a single instance of a third party menu). In the corporate world, I have never seen a 3rd party menu installed.

In fact, most of my friends have a mess of desktop icons but they don't care so long as they can click icon, run program.

Click to expand...

I don't agree with you at all.

First, the interface of a system is not the system itself. The system itself is not supposed to depend on the interface. If so, that's a bad design. Look at the many GNU/Linux desktop environments.

Then, the one and only reason why less than 10% of users use a third-party menu is because most people don't know anything about computers. This does not mean that the menu is good. If someone has a problem with a menu (Windows 10 or Windows 11), I immediately advise them to install OpenShell. A problem --> a solution. It's just a logical reasoning, wanting in principle not to install a third-party menu is dogmatic.
Personally, I never use the A/Z list, because it wastes time My programs and my favorite sites are classified by category. Likewise, messing up icons on the desktop is the best way to get distracted from work.
Finally, OpenShell causes no damage to the system, it's even the opposite, since the OpenShell menu consumes much less RAM than the original menu. With OpenShell installed, just rename (in Windows 10, in Windows 11 it might be different) StartMenuExperienceHost.exe. You will notice in passing that the Windows start menu is a separate process, just like OpenShell. So technically the OpenShell menu is no less native. This is technically equivalent to changing your phone ringtone.

To a computer operator, either the owner or just a worker, the menu can make the difference between an easy day at work or a miserable day at work. It's all about the PC being User Friendly! If it's not User Friendly, then it's just another piece of over priced junk.

I walked into a school office one day and observed the lady at the desk entering a whole string of DOS commands into her PC in order to run Lotus 1.2.3. DBASE III was another matter all together.
She had the list of commands written down, but she had entered them so many times that she pretty well had them memorized.
But let a sub come into that office, and she would be lost.

I asked her if I could help her out, and save her some time, and she said "Sure!".
I sat down at her old IBM AT and in less than ten minutes I wrote her an Ansi Color menu where all she had to do is enter one number and press the enter key and her Program popped up on the screen.

She was ecstatic! Time saved and more work done.
I was actually there to pick up all the computers from their computer Lab, to take them for a tuneup, before school started for the year.

As for Windows 11, I used the same "Classic Shell" as I've used on Win-8.1 and Win-10. Works just fine.
I was sad that the original authors decided to abandon it, but I was glad again that some others picked it up and continued it.

For the newcomers who have never used DOS, or worked with a DOS menu, here's one I wrote years ago, back in Windows ME days.
Originally, this was on a 3.5" floppy disk.


A lot of work could be done, by just entering one number and pressing the ENTER key.

Menu's are just for the aid of the operator.
Cheers Mates!
TM

While Classic Shell works fine in Windows 10 and 11, I use Open Shell to get the latest. I have no problem using the default Windows 10 or 11 start menu, but I hate when I have to scroll through tens of applications to find the one I want to launch. I find the Windows 7 menu better organized and easier to use, so I also install Open Shell and set it to Windows 7 style for my friends. I also prefer the colorful Windows Vista/7 start button over the plain white default of newer Windows versions, so I replace that also. I use custom system icons almost everywhere, including the battery, network and sound icons. If these are grouped together (as is default in Windows 11) any custom icons are ignored and I see the original Windows 11 icons instead. So I have also installed Explorer Patcher to ungroup them and to restore the list of tools including Task Manager when you right-click on the taskbar. Having both Open Shell and Explorer Patcher installed, I didn't notice any issue. Latest Explorer Patcher fixes the bug of the network icon that would not work in the previous version. The latest version shows labels (such as Flight mode) instead of the respective icons, but this is a known issue and will be fixed.

For anyone interested, to replace the system icons, I use Customizer God. To get the Windows 7 start button and start menu I use Open Shell. This also gives the useful cut/copy/paste buttons in Explorer. To ungroup the battery network and sound icons and restore the right-click menu with Task Manager I use Explorer Patcher. To also replace the Windows 11 icons in classic System Properties and in Windows Version, I use Resource Hacker. To see the classic System Properties window you must create a new folder and then rename it with a specific code as the name, I don't have the code handy.