New Version of ExplorerPatcher

hdmi · Tuesday at 2:47 PM

cheaterslick said:
You use all three? Together?

Yes.

cheaterslick said:
No conflicts with one another?

Not really.

spapakons · Tuesday at 4:59 PM

It depends what you do in each. For example Open Shell doesn't have any issues working with Explorer Patcher except when you select the Windows 10 (Explorer Patcher) taskbar style. Then the search icon disappears when screen resolution changes or second monitor is enabled/disabled. Also the custom taskbar color set in Open Shell is ignored and you see the default color each time you click on search. These are minor bugs though.

Kees · Wednesday at 2:28 PM

Anixx said:
If you do so, you also have to restart other utilities, such as Shellfolderfix

Just did a test:
- Opened two explorer folders in windows that are situated at different positions on the screen (by using Shellfolderfix)
- Restarted Explorer using the batch
- Opened those folders gain
- Shellfolderfix still is running, because those folders appear at the same positions without restarting Shellfolderfix.

Taskmanager tells me the "Manages explorer folder window sizes and positions" still is running.

BTW. Shellfolderfix still is a very usefull program!

Anixx · Thursday at 12:14 AM

Kees said:
Just did a test:
- Opened two explorer folders in windows that are situated at different positions on the screen (by using Shellfolderfix)
- Restarted Explorer using the batch
- Opened those folders gain
- Shellfolderfix still is running, because those folders appear at the same positions without restarting Shellfolderfix.

Taskmanager tells me the "Manages explorer folder window sizes and positions" still is running.

BTW. Shellfolderfix still is a very usefull program!

No, it is a big issue with Shellfolderfix. I am suffering from it for years.

maur0 · Thursday at 5:52 AM

hdmi said:
So how did you reduce the icons size and/or icon spacing on the taskbar before Windows 11 came out then? BTW, a reasonably decent 27″ 4k monitor can already be had for about $159-$169 on Amazon.

here

Kees · Thursday at 8:22 AM

Anixx said:
No, it is a big issue with Shellfolderfix. I am suffering from it for years.

Shellfolderfix always has been on my computer(s) since it was neccesary because MS decided not to 'remember' windows positions of File Explorer anymore. I think this was about 2009. And I never had any problems with it.

But Shellfolderfix only is necessary for the the File Explorer. Not for other apps. That is 'remembered' by Windows itself!
So if you have problems with other apps, there must be some reason why.

But that has little to do with ExplorerPatcher and so this was my last answer for your problem with Shellfolderfix.

hdmi · 2025-05-30T08:54:07-0400

maur0 said:
here

With ExplorerPatcher's Taskbar > Taskbar style > "Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher)" on 24H2, changing Windhawk's "Disable grouping on the taskbar" (taskbar-grouping) mod Settings > Pinned items mode > "Pinned items remain in place" and Grouping mode > "Disable grouping unless excluded", the taskbar icons spacing is automatically reduced, gradually and dynamically, i.e. to avoid the Pinned/running apps area getting full whenever it is possible to avoid:

hdmi · 2025-05-30T09:02:37-0400

spapakons said:
It depends what you do in each. For example Open Shell doesn't have any issues working with Explorer Patcher except when you select the Windows 10 (Explorer Patcher) taskbar style. Then the search icon disappears when screen resolution changes or second monitor is enabled/disabled. Also the custom taskbar color set in Open Shell is ignored and you see the default color each time you click on search. These are minor bugs though.

Why would anyone want to insist on having the search icon visible anyway in the first place I mean, is it for the physical training excecise that results from moving your arm from the mouse to the keyboard each time when you need to enter some text into the search field that appears when you click on the icon? Just hide the icon and forget about its existence IMO.

hdmi · 2025-05-30T09:18:55-0400

Kees said:
Shellfolderfix always has been on my computer(s) since it was neccesary because MS decided not to 'remember' windows positions of File Explorer anymore. I think this was about 2009. And I never had any problems with it.

But Shellfolderfix only is necessary for the the File Explorer. Not for other apps. That is 'remembered' by Windows itself!
So if you have problems with other apps, there must be some reason why.

But that has little to do with ExplorerPatcher and so this was my last answer for your problem with Shellfolderfix.

File Explorer with tabs is not necessary, and ExplorerPatcher's File Explorer > Control Interface > "Windows 10 Ribbon" is what's necessary to me. It's necessary to me because it causes Shellfolderfix to be not necessary and also because it lets me customize File Explorer how I want, i.e., with Open-Shell's Classic Explorer and ExplorerPatcher's additional settings that are accessible only after the Control Interface > "Windows 10 Ribbon" setting is applied in it (as shown in my example screenshot below). Additionally, Windhawk's "Better file sizes in Explorer details" (explorer-details-better-file-sizes) mod.

Kees · 2025-05-30T14:19:42-0400

hdmi said:
Windows 10 Ribbon" is what's necessary to me.

I don't like the ribbon interface of File Explorer (FE) at all. Never did like any ribbon interface.
I really was glad in Win11 MS got rid of that interface. I only don't like tabs in FE too, but that bothers me less than the ribbon interface.

And after Windhawk developed a mod to change the UI of FE (Windows 11 File Explorer Styler), I could rather easily switch tabs off, but some key combinations still make another tabbed entry without being viewable, so that's not (yet) very usable.

But what is usable is the possibilty to delete al the editing control icons in the command bar to only keeping the essential commands, did never use them, always use CTRL C / X / V / Z combinations.

Original command area of FE:

Command area After changing via Windhawk:

And I have been able to change the font size of the breadcrumbs (indicating the folder location) as well. Those were way too big on my 125% screen.

spapakons · 2025-05-30T14:59:00-0400

You can use Explorer Patcher to change File Explorer from Windows 11 style (tabs) to Windows 10 (ribbon) to 8 and even 7 to suit your needs. You can use Winaero Tweaker to change the fonts and the size of the fonts.

Winaero Tweaker

The ultimate all-in-one tweaker for Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

winaerotweaker.com

Kees · 2025-05-30T15:19:08-0400

spapakons said:
You can use Winaero Tweaker to change the fonts and the size of the fonts.

I suppose that concerns the overall fonts of the Windows interface?
I changed those Windows fonts by means of the little program "WinTools Change Systemfonts".
Always did since in Windows 7 no more change was possible in the direct way over Personal settings.
But changing those font sizes has no influence on this particular command line for breadcrumbs.

spapakons · 2025-05-30T16:45:58-0400

Try using a smaller size or reducing the scaling.

hdmi · 2025-05-30T18:11:00-0400

Kees said:
I don't like the ribbon interface of File Explorer

Ctrl+F1

Kees said:
But what is usable is the possibilty to delete al the editing control icons in the command bar to only keeping the essential commands, did never use them, always use CTRL C / X / V / Z combinations.

Original command area of FE:
View attachment 135498
Command area After changing via Windhawk:
View attachment 135499

And I have been able to change the font size of the breadcrumbs (indicating the folder location) as well. Those were way too big on my 125% screen.

Classic Explorer [component of Open-Shell] :

Kees · 2025-05-31T03:55:43-0400

hdmi said:
Classic Explorer [component of Open-Shell]

In the past I have been using that Classic Explorer without real success, was corrupting the File Explorer.
But that was in the time that I started using Windows 11 (about 2 years ago).

The problem then was that I could hardly get rid of the Classic Explorer 'addon'.
Had to reload an older image of the system partition to get rid of it.
Since then I have carefully avoided to install the Classic Explorer with Open Shell (which I always have used).
But I could, when the occasion is there, have a look at it again on my VirtualBox testsystem.
Anyway thanks for the screenshot.

Edit: I had a closer look at the screenshot and my impression is, that still is the ribbon interface, even when certain functions have been hidden. The ribbon interface of FE for me not only has the disadvantage of functions, difficult to find, but does give highlighted coloured function descriptions in the top, which I don't like at all. They varied according to what type of file I was selecting. Gave options for burning to disk, opening editors etc. (as far as I remember) That's not what I want to go back to, so I will keep the modern interface of FE, which I am used to for two years now.

I am happy with the interface now, modified by Windhawk.

spapakons · 2025-05-31T03:58:29-0400

Instead of Open Shell you can install Classic Start which only has the start button and start menu without the Classic Explorer.

Kees · 2025-05-31T04:13:39-0400

spapakons said:
Instead of Open Shell you can install Classic Start which only has the start button and start menu without the Classic Explorer.

I don't know about 'Classic Start', but Open Shell does (without Classic Explorer) exactly that: chnage the Start Button icon and the Start Menu.

Is that 'Classic Start' some other app?

spapakons · 2025-05-31T05:15:46-0400

Classic Start is Classic (Open) Shell without the Classic Explorer component. You can download it and install it instead of the full Open Shell application.

hdmi · 2025-05-31T05:24:04-0400

Kees said:
In the past I have been using that Classic Explorer without real success, was corrupting the File Explorer.
But that was in the time that I started using Windows 11 (about 2 years ago).

The problem then was that I could hardly get rid of the Classic Explorer 'addon'.
Had to reload an older image of the system partition to get rid of it.
Since then I have carefully avoided to install the Classic Explorer with Open Shell (which I always have used).
But I could, when the occasion is there, have a look at it again on my VirtualBox testsystem.
Anyway thanks for the screenshot.

Edit: I had a closer look at the screenshot and my impression is, that still is the ribbon interface, even when certain functions have been hidden. The ribbon interface of FE for me not only has the disadvantage of functions, difficult to find, but does give highlighted coloured function descriptions in the top, which I don't like at all. They varied according to what type of file I was selecting. Gave options for burning to disk, opening editors etc. (as far as I remember) That's not what I want to go back to, so I will keep the modern interface of FE, which I am used to for two years now.

I am happy with the interface now, modified by Windhawk.

I have been using Open-Shell with Classic Explorer alongside ExplorerPatcher on Windows 11 since mid-October 2021. Classic Explorer is not an 'addon'. It never gave me problems. I still remember like it was yesterday that it was raining reports about malware-style behavior of File Explorer and the behavior was also heavily affecting the whole UI of Windows 11 in many cases, and this kept going on for a couple of years, or possibly even longer.

These were people who didn't use any special customization software of any kind whatsoever.

As a matter of fact I could reproduce it by doing a clean install of Windows 11 on multiple computers. Windows 11 was turning them into flickering pinball machines. No exaggeration. Problems ranged from the active foreground window shifting to another window randomly for no apparent reason to a window being maximized to several app windows not remembering position and size to explorer.exe random crashes and whatnot.

Immediately the moment after I installed ExplorerPatcher on them and I changed File Explorer > Control Interface > "Windows 10 Ribbon" in it, the malware behavior-style would go away permanently. And using all the various options of Classic Explorer in Open-Shell next gave butter-smooth results on them in each and every single case. That's it then. I don't know what some people do to their computer.

spapakons · 2025-05-31T05:43:45-0400

Using the Classic Explorer part of Open Shell with the default File Explorer style (Windows 11) shows the cut-copy-paste icons at top left and I don't like that. Switching to Windows 10 style shows these buttons at top right as always was the case which is much more convenient. Also I get rid of the tabs which I don't use. I use Mica for Everyone to make the top of File Explorer blue like in Windows 7. File Explorer with tabs turns that blue to cyan at the tab area and I don't like it. So it is Windows 10 style for me to make File Explorer look exactly how I like it.

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