Open-Shell - Classic Shell Reborn, and pretty neat too

What's on the menu? A review of Open-Shell, a fork of the Classic Shell alternative menu for Windows 7-10, covering initial setup, simple and advanced options, skins, theming and color, app favorites and pinning, file explorer tweaks, and more. Have fun.

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/open-shell-windows-10.html


Cheers,
Mrk

 

Thanks.
Two typos I noticed:

I think you meant "supposed to work"

I think you meant "glass"

 

I've used Classic Shell on previous Windows 8.1 system and never thought about using it on Windows 10.
I also didn't know CS got a fork.
Thank you for this article. I'm going to install and try it.

 

This is my start menu setup on Windows 10. It's the Windows 7 start menu but with a dark theme to make it look like an integral part of the OS not just the Windows 7 start menu. This way it looks more professional and looks like its part of the OS:

https://i.imgur.com/cNEUX50.jpg

 

Open works great on three of my Win10 systems. Two of those 10s used to run Classic. One of which started out from Windows Insider releases way, way back when, before the public release of 10. Never had a peep of an issue with 'em, ever. Default install is more than adequate, but with tons of settings available to config under the hood.

 

Nice

 

Joxx, thanks for the heads up.
Mrk

 

On Win8.1 it's a must because it doesn't offer the Start Menu at all. Open Shell is especially handy because it fixes certain things in Windows Explorer like disabling the stupid breadcrums and it shows freespace and file-size in the status bar. I can't believe that M$ forgot about this.

 

I don't use it for classic explorer as I use other file manager. Even on Windows 10 it is more customizable as native start menu so I will use it here as start replacement also.

 

Yes, of course. I just wanted to give some background info. I would also still use it on Win 10, because from what I've seen, the Win 10 start menu is bloated. I do have to say that on Win 8.1, I aways get this weird start up error with Open-Shell, not sure what's that about, but it does work correctly.

 

Never had it give me any errors ever, I've used it from the very first version until the current version and on every single Windows 10 build. Do you want my custom dark skin for it and XML settings file?

This is how it looks like: https://i.imgur.com/cNEUX50.jpg

PS: I only install the Shell Menu and Update component. I uncheck the Classic Explorer and Classic IE

 

Hi Spartan

Please advise a link to get your dark skin & xml settings file , or please send me a private message(conversation)

Thanks
Ska

 

I will PM you. Mean while, @ronjor @JRViejo is it allowed for me to share the Black Skin theme file and the XML settings on the forum?

 

Roger that.

 

Well perhaps the fault is caused by the Classic Explorer component, it happens almost everytime I restart my Win 8.1 system, but it's not a big deal. And no thanks, I like the standard look.

 

This is how I always install it, never had a single issue:

 

It does not look like it auto updates to new version.

 

It doesn't

 

Open-Shell v4.4.160 (Beta) = https://ci.appveyor.com/project/passionate-coder/open-shell-menu/branch/master/artifacts

Now has the update feature back

 

I started to use it yesterday for the first time. If or when i see a new update should i uninstall mine first or just over the top.

 

I've seen many issues on other forums, backup your settings to an XML file, uninstall, reboot, reinstall, reboot and don't install the Classic Explorer or Classic IE. Just the Classic Start Menu and Update components.

 

I have windows 7 style turned on.