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Classic Shell

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ciccio.trippa
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Classic Shell

Program: Classic Shell

License: Freeware Open Source

Description: Classic Shell is a collection of features that were available in older versions of Windows but were later removed. It has a customizable Start menu and Start button for Windows 7 and Windows 8, it adds a toolbar for Windows Explorer and supports a variety of smaller features.

Website: http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/index.html

[Reposted several weeks later; repost deleted, please don't do that - mod Chris]

darksabre76
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Doesn't look like it's

Doesn't look like it's possible to make it portable. It integrates into Windows (such as the start menu and windows explorer); not something that's possible with PA.c apps.

What part of it did you like? There's a few explorer alternatives sitting in the Utilities section if that's what you were looking for.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

ciccio.trippa
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Honestly I don't see the

Honestly I don't see the problem.
I use a "self portabilized" version of the SW (saved an old installation folder) and it works perfectly.
It would be nice if a real portable version could take the links to programs
from a local folder, instead of the standard %appdata%...start_menu folder.

I know about the portableApps launcher, but it is formally different from classic shell.
At first it does not replace the start menu and id not at all flexible as classic shell with regard to the organization of the links themselves.

Thanks, Marco

dlwatib
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PortableApps launcher is somewhat like ClassicShell

I'm using both PortableApps and ClassicShell on my Windows 8 system. The PortableApps launcher provides the same basic functionality as ClassicShell of launching programs, so I would probably not have installed ClassicShell if PortableApps would support adding programs via shortcuts to its menu system.

You can add programs not distributed by PortableApps.com, but only by adding the .exe file itself. A shortcut to a .exe file gets ignored. (I've not tried a .bat file so I don't know if that would work.)

Any programs you add manually like that get put in the "other" category and there is no way to create additional menu structures (that I am aware of). If you add a folder to the ClassicShell menu structure it creates a new sub-menu.

ClassicShell also lets you access a host of system functions that Microsoft rather consistently tries to hide away in new hiding places, like the charms bar or the control panel or an "all programs" button hidden away behind a right click on a special start page. Most of these things have some arcane command line, so it would be feasible to get to them without system modifications. It would be nice to be able to access these functions on any recent windows system without having to search for them, merely by plugging in your usb drive with PortableApps launcher.

Right now I'm using both ClassicShell and PortableApps to launch programs. Sometimes I forget where I've installed a program so I try the wrong launcher first. That's inconvenient. So it would be nice if the PortableApps launcher was as flexible as ClassicShell:
1) Support user customizations to its menu hierarchy, preferably by adding folders.
2) Be able to run any windows command as a menu item, especially windows system functions that used to be found in the start menu.
3) Be able to run any program from a shortcut instead of requiring the .exe file directly.
4) Incorporate the system start programs and apps menus as a submenus.

Ken Herbert
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Already can be done, just not
  1. Already can be done, just not by folders. If you right click any app in the menu, then go to Categories you can change the category of an app as well as add new categories. There are no plans to support adding actual folders to the menu.
  2. Can be done in a roundabout way. You either need to create it as a bat file and convert it to an exe, or create it as a bat file and give it the basic PortableApps structure around it and then use the Launcher.
  3. Probably not going to happen. But you can fool the menu into doing it with the bat file & Launcher method, and just set the launcher up to update the paths in the bat file.
  4. I don't see a benefit to this. It would confuse some users into thinking they are running a portable program when they are running the local one (especially via search) and by keyboard access Windows 7 at least is quicker via the Start menu than the Platform. Also the Platform would require handling exes in nested menu structures, which I believe John has said is not going to be added.
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