Classic Shell: Forum

I recently moved from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and Classic Shell continues to be very useful to me.

I looked for the old copy UI settings, but I found out that this feature is probably not working anymore: is it so?

I read the FAQs but I couldn't confirm that, and searching "copy ui windows 8" on this forum gives no results ("too common words").

If it's still there, how do I activate it?

Thanks

The Copy replacement UI was just that, just a UI on top of the new Vista/7 UI. In Windows 8, MS completely redesigned it again and while I hate the new one too (here's why: How the Windows 8 copy file conflict dialog slows you down), it hasn't been replaced yet in Classic Shell. What I particularly miss in the new Windows 8 copy conflict dialog is all the information available at once glance like date, size which is needed for me to make a decision about overwrite. I have to click "Choose the file to click...." nearly every single time and then to Replace All, do two more clicks again (one at the top and one at the bottom) in the detailed file conflicts window. It would be easier if the detailed file conflicts window was always shown every time the copy conflict dialog appeared. It's up to Ivo to add an option to automatically show conflict details dialog every time.

What used to be a single click ("Yes"/Yes to All") after seeing date, size etc to make a decision has become 3 clicks (1. Choose files to keep. 2. Choose file/choose all files 3. Click Continue button.)

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I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

personally i kinda like it, although it could have been designed better.., windows really lacks when it comes to detecting similar files.. (not just files with the same name)
the first fix would be adding a keep both button

and a checkbox "Include perfect Matches" - which defaults checked; and if unchecked, the same dialog pops up a second time (without the include perfect matches button); for you to choose an option for perfect matches;
*a perfect match would be a file with the same name, and checksum/filesize/whatever; aslong as windows is certain its an exact duplicate of the file it wants to replace*

i would also add advanced options (somewhere in the control panel) to send replaced files to recycle bin rather than hard delete them

the only other thing to the main dialog could be a way to automatically delete skipped files, but i dont see a clean way of adding that
and a way to select the newly copied AND the files they wanted to replace..

also windows should really have a duplicate file manager built in

You *can* keep both by checking the topmost boxes but yes it's too many clicks and the buttons aren't even close to each other. Windows 8 did add skipping files based on the same date and size but it's not checked by default, nor does it save its last state. Calculating checksums for each and every file in the copy list would be too time and CPU-intensive.

You can still have the good old XP style "classic" UI if you use PerigeeCopy, another free open source tool and it's speed is pretty much the same as the Windows built-in copy in my benchmarks: http://jstanley.pingerthinger.com/pscopy.html . It also has the ability to queue copy jobs, so only one operates at a time, copy only newer files, skip all errors till the end, postpone overwrite questions till the end, or absolutely not prompt at all no matter what. It also uses native Windows UI, since I cannot stand ugly custom interfaces.

It's a perfect fit for incorporating into Classic Shell and further improving.

Here's an article on PerigeeCopy: http://winaero.com/blog/queue-copy-and- ... rigeecopy/ and a screenshot.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Thank you.

I hope that restoring this feature won't turn out to be unfeasible (like the FolderSize column addon, which broke after windows xp, apparently without easy remedy. I'm still missing it).

checksum calculation isnt all that time consuming on modern systems, asuming your not dealing with thousands of files...

This means we could hope of someone tweaking a FolderSize-like feature into Explorer again?

It's good that you can pause the copy and it's, supposedly, faster and has less chances to freeze. But the copy&replace UI in win8/8.1 is just terrible... It's another one of those tablet/touchscreen-oriented bullshit from MS, without providing any better alternative for mouse users - they're pretty much forcing me to install third party software, which are usually completely on the other side of the scale - overburdened with options for this simple task.

It's bearable for 1-2 files, but comparing 10+ files is just insane in this interface.
They even got rid of the simple "larger", "newer" tags, when 2 files are compared.

ideally i would want the sizes in bytes and dates shown - with "newer"&"larger" tags near them (or one should just be bold font or whatever). When i click (or right-click o_O a mouse has more than 1 button sic!) on the file icon it should open the file to view and it should have a button to go to the file's folder. All of this should be within a single "keep or replace file" interface.

Well, the PerigeeCopy source code is open. If you can find a developer to update it to add more features, it can become the perfect classic copy replacement including the engine! In fact I find its ability to queue copies far more useful than pausing a copy operation.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

I'm glad there is an option, but I do wish this was in ClassicShell (which I love).

I agree with Gendalf that we need the newer/larger info. A queue list might be nice, but this is essential.