Classic Shell: Forum

Using Win8/64 bit

I have to say that the Classic Start Menu rescues Win8; I was ready to rebuild my system with Win7 when I discovered the classics...

I just upgraded to 3.9.5 (from 3.6.8) and have a few questions:

1) I was using the style "Classic with two columns" and had dragged about 30 programs onto the start menu. In 3.6.8 there was a setting which I can't find in 3.9.5 that allowed me to use small icons for the menu. If I can't do that my menu is too large on a 1280x1024 screen and it has to scroll. Is that feature still available?

2) If I change the style to "Windows 7 style" all the programs that I had on the start menu disappear. If I revert to "Classic with two columns" they reappear. Shouldn't they be maintained regardless of style?

3) If I change the large icon size from 32 to 16 many of the programs on the start menu are gone when I restart.

Classic Shell 3.6.8 and earlier used the Start Menu folder (%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu) where you used to drag your pinned items. But the original Windows 7 menu shows the contents of this Start Menu folder inside All Programs and has a separate location where Pinned items are stored in the main menu. So accordingly, some changes were done in Classic Shell versions after 3.6.8, however we gave the choice to the end user.

There is a new "Pinned Programs folder" setting introduced in Classic Shell versions after 3.6.8 (on the Main Menu tab in CSM settings). It lets you choose between the old Start Menu folder and a new dedicated Pinned folder, regardless of the style used. For the Classic styles, the Start Menu folder is the default, for the Windows 7 style, the Pinned folder is the default (like Microsoft's Windows 7 Start menu) which is why the shortcuts disappear from the main menu and show inside the All Programs folder.

If you use the Windows 7 style, set the Pinned Programs folder setting to use "Use Start Menu folder" and they will show up in the main menu like 3.6.8.

To make the icons smaller, go to the Skin tab and check the Small icons option. That makes icons in the main menu as well as the submenus small. The settings from the Skin tab (Skin-related options) are not yet searchable which is why they may not show up in the Settings search. Or another way to make icons smaller instead of checking the Skin option is the "Large icon size" setting. Set it to 16 or 24 as per your convenience, exit the Start Menu by right clicking the button and restart it again from C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe

_________________
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.

Perfect - Thanks for the help, I have everything working; It does seem that linking the style choice to other settings is a bit counter-intuitive.

As an aside, I had searched for "Small" in the settings and the skin setting "Small Icons" is not found.

The styles are like templates. Windows 7 style sets the settings for the menu to behave the most like the original Windows 7 menu. Classic with 2 columns style makes it behave like the XP menu but still tries to incorporate later improvements. So the styles are only to get people started.

_________________
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.

As GauravK said, the skin settings are not searchable. They depend on the currently selected skin, and are very different from the rest of the settings.