Windows Classic Shell

While some of you might like the new Startmenu, others will certainly be missing the feeling from Windows XP. So, how do we tweak Windows 7 to get rid of the new startmenu?

The first option would be to change the windows theme to 'windows classic'. Your taskbar, windows icon and start button will look just like they used to in the good ol' days. However, personally I find the taskbar and startbutton a bit out of date, but i do like the old startmenu! Fortunately, there is a trick to get around this problem. Just download and install „Classic Shell“ () which provides you with a smooth looking classic startmenu that blends nicely into the new windows 7 style.

Enable Windows 7 Quick Launch

Unfortunately, Windows 7 does not come with the popular Quick Launch bar out of the box (unlike Windows XP and Windows Vista). However, it is easy to add Quick Launch:

1. Right click on the taskbar, then click on Toolbars and New Toolbar.

2. As folder select manually or copy paste the following location:

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

3. Click on select folder

4. Now you've got a messed up Quick Launch bar that needs some tweaking:

5. Unlock the taskbar

6. Right click on the taskbar, uncheck „Show Title“ and „Show Text“, click on view and select „Small Icons“

7. Done! Now you should have working Quick Launch bar

Issues

As of now, there are still some issues with the bar, most importantly, you might experience the problem of the bar ocassionally dissapearing after a reboot. Obviously, you can just add it again, but there are some ways around it:

A) If you use the language bar hide it, you can still switch between input languages with shortcuts but when the language bar is visible it often leads to the quick launch bar being gone after restarting your computer

B) Make sure the Quick Launch folder is not 'hidden'

C) If it happens after installing new software, there is a good chance that QLB has a conflict with the respective program. Not much you can do besides uninstalling the program or re-adding the bar and hoping for the best.

D) There have also been cases where the quick launch bar problems were related to the user account. Create a new user account, add quick launch, reboot, see if it helps.

E) Make sure the following registry settings are set (start → type „regedit“)

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer

NoSaveSettings should be set to 0.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer

NoSaveSettings should be set to 0.