ANN: Classic Shell - start menu and other features

ok. I finally got it. I went back to the permission issues and followed one of Brink's most excellent tuts on it: Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable.
Some minor drawbacks to having go this route:
Shouldn't have to but oh well, that knowledge will pay off for future probs.
I went back after I knew the install went well and re-checked the 'account is disabled'.

As an aside, it's unlikely that me and the guy on the forum are the only ones that are or will have the install issue. And I did just use the explore buttons for now. So now we know that unknown is solved. If someone would write a small program for permissions issues, that would be sweet. One that did what is in the tutorial and a button to switch back would be the cat's meow. In reading a lot of threads for several different areas of this board, permission issues are clearly going to impact a lot of folks. Unfortunately, there is no 'one' solution fits all, but we can only hope that knowledge and maybe a nice program (like yours!) will help out somewhat. Thanks!!

Rusty

Hmm... That's weird. On my Win7 machine the Administrator account is also disabled and I don't have any problems installing. If I have the UAC fully enabled all I get is a prompt during install to agree to the installation. With UAC fully disabled there is no prompt and the install finishes fine.

No matter, at least there is a workaround for other people having similar problems. I will include that on the website. Maybe I'll make a separate "troubleshooting" page. (can't be in the readme, because you have to install first before you can read it :) )

Just for the record, can you confirm that after you used the Administrator account to install, you are now able to use the Explorer toolbar as your regular user?

Ivo said:

Just for the record, can you confirm that after you used the Administrator account to install, you are now able to use the Explorer toolbar as your regular user?

yes. it works fine. Thanks!

The new version of Classic Shell is out. It has a skinnable start menu and other improvements.

Because it is a major new version I started a new thread here:
ANN: Classic Shell 0.9.8 -now with skinnable start menu

Enjoy
Ivo

Hi Ivo.
I tried your classic shell and it is great !!!!
For me to get to know win7 I need to have it stock standard ....
So how do I uninstall your Classic Shell so that the Start Menu is back to default. (or back to just after a fresh Win7 install)
Much appreciated

Just like any other program, go to Programs and Features, double-click on Classic Shell and follow the instructions.

Great program! I work at a public university, and I need a program like this for public terminals, classrooms, and labs. I have discovered that the default Windows 7 start menu is too hard to customize for the default user. If I can hide/disable functionality in the default start menu and desktop, then that would be great!

I installed Classic Shell, logged in as administrator, and then right-clicked folders/apps to hide programs that I do not want users to access. Just for fun, I uninstalled classic shell, logged in as a new standard user, and the folders/programs in the original Windows 7 start menu remained hidden (and therefore inaccessible)! Your program enabled me to sneak a custom default Windows 7 start menu for my users. Thanks!

When using Classic Shell, the Computer icon displays in Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools-->Computer. The Computer icon is shown on the users desktop; however, the user can right-click on this icon and has the following undesirable options: Create shortcut, Delete, Rename, Scan for threats (MacAfee antivirus). Other, desirable options that display are Open, Manage (disabled by group policy), map network drive, disconnect network drive. Is there any way to leave only the desirable options.

I have set the public desktop folder to "read-only" for standard users on a machine and added shortcuts to programs in that folder.
Is there a way to disable the right-click context menu for items in C:\Users\Public Desktop. Or can be done in group policy. I did not find a setting for it.

Or, to make it easier, is there any way I can disable right-clicking for all desktop items? If not, then please consider this a feature request for Classic Shell.

Are you aware that double-clicking on an item in the Start Menu opens up the full path of that folder in a new window. Is there a way to disable this for users that are not administrators of the machine. Can we also disable right-mouse click on the start button for everyone but administrators of the machine. Is there a way to make Windows 7 Areo the default skin for new users that log in.

Is there a way to hide the folder toolbar. For example, I don't want users to click on "Organize", "Include in Library", and "Share with" buttons or right-click menu items.

Thanks!

The next version will have options to disable right-click and drag/drop. But that will not stop the users from doing bad things. It just removes one of the ways to do that. What's to stop users from opening the start menu folder in Explorer and right-clicking there? Or pressing "Del" to delete a file? If you want to prevent certain operations on certain files you have to set up the access rights correctly.

Also the option to disable right-click and drag/drop will be global and not per user. It will not be possible to enable them for admin users only.

The default skin for new users should be Windows 7 Aero if you are running on Windows 7 with Aero enabled. Is that the case?

And yes, I am aware that double-clicking on a folder item opens that folder in Explorer. I wrote the thing, remember :P But I don't see the point of disabling this feature. What's to stop people from opening Explorer and going to that folder manually?

anonemous said:

I installed Classic Shell, logged in as administrator, and then right-clicked folders/apps to hide programs that I do not want users to access. Just for fun, I uninstalled classic shell, logged in as a new standard user, and the folders/programs in the original Windows 7 start menu remained hidden (and therefore inaccessible)! Your program enabled me to sneak a custom default Windows 7 start menu for my users. Thanks!

I don't understand - are you saying that you deleted some shortcuts in the classic start menu, and then they were gone in the Windows 7 menu? How is that surprising? Both programs show the contents of the same "start menu" folders. You don't need classic menu to delete stuff, just open the Windows 7 menu, find the shortcut and delete it. Or delete it from Explorer.

Am I missing something?