Classic Shell 4.0.2

Classic Shell is a collection of features that were available in older versions of Windows but are removed from Vista and Windows 7. It has a classic start menu for Windows 7 and Windows 8, it adds a toolbar for Windows Explorer and supports a variety of smaller features. There are 3 major components - Classic Explorer, Classic Start Menu and Classic IE9. Look here for the full list if features.

Classic Shell features:

• Classic Start Menu for Windows 7, 8 (with skins)


• Toolbar for Windows Explorer


• Classic copy UI


• Show file size in Explorer status bar

Classic Start Menu is a clone of the original start menu. It has a variety of advanced features:

• Drag and drop to let you organize your applications


• Options to show Favorites, expand Control Panel, etc


• Shows recently used documents. The number of documents to display is customizable


• Translated in 35 languages, including Right-to-left support for Arabic and Hebrew


• Does not disable the original start menu in Windows. You can access it by Shift+Click on the start button


• Right-click on an item in the menu to delete, rename, sort, or perform other tasks


• The search box helps you find your programs without getting in the way of your keyboard shortcuts


• Available for 32 and 64-bit operating systems


• Has support for skins, including additional 3rd party skins


• Fully customizable in both looks and functionality


• Support for Microsoft’s Active Accessibility


• Converts the “All Programs” button in the Windows menu into a cascading menu (Vista and Windows 7)


• Implements a customizable start button for Windows 8


• And last but not least – it's FREE!

Classic Explorer is a plugin for Windows Explorer that:

• Adds a toolbar to Explorer for some common operations (Go to parent folder, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Properties, Email). The toolbar is fully customizable


• Replaces the copy UI in Vista and Windows 7 with the more user-friendly “classic” version similar to Windows XP


• Handles Alt+Enter in the folder panel of Windows Explorer and shows the properties of the selected folder


• Has options for customizing the folder panel to look more like the Windows XP version or to not fade the expand buttons


• Can show the free disk space and the total file size in the status bar


• Can disable the breadcrumbs in the address bar


• Fixes a long list of features that are broken in Windows 7 – missing icon overlay for shared folders, the jumping folders in the navigation pane, missing sorting headers in list view, and more

Classic IE9 is a plugin for Internet Explorer 9 that:

• Adds a caption to the title bar so you can see the full title of the page


• Shows the security zone in the status bar


• Shows the loading progress in the status bar

What's new in this version:

• Quick fix for the taskbar showing up on top of fullscreen programs under some conditions


• New setting to hide Metro apps from the Programs folder


• Improved compatibility with the final build of Windows 8.1


• Minor bugfixes

Note: Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are no longer supported.

Download: Classic Shell 4.0.2 | 5.4 MB (Open Source)

View: Homepage | Screenshots | Full Release Notes