Windows 7 Classic vs. New Start Menu

CSMenu v0.9 Released

CSMenu v0.9 has now been uploaded, and is considered working (I hope!).

Enjoy!

Thomas.

don't know if this can be fixed but it crashes if I try to right click anything in the start menu

Right clicking the start menu is supposed to have the same effect as left clicking, for two reasons:

1) I haven't coded the right click menus

2) It doesn't matter if you're left or right handed then.

What sort of crash is it? A .NET Error (red circle with white cross image!).

Thanks,

Thomas.

Hi. Juste tested, but can you change a little bit the way it looks. I like classic Menu, but mor in the Standard XP way. Perhaps skinning it or rounding the corners could give a better look ?

Hi. Juste tested, but can you change a little bit the way it looks. I like classic Menu, but mor in the Standard XP way. Perhaps skinning it or rounding the corners could give a better look ?

Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. At the moment I'm back at college studying, so CSMenu hasn't been altered at all since the v0.9 release. I might consider adding skins in the future, but it almost certainly won't be on the next release. You could always try the option in the configuration program which enables an alternative style of menu. You probably won't like it (I don't!), and it's not really working well.

Thanks,

Thomas.

I finally found my screw-up that made me unable to install CSMenu. It was because I removed the Arrows from my shortcuts. This in turn disabled my ability to pin programs to the taskbar.

Now it's fixed and I have to say Thank You a whole lot for giving this to us. I love it. I'm using both menus. There are things I like about the New Start Menu. I just can't abide the All Programs menu in it. After all my years of using the Classic Start Menu it just feels wrong to have to be constantly scrolling and clicking to find a program that I want. Classic is so much easier.

You're awesome dude. Thanks again.

Glad you like it!! I really appreciate the thanks

If I get around to starting programming it again, I might add the ability to search when you type (like the new menu), as I find that a useful feature. Also, keyboard shortcuts and arrow keys need setting up! However at the moment I'm focusing on a dBase III C# reader / modifier (which as you've guessed is nothing to do with CSMenu ).

Thanks!

Thomas.

thomasw234 said:

Glad you like it!! I really appreciate the thanks

If I get around to starting programming it again, I might add the ability to search when you type (like the new menu), as I find that a useful feature. Also, keyboard shortcuts and arrow keys need setting up! However at the moment I'm focusing on a dBase III C# reader / modifier (which as you've guessed is nothing to do with CSMenu ).

Thanks!

Thomas.

Click to expand...

Take your time. I'm happy with it as it is.

Thanks for all your hard work and for "0.9" update !!

I've been very busy the past few weeks, but I've now managed to install 0.9 and test it...

It runs smoothly even though the first click on the CSM shortcut (after starting the computer) is still a little slow. But that's the only trouble I can report... as long as I run CSM in english

I'm having a hard time translating things to french : I've found how to change the names of the menus (inside the .ini files), I've found the new location of the start menu icons and renamed them... but I can't get french accentuated letters in there (if I put them in the .ini file they are replaced by a "?" mark and the corresponding icon doesn't show)

Everything seems ok if I keep "Executer" instead of "Exécuter" both in the icon name and inside the .ini file for "Run"

On the other hand, if I launch "CSMenu settings" and enter "Arrêter" for "Shut down" then the "ê" is correctly displayed

Can you help me solve this ?

I'm also having difficulties translating the items in the settings subfolder : if I change the names (whatever the change) I get bad results : strangely each icon gets its own bad result... I've attached a screenshot to make it easier to understand (in that example I've simply copied the files to the same folder : the original file looks normal while it's copy gets a strange icon, but still work). How could I translate the names while keeping the right icon ?

Finally I don't know how to translate the words in the shut down pop up... any help about that is welcomed too

Anyway, these are just details, I haven't run in any other problem, so thanks again for your great work

Hi, thanks once again for your feedback.

Luckily there is a way to solve both of your problems.

For some strange reason, C# (the language CSMenu is written in) won't read in non-ASCII characters from the text files if you use notepad or wordpad. To solve this, you should find a program called EuropeanCharacterEditor.exe in with the settings for the main menu (see the screenshot attached).

For the problem with the icons, go to the 'ICONS' folder, and re-name them to match the settings menu items. So if you rename one menu item from 'Control Panel.lnk' to 'Something.lnk', rename 'Control Panel.lnk.ico' to 'Something.lnk.ico'.

For the shutdown dialogs, go to '\CSMenu\0.9\settings_files\shutdown_dialogs' and alter the .inf files accordingly. shutdown_classic is the drop down menu, and shutdown_xp is the 3 icon selection box.

With the next version I'm thinking of an upgrade tool from v0.9, and also maybe language packs, although these would have to be done by others, as I am useless at foreign languages!

Thanks!

Thomas.

P.S. The screenshot was done using Windows XP, don't use the same folder paths as the screenshot, as they are different in Windows 7!

You're probably aware of this but "The How-To Geek" has posted a nice write-up on the CSMenu.
Link Removed
Cool huh? I'm sure that will bring some users your way. I posted a comment there about it.

stueycaster said:

You're probably aware of this but \"The How-To Geek\" has posted a nice write-up on the CSMenu.
Get the Classic Start Menu in Windows 7 :: the How-To Geek
Cool huh? I'm sure that will bring some users your way. I posted a comment there about it.

Click to expand...

Cool thanks I was aware that lifehacker had done an article (which now I think about it was written by the How-To Geek).

Yes it should certainly help with downloads. I'm not sure why the shut down button seems to be out of alignment with the other icons though

Thomas.

BTW is anyone else finding Windows 7 forums to be either down totally or down for maintenance?

thomasw234 said:

BTW is anyone else finding Windows 7 forums to be either down totally or down for maintenance?

Click to expand...

Yeah it's been acting up badly.
Link Removed

thomasw234 said:

For some strange reason, C# (the language CSMenu is written in) won't read in non-ASCII characters from the text files if you use notepad or wordpad. To solve this, you should find a program called EuropeanCharacterEditor.exe in with the settings for the main menu (see the screenshot attached).

Click to expand...

Thank you, that part worked like a charm

thomasw234 said:

For the shutdown dialogs, go to '\CSMenu\0.9\settings_files\shutdown_dialogs' and alter the .inf files accordingly. shutdown_classic is the drop down menu, and shutdown_xp is the 3 icon selection box.

Click to expand...

Well, that one almost worked... I could change the name of the items in the inf file, but once again I could not use accentuated letters... I tried copying the European character editor in the folder and opening the .inf file with it : it opens the file then crashes immediately
A minor trouble is that the icons are too close to each other for the words Microsoft used in french : Log off becomes "changer d'utilisateur' (change user) and the text is hidden behind the one at its right

thomasw234 said:

For the problem with the icons, go to the 'ICONS' folder, and re-name them to match the settings menu items. So if you rename one menu item from 'Control Panel.lnk' to 'Something.lnk', rename 'Control Panel.lnk.ico' to 'Something.lnk.ico'.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately that didn't work at all. Guess what ? there's also a trouble with é,è,ê,...
At least for "Network connections" which is supposed to turn in "Connexions réseau" : if I use "Connexions" it works, but the full name doesn't.
That doesn't seem to be the only trouble : "Printer and faxes"'s french translation is "Imprimantes" (no fax in france ?) : No accent in that word but no icon even though I followed your advice exactly
Maybe you could attach to a post the same links and icons with the right names (the two I haven't already named are "Panneau de configuration" for "control panel" and "Barre des tâches et menu Démarrer" for "Taskbar and Start Menu") ?

thomasw234 said:

With the next version I'm thinking of an upgrade tool from v0.9, and also maybe language packs, although these would have to be done by others, as I am useless at foreign languages!!

Click to expand...

That would be highly welcomed... either with a tool to do it (as for changing the "log off" menu name in CSM editor), or directly when installing. For the later you can count me in for the translation, just give me a file with the english words and I'll return you french translation (windows way, as sometimes Microsoft didn't used the exact translation, as I explained above)

Thanks again for your great work and for bearing with my complicated language

Brunoooh said:

I could change the name of the items in the inf file, but once again I could not use accentuated letters... I tried copying the European character editor in the folder and opening the .inf file with it : it opens the file then crashes immediately A minor trouble is that the icons are too close to each other for the words Microsoft used in french : Log off becomes "changer d'utilisateur' (change user) and the text is hidden behind the one at its right

Click to expand...

Damn I didn't think of that! With the accents, you could try copying the accented characters out of the programs.ini files. As for the length, I didn't think of that!

Unfortunately that didn't work at all. Guess what ? there's also a trouble with é,è,ê,...
At least for "Network connections" which is supposed to turn in "Connexions réseau" : if I use "Connexions" it works, but the full name doesn't.
That doesn't seem to be the only trouble : "Printer and faxes"'s french translation is "Imprimantes" (no fax in france ?) : No accent in that word but no icon even though I followed your advice exactly
Maybe you could attach to a post the same links and icons with the right names (the two I haven't already named are "Panneau de configuration" for "control panel" and "Barre des tâches et menu Démarrer" for "Taskbar and Start Menu") ?

Click to expand...

The accented characters shouldn't be hard to fix, but I'm not sure why the Imprimantes doesn't work

That would be highly welcomed... either with a tool to do it (as for changing the "log off" menu name in CSM editor), or directly when installing. For the later you can count me in for the translation, just give me a file with the english words and I'll return you french translation (windows way, as sometimes Microsoft didn't used the exact translation, as I explained above)

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll certainly get it ready for the next version!

Thanks again for your great work and for bearing with my complicated language

Click to expand...

No problem! Thanks for all of your feedback. I wouldn't say that French is complicated (although I never understood it at school!), but I'm just ignorant enough to forget to try other languages!

Sadly my main HDD (running XP) died yesterday, which means I've had to wipe the Windows 7 drive and install XP on that. Also, I'm concentrating on a college computing project at the moment. The combination of both of these means that I probably won't get to work on CSMenu for a few weeks!

Thanks,

Thomas.

thomasw234 said:

With the accents, you could try copying the accented characters out of the programs.ini files. As for the length, I didn't think of that!

Click to expand...

Copying didn't work, but I found the simpliest solution : I downloaded an "advanced" Notepad (a freeware named Notepad++) : at first it didn't work, but then I saw it could save in "UTF8" format instead of "ANSI"... that worked ! Then I realized the original Notepad could also do it it was just under my eyes but I never noticed until then.

About the length, don't worry for now : I've translated to "Déconnexion" (which Windows also uses for "log off" but in the start menu, not in the shut down pop up) it's shorter and looks fine

thomasw234 said:

The accented characters shouldn't be hard to fix, but I'm not sure why the Imprimantes doesn't work

Click to expand...

That part is really strange : actually you can change the name of "control panel" to whatever you want it keeps the normal icon (without the shortcut arrow), you can change "Taskbar..."'s name to anything, but you need to change the .ico name accordingly in the "icon" folder (and that one gets the shortcut arrow), "Printers..." always get a blank icon whatever you do, and network gets a ".cpl" icon whatever you do...

Even stranger : if I put a shortcut to something else in that "settings" folder : it shows when I open CSM... then I rename it "Imprimantes" or even "PrinterS and faxes" (a single letter difference from the working name, and give the same name to the .ico) : the blank icon re-appears

When it'll be possible I'd be delighted if you could try to use the french names on your computer, and tell me what happens

thomasw234 said:

Sadly my main HDD (running XP) died yesterday, which means I've had to wipe the Windows 7 drive and install XP on that.

Click to expand...

Commisurations about your loss :-( Just a simple advice : install Seven on a virtual machine (like VirtualPC or VirtualBox), it works fine (I've built a test machine to try Seven on full scale, but on a daily basis I try tweaking CSM's translation on a virtual Seven "guest", while I send you feedback from my Vista "host" ;-) )

thomasw234 said:

Also, I'm concentrating on a college computing project at the moment. The combination of both of these means that I probably won't get to work on CSMenu for a few weeks!

Click to expand...

Well, concentrate on what really matters for you, you've already provided so much : I can wait a few weeks more. Besides in two weeks time I'll be on holiday : so I guess we'll resume torturing the "settings" folder by the end of august

Oh and BTW : I'm so confident in CSM and your skills : 30 minutes ago I've pre-ordered Seven's professional edition : the pre-orders officially opened at midnight in France... after 4 minutes of waiting and refreshing Firefox : I had my confirmation mail from Amazon

I don't like either of them.

Well... time for a little "up"

I hope your summer's been fine and your computing project goes well

I'm back to work (grrr) but at least the good news is I'm ready to test anything you might want to throw at me (well.. ok... as long as it's related to CSM )

Yep my summer has been good thanks, hope yours has!

As soon as I have anything that needs testing, I'll post it on here. If I'm honest, CSMenu hasn't been my highest priority at the moment. I'm only about a third of the way through this computing project, and I've got my personal statement to finish, and universities to apply for etc.

When I do get around to releasing the next version, most of the changes will probably be 'under-the-hood', mainly code changes. This should then lead to allowing items to be moved around on the menus, language packs added etc.

Thomas.

I was trying to findout the new sharing features in windows 7
Cant find any solutions. Can anybody show me a relevant link which contains the correct information.


Link Removed - Invalid URL

Is sharing in windows 7 different from XP and Vista?

somebody please let me know how to change the advanced sharing settings in windows 7?

I cant see anything in control panel.