rach Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 The developer of the famous Start Menu, StartIsBack, has written another app called OldNewExplorer and as the name indicates, it aims to restore some of the Windows 7 Explorer features to Windows 8's Explorer. The name appears to be a play on the famous blog, OldNewThing, by Microsoft's Shell developer, Raymond Chen. OldNewExplorer brings a couple of very interesting features back to Windows 8 Explorer. Let's see which.Screenshot of OldNewExplorer's configuration windowBefore delving into the features OldNewExplorer restores, it is also important to note how it brings them back. According to Tihiy, everything is done in-memory. It is a very challenging (but safer) way to revive features this way, as operating system files aren't touched on disk. In-memory patching is always a safer approach than patching files on disk.Tihiy had hinted in his Neowin interview that he might bring more features besides the Windows 7 Start Menu to Windows 8 and now OldNewExplorer precisely does that. Here are some of the changes OldNewExplorer can do:- OldNewExplorer can restore the grouping of drives in This PC/Computer folder to what Windows 7 had and remove the folders you don't want: In Windows 8.1, removable drives and optical drives aren't grouped separately from local hard drives. If you prefer having them grouped separately, then you will find value in OldNewExplorer. It can also remove the folders which Microsoft added to This PC with no option to remove them.Note: Winaero's This PC Tweaker can also selectively remove the folders you don't want from This PC. It can also uniquely add any folder you want.- OldNewExplorer can restore the Command Bar to Explorer and disable the Ribbon. It does this on-the-fly without patching the OS file on disk. Why would you want to disable the Ribbon? Several reasons - it splits commands across tabs and increases the cognitive load on your memory by making you remember which command is on which tab. If instead you use a toolbar such as the one that Classic Shell's Explorer addon adds, you get faster access to the commands you need and everything is visible on a single row, so there's no switching involved across multiple commands to locate the command you want.Winaero's Ribbon Disabler also returns the Command Bar. With the Ribbon disabled, you can also use Winaero's Explorer Toolbar Editor to customize the Command Bar.- OldNewExplorer can restore the Details pane to the bottom as it was in Windows 7 Explorer. This is much better than having the Details pane on the right because if it's at the bottom, you can enable/disable it without affecting the Preview pane which is on the side. Also, you can show many more files in Explorer without scrolling if the Details Pane is set to the Small size at the bottom.- OldNewExplorer can improve Explorer styling with some built-in visual styles. You can change how the Command Bar with the Organize button looks. It can also make Explorer's status bar gray so it fits the visual style of the OS better.You can read more about OldNewExplorer and download it from MSFN forum. As of this writing, only a test version of OldNewExplorer is released so bear in mind that it's in-development software and you should excuse any minor bugs or issues and report them to the developer. :view: View: Original Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tezza Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 @rachThanks for the info, seems MrGRiM is happy about thisthis will make Windows 8 the best OS of all time :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TShadow Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 If I'm not wrong classic shell also has a feature to restore the classical explorer, and it's free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefa Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 (edited) Quotethis will make Windows 8 the best OS of all timeIm proberbly in a minority here but i don't care it's always been the best for me :) Edited November 23, 2013 by F3dupsk1Nup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator DKT27 Posted November 23, 2013 Administrator Share Posted November 23, 2013 Someone give this guy an award. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0_0 Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 i'm unable to install Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tezza Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Did you extract to to a Folder named OldNewExplorer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0_0 Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 (edited) Did you extract to to a Folder named OldNewExplorerfolder named changed now its working fine.Thanks Edited November 23, 2013 by 0_0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeSmithG Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 This is what bothers me about Microsoft.They should had released windows 8 tablet version and windows 8 desktop version and windows 8 for your cell-phone and other communication devices.Then we could have for our desktop windows 8, like windows 7/xp/vista but securer with a couple of new features, new IE 11, new media player, new functions not nativeto previous operating systems.For the desktop version have a toggle button which would allow you to choose if you wanted a tablet type system for the pc/laptop/notebook/netbook or desktop, start button and shortcuts ecetera.I am sure when (before vista was named vista) Microsoft advertised their new operating system was for their new tablet, I remember seeing the billboards at Maidstone East Railway Station saying this.Windows 8 is a white Elephant.I know some people a very small minority rave about windows 8, but that is like 1 in every 10,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rach Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 (edited) Updated - v1.0.2* Removed 'Group network locations separately' - always on* All options are off by default* 'Use libraries; hide folders' hides folders with subfolders (explorer.exe restart required)* Fixed installation with spaces in path Edited November 26, 2013 by rach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger D Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Waiting for the final and stable release... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponting Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 (edited) Waiting for the final and stable release... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:Don't know if it will be a freeware :unsure: Edited November 26, 2013 by NSFfan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger D Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Waiting for the final and stable release... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:Don't know if it will be a freeware :unsure:But nsaner will surely find the way for medicine.. ;) ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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