• Mood: geeky
• Music: Chrono Trigger - DarkeSword - Blue Skies Over Guardia

Windows 7 to Windows XP

Well since both atarunomiko and profgreg were interested, i'm taking a break from Civ 5 to compile a list of all the steps to "making Windows 7 look like Windows XP" that i've been able to find so far. More specifically, i was trying to make it look like Win XP Classic. Here's what i ended up with, more or less.

Desktop:

1: Set background and folders to XP style: Right-click on desktop -> Personalize -> Windows Classic

2: Adjust desktop icon size: Click on desktop, then hold down ctrl key, then scroll mouse wheel

3: Change folder icons back to horizontal
- a: Copy C:\Windows\system32\shell32.dll from a Windows XP install, rename it shell32xp.dll and copy to the same folder in Windows 7
- b: Run RegEdit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
- c: If it doesn't already exist, add a new key named "Shell Icons"
- d: Add two new string values to Shell Icons: The first named "3" with a value of "C:\Windows\System32\shell32xp.dll,-4" and the second named "4" with a value of "C:\Windows\System32\shell32xp.dll,-5"

Explorer:

4: Turn off Details Pane - In an explorer window: Organize->Layout->Details Pane

5: Turn off Navigation Pane - In an explorer window: Organize->Layout->Navigation Pane

6: Turn on the menu bar - In an explorer window: Oraganize->Layout->Menu Bar

7: Turn on the status bar - In an explorer window: View->Status Bar

8: Change My Computer view back to normal - In explorer at My Computer: View->Details, View->Group by->None

Fixing the Taskbar:

9: Right-click taskbar->Lock the taskbar (If locked)

10: Right-click taskbar->Properties: Taskbar buttons->Never Combine, Use Small Icons.

11: Right-click taskbar->Toolbars->New Toolbar, navigate to %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

12: Right-click Quick Launch->Show Title, Show Text

Add-ons:

13: Install Classic Shell
- Explorer Settings: Windows XP Classic, Disable Breadcrumbs, Show free space and file size in status bar,
- Start Menu Settings: Classic Menu, Show Documents, Show Log Off

14: Install the 7 Taskbar Tweaker
- Taskbar Tweater: Don't Group, Settings->Run at startup


Still left to do: Make Search for files behave in a reasonable manner. Force programs that open Explorer windows to load or save files to use the same settings as (my new) regular explorer windows. Find some better icons for the back, forwards, and up directory buttons. Edit: Oh yes, and why all of the right-click->New options _except_ for "folder" disappear in a lot of contexts.

Also, figure out what i've been doing to get blue screens of death and stop doing it =P (Had two or three happen so far, mostly when trying to install new programs.)

Whoops! Forgot to open the start menu for the first pic!

And just for reference, here's a quick cut/paste of most of the sites i used for references:

Miscellaneous URLs:

http://www.killertechtips.com/2009/05/05/make-windows-7-taskbar-smaller/

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/windowstricks.aspx

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-resize-desktop-icon-in-windows-vista/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/195601/restore_the_classic_control_panel_in_windows_7.html

http://malektips.com/windows-7-explorer-toggle-menu-bar.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61523-status-bar-turn-off.html

http://freewindowsvistatutorials.com/makeWindows7TaskbarLookLikeWindowsXpOrWindowsVista.php

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/23825-folder-icon-change-windows-7-default-folder-icon.html

http://superuser.com/questions/39245/any-way-to-ungroup-taskbar-items-in-win7