Windows 10 Pro Classic Shell

[awemawson]

Has anyone 'on forum' experience of installing Windows 10 Professional "Classic Shell" ?

http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/change-windows-10-interface-look,2-302.html

I've just fired up a new (to me) PC workstation that will be dedicated to Fusion 360, and it's operating system is Win 10 Pro. I have to say my first experience of it is it's an operating system for infants, with chunky big buttons and loads of flashy junk all over the screen. (All my other PCs run Win 7 Pro)

Having once loaded up Fusion it's fine, but the experience outside on the desk top is appalling hence considering loading 'Classic Shell'

[sparky961]

I have to say my first experience of it is it's an operating system for infants, with chunky big buttons and loads of flashy junk all over the screen. (All my other PCs run Win 7 Pro)

Perfect description. I never moved past Win 7 for this exact reason. I fear I'll eventually become a technological dinosaur, but given the direction technology is going I don't see it as a great loss.

[gerritv]

You both need to realize that computers and tablets are not for work, they are for consuming media. Preferably paid for on subscriptions such as Amazon. People actually doing meaningful work on these are a dwindling breed I think.

There are plenty of options to modify the look and feel. Overall the experience is far superior to Windows 7. Press Windows key, start typing name of program and it will show at top of list. Click on it and you are off. No need for cluttered/nested Classic style menus cluttering up the lh side of your screen.

Gerrit

[efrench]

Using a third party shell is a recipe for disaster.  Spend some time learning how to turn on and off the UI features you want.

[awemawson]

Yes I'm coming to that conclusion if only from an on-going upgrade perspective.

I had intended to specify Win 7 Pro for this machine, but at the last moment thought I ought to get the latest OS and plumped for Win10

[PekkaNF]

I have gradullay gone trough all DOS/Windos/windows versions and every version feels like "My first Sony" at the beginig and I feel like having a cardiatic arrest after all that angry fruit sallad - they caal it eye candy - idiots.

Onve version had a option for "classic" UI, which I jumped and rejected after few weeks - it was "same - same - but diferent".

Just swallow the bitter pill, turn off all that newsfeed/tablet/windows phone bullshit and learn to enjoy some actullay usefull features.

Althugh every startup loads up some overhead, which I feel I can't vomprehend and understand anymore. Some of that must usefull, but some of that is just plain harmfull.

Modern OS:s are beyond our control - we just must float downstream with clutter of FB likes.

Just use it. Use that program/function typing feature and forget going trough illogical menus.

Pekka

[gerritv]

Some useful sites for altering Win 10 behaviour:

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/how-to-use-windows-10
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/48755-use-tablet-mode-desktop-mode-when-you-sign-windows-10-a.html

Typically a desktop machine, esp without touch screen, should start in Desktop mode. the second link above shows how to force this.

Pin-ing programs to the Task Bar is a great option, I have the main stuff I use pin'd there so I don't have to even type in the name to find it.

I learned many things about Win 7 from reading the Win 10 shortcuts, many of those were present in Win 7 but I never knew they were there :-)


Gerrit

[awemawson]

Well I admit that I need to eat my words re: Win10   

... it's not as bad as I'd thought, now I've managed to eliminate much of the twinkly stuff I find that I can actually use it - so much so that I'm embarking on an upgrade program to my new workstation.

It came to me as an HP Z800 with a single quad core Xeon 5550 cpu 12 Gb Ram, a Samsung 120Gb SSD, a 1Tb HDD and a Nvidia FX580 graphics card.

I knew that the graphics card would be marginal for my applications (Fusion 360 and Scanect) but the system was a solid core for upgrading.

Yesterday I picked up a GeForce GTX 660 s/h on eBay - it happens to be the over clocked version but the base model would have been fine - (this is a work station not a gaming machine !).

I also picked up a pair of the heatsink / fan assemblies (£21) (allowing me to install the second processor) and a matched pair of Xeon 5550 cpus for the princely sum of £16

While at it I also got a further 6 of the 4Gb Registered DDR3 DIMM's a the bargain basement price of £38.25 - I'm not sure I'll be able to install all 6. They are identical to the 3 already installed but not sure if each CPU has to have the same number of DIMMs, also I may run into power supply limitations - this machine is fitted with the 850 watt PSU - there is an 1100 watt version but they don't pop up on eBay very often and when they do they are not cheap.

I must say working inside this machine is a joy - so easy to get at things.

[vintageandclassicrepairs]

Hi All,
I was persuaded /forced to move to a new laptop with Win10 (home edition??)
When I clicked on Awemawsons link at the end of the last post the laptop downloads it (PDF file) instead of just opening the link
It does the same on other forums !!
Does anyone know how to prevent this?

John

[MetalMagus]

If you click the right side mouse button when hovering the mouse pointer over the link a menu will pop up giving you options to either open the file or download it.

Cheers

Sean

[efrench]

I have Microsoft Edge set as the default program for .pdf files. Clicking on a link to a .pdf pops up a dialog that allows me to either open or save the file.  This is the only thing I use Edge for and it seems to work well for it.  I use Firefox and IE11 for Internet browsing.

You can check the file association settings here: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Default Programs\Set Associations

[vintageandclassicrepairs]

Hi All,
Thanks for the replies,
I can manage the right click and select options (if I remember  )

You can check the file association settings here: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Default Programs\Set Associations

I tried to find this on Win 10 but have failed so far ??

John

[efrench]

Open the Control Panel by right clicking on the taskbar or by running Control.exe from a command prompt.  Click on Control Panel in the address bar and select 'All Control Panel Items'. Continue navigating until you get to 'Set Associations'.

[gerritv]

The best way in Win 7 and Win 10 is to use the Windows key. Press it once, then type in what you are looking for, e.g. Control. The choices will appear

Gerrit

[awemawson]

So my CPU fans, six off 4 Gb DIMM's and two  Xeon X5550 cpu chips arrived today along with the obigatory Anti Static wrist strap and some sachets of thermal paste.

Should be a nice easy upgrade - open the case, remove all the cooling air ducting, pop the DIMM's in the right slots, remove the protective cover from the extra FCLGA1366 CPU socket on the mother board, pop on the X5550, some heat paste and the cooler. Put back the ducting and boot it up again.

All nice and easy apart from an interruption from a pair of rather attractive Swallows that decided to fly in through the open door (hot today!) and fly around in the workshop.  This has happened before, so the standard procedure is to turn off all the lights, and open the big roller shutter and hope that they go before they drop guano everywhere 

Happily they flew off circling each other like a pair of love birds - rather sweet 

[PekkaNF]

Heatpipe thinggy?

[awemawson]

So boot it up, and I get a bios report of "CPU1 DIMM3 Incompatible" 

No big issue - they were cheap secondhand (though genuine HP spec) units and I can only fit five of them anyway bringing the total complement to eight x 4 Gb = 32 Gb - so replace the DIMM with the spare.

..... SAME error report 

Swap DIMMS about in case there are two faulty ones - SAME error report 

OK who says it's the DIMM memory unit itself at fault - it could be the newly installed XEON X5550 CPU, after all it has umpteen channels direct to the memory.

So I pull it all apart again, remove the air ducting AGAIN, whip off the CPU cooler, remove the cpu and give everything a very close examination with a magnifying glass to reveal this :

[awemawson]

Heatpipe thinggy?

Yes I assume so Pekka

[awemawson]

If you look VERY carefully at the pictures of the (confoundedly tightly packed) FCLGA1366 socket one of the pins is bent 

Now this motherboard was originally never equipped with dual CPU's and the socket had a protective cover over it, but at some stage in manufacture it obviously got damaged.

Glad to say I managed to find a microscopic pair of tweezers and actually straightened it AND IT WORKED 

I must say I didn't expect that good result 

So while typing this another interruption - the UPS man delivering my  Nvidia GTX 660 graphics card so watch this space for the next upgrade 

[awemawson]

So the pigs are fed, and enjoying their hydroponic pig cooler, so back into the workshop to get this graphics card installed. It's quite a beast, occupies two slot widths and draws an amazing amount of power - 140 watts as I understand, and needs an auxiliary power feed - 2 Gb ram on board.
So get it unboxed.

I had been concerned how to supply the auxiliary 6 pin power socket as there were no loose cables in the case to rob, until I realised that those clever chaps at HP had made a moulded in clip to park the unused cables in 

[awemawson]

So out with the old and in with the new.

Very simple, the only problem is that the video card fouls the air duct - cards this size were not envisaged for this PC which after all is a workstation not some mad gammers turbo nonsense.

I'll probably have to do a bit of pruning of the plastic to get it to close up properly

[awemawson]

I'm not in the habit of taking an angle grinder to high tech expensive equipment, but in this case a 1 mm cutting disk did the job admirably removing offending bits of plastic to allow the duct to seat over the bigger card.

The original design of the duct was not only to direct cooling air, but also give support to heavy cards - lucky as it flexs slightly when it meets this monster