Win 10 customisation

AHarvey · 24 Nov 2018 at 08:10

HI all,

Does anyone really customise their Win10 installs outside of the built-in functions??

I know it's big in lLinux circles to play around and tweak a lot of things but I've not seen this as much with Windows.

I've recently discovered Rainmeter but I'm yet to really use it properly. I've a new install on my laptop that i'll be using for dev and training but i'd like to play around with the look at maybe move away from the standard win10 look

Anyone any links to other guides, websites, resources for modding?

divergent · 24 Nov 2018 at 11:39

Bizarrely, after coming from Linux and major customising, with Windows 10 I've hardly felt the need.
The only thing I've customised is the background, colours, start menu, and added TranslucentTB.

Glanza · 24 Nov 2018 at 14:48

Now I'm older no, when XP was all the rage I used to mod everything using the Stardock suite. These days colours and wallpaper is enough.

Scort · 28 Nov 2018 at 11:47

Glanza said:
Now I'm older no, when XP was all the rage I used to mod everything using the Stardock suite. These days colours and wallpaper is enough.

This.

I used to use Aston Shell a fair bit back in the XP days (possibly 7), or using custom themes to have a tiny taskbar and what extra menus - but these days I cannot be *****, if it doesn't aid my productivity, I don't bother.

Big Frank · 29 Nov 2018 at 07:15

I use classic shell on windows 10 because I hate the start menu and there is no option for classic start menu.

Classic shell gives you custom themes and start menus which are just easier to work with than the confusing, messy windows 10 start menu.

Scort · 29 Nov 2018 at 15:03

Big Frank said:
I use classic shell on windows 10 because I hate the start menu and there is no option for classic start menu.

Classic shell gives you custom themes and start menus which are just easier to work with than the confusing, messy windows 10 start menu.

Sadly, you then lose the right-click menu of Windows 10's Start button. Personally, I find that much more use, than the old school look that Classic Shell brings - and besides, the search in the Start menu is pretty decent in 10 - sure you get the odd thing like no results when typing "printer", but a hit if you type "print" (the result being "printers & scanners"); but overall it finds everything I need on a day to day basis - jut press the win key and start typing.

Horses for courses though.

OspreyO · 29 Nov 2018 at 15:27

I use UltraMon and UMWP Autochanger. Used to use Classic Shell but I don't bother anymore.
Everytime I set a machine up though I have to configure the interface a certain way. PITA.

Scort said:
...just press the win key and start typing.

So we're back to the cmd line prompt from dos? Wonderful.

I started with DOS then Windows 3.x and System 6/7 on the Mac.
I think Windows 8/10 is very poor GUI/UX design.
I dislike the whole index/tag and search for everything. It consumes vast resources for no reason. Unless you are a chronically unorganised person.
I have always been able to get to most things within one or two licks of a mouse. Far less clicks than typing.
But I do use the cmd line a lot in Windows. Its faster because they've buried settings to the far corners of the GUI multi levels deep.

Scort · 29 Nov 2018 at 15:54

OspreyO said:
I use UltraMon and UMWP Autochanger. Used to use Classic Shell but I don't bother anymore.
Everytime I set a machine up though I have to configure the interface a certain way. PITA.

So we're back to the cmd line prompt from dos? Wonderful.

I started with DOS then Windows 3.x and System 6/7 on the Mac.
I think Windows 8/10 is very poor GUI/UX design.
I dislike the whole index/tag and search for everything. It consumes vast resources for no reason. Unless you are a chronically unorganised person.
I have always been able to get to most things within one or two licks of a mouse. Far less clicks than typing.
But I do use the cmd line a lot in Windows. Its faster because they've buried settings to the far corners of the GUI multi levels deep.

Crikey, who ****** in your cuppa? It's hardly a dos command line, it's an alternative to scrolling through the start menu - hideous as that thing can be (certainly in full screen mode - shudder).

I too started with DOS/3.1/95, albeit at college, so have been using the WIMP/GUI since those days - 8/8.1/10/Server 2012 and Sever 2016 are all geared for the touch screen 'Metro' interface, which is great if you like that stuff (and have a touch screen), but looks gash for those used to the older style; hence why people install Classic Shell. But you can easily customise it on 10 onwards (possibly 8.1 as well) - so it gets back to being reasonably close to the old style.

I've never had issues with the indexing/superfetch/whatever they call it, using vast amounts of resources - even on lowly i3 machines with 4 gigs of RAM - I'd suspect you have another underlaying fault there buddy.

No idea what you had been launching in one or two clicks, but most things in 10 are still pretty much found/launched in the same way - as 10 seems to be a transitional operating system; part is the new 'Settings' menu system, and the other part is the old CPL stuff. Personally I have pretty much always launched things via Run, using the applet names - so I haven't really been bothered by any extra clicks Windows 10 might cause. For me though, I have made it a point to not shun away from the new Settings system, as it is clearly the path that MS are taking - and working in IT, I can't sit there harking on about the good old days.

AHarvey · 29 Nov 2018 at 16:08

OspreyO said:
I have always been able to get to most things within one or two licks of a mouse.

Sorry but I had to quote for the lols

Scort · 29 Nov 2018 at 16:12

AHarvey said:
Sorry but I had to quote for the lols

Oh you

OspreyO · 29 Nov 2018 at 16:27

Licks lol.

Its just indexing or superfetch are "features" I don't need.
Regardless if you notice it or not like any service they consume resources.
On a machine with limited resources turning services off, speeds it up.

So much clutter, app bloat in Windows 10. Uninstall most of this junk and it and it comes back in the next update.
More stuff I don't use which all needs updates.

Search is terrible. Can't find files even if you are looking a them. I use Agent Ransack vastly more reliable.

OspreyO · 29 Nov 2018 at 16:34

AHarvey said:
HI all,

Does anyone really customise their Win10 installs outside of the built-in functions??

I know it's big in lLinux circles to play around and tweak a lot of things but I've not seen this as much with Windows.

I've recently discovered Rainmeter but I'm yet to really use it properly. I've a new install on my laptop that i'll be using for dev and training but i'd like to play around with the look at maybe move away from the standard win10 look

Anyone any links to other guides, websites, resources for modding?

Windows 10 changed a lot of things with regard to customisation. So many utilities had stopped working. Maybe thats why few mess around with it now.

http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8147

Classic Shell is no longer developed. Someone took it and created Classic Start and from that Open Shell Menu.
I haven't installed it personally.

https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

Jamin280672 · 29 Nov 2018 at 19:18

I recently discovered MSMG toolkit, its a bit of work to do before installing Windows onto any machine, but OMG what a god send, remove all the junk, bloat, apps and spyware etc, everything you hate about Windows 10 pre-gone and then install it, ive just put it onto my laptop, its an AMD A9 Dual Core with 8gb of RAM and a 500gb SSD and its performing better than my £3K PC lol, its defo going on my main machine this weekend.

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/msmg-toolkit.50572/

OspreyO · 29 Nov 2018 at 21:37

Must check that out...

MartinPrince · 30 Nov 2018 at 21:21

I used Stardock Start10, similar to Open Shell Menu but costs $4.99. The only other prerequisites are:

1. W10Privacy which can disable all the 'telemetry' or spyware stuff that has been thrown in with Win10 plus a ton of other useful tweaks.
https://www.winprivacy.de/english-home/

I used to use this as well as SpyBot AntiBeacon which used to be free but the latest version seems not to be.

2. Advanced System Font Changer - as they removed the ability to change font and size but this give you it back.
https://www.wintools.info/index.php/system-font-size-changer-font-settings

3. TCP Optimizer to optimise my network and wifi connections.
https://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

garnett · 30 Nov 2018 at 21:29

This new humble bundle might be of interest...

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/stardock-software-bundle

h4rm0ny · 1 Dec 2018 at 12:39

I used to customise it. I'd tweak page size, turn off UI features. Even play around with block sizes on different disks depending on their purpose. But in the current Windows 10 era I'm simply not able to do a better job than Windows itself. It's well-written, it's smart. Nearly everything I'd customise is already handled. Or else it's so well done now that there's little to be gained by turning it off (like UI embellishments). W10 has a pretty clean and nice interface. The only thing I do is switch the menu to be the full screen thing as per Windows 8 rather than the pop-up Start menu.

FishLicker · 1 Dec 2018 at 17:06

I've been dicking about. It's not the easiest to customise Windows really. It's a lot of hassle and ongoing work which is why people generally don't bother. I've always dabbled though.

alphaomega16 · 2 Dec 2018 at 00:34

My god, is that the W10 start menu, jesus christ.

h4rm0ny · 2 Dec 2018 at 00:52

alphaomega16 said:
My god, is that the W10 start menu, jesus christ.

Hideous, isn't it? The first thing I do is switch it to the Start Screen they introduced in Windows 8. I wish they'd stuck with it but the neophobes were throwing online shitfits daily. It's far cleaner and easier to work with, though so I just swap to it and then it's alright.