Windows 7 has a wide range of functionality for personalization, style changes appearance most of the controls. Many users, especially those who recently upgraded to 7 from XP, are still tormented by nostalgia for the familiar interface. I especially want to change the Start panel.
Install the classic theme
Windows 7 has several pre-installed themes. Among them there are basic ones that can radically change the graphical display of the interface of the entire OS. Including returning the Start panel to its classic look. Also, the use of simplified themes allows you to significantly save the power of the processor, video card and random access memory... To change the OS theme to classic, you need to do the following:
- Start menu.
- We select "Control Panel".
- Here we find the item "Personalization".
You can also get here in another way. Straight from your desktop. This way of transition is much faster and occurs through the submenu of the right mouse button.
- We press on the desktop with the right key.
- We select the bottom item "Personalization".
- In the window "Change sound and picture on a computer" go to "Basic (simplified) themes".
- Click on the icon of the "Classic" theme to activate it.
After that, the graphical display of all elements of the Windows 7 OS interface will become classic. Including the Start panel. You can change the theme to the previous one by clicking on its mouse icon (left key).
We set everything up in detail
We managed to bring the Start panel to its classic look. But all the same, the desired result may not be entirely satisfactory. Therefore, we will configure this panel in detail. To do this, you need to do the following:
- We press the right key in any free space the "Start" panel and go through the "Properties".
- We go to the "Properties of the taskbar and start menu".
- Go to the "Start Menu" tab.
- Here you can set the action of the "Shut down" button in Windows 7.
- To change the display and behavior of each of the groups of elements, go to the "Customize Start Menu" dialog box via the "Customize" button.
- Here you can also set the number of items displayed in the menu.
Configuring using the Classic Shell program
If there are not enough opportunities and such fine tuning"Start" in Windows 7, then you need a small utility Classic Shell. With its help, you can customize the display of not only the start menu, but also the explorer, return the classic look of IE 9. It is completely free. And its Russified version can be downloaded from the developer's website. Need to do.
Menu "Start", which is located to the left of the taskbar, is visually implemented in the form of a ball, clicking on which displays the most necessary system components and the last running programs to the user. Additional tools make it easy to change the appearance of this button. This is exactly what will be discussed in today's article.
Unfortunately, in Windows 7 there is no option in the personalization menu that would be responsible for customizing the appearance of the button. "Start"... This opportunity appears only in the operating room. Windows system 10. Therefore, to change this button, you will need to use additional software.
Method 1: Windows 7 Start Orb Changer
Windows 7 Start Orb Changer is distributed free of charge and is available for download on the official website. After downloading, you just have to follow a few simple steps:
Method 2: Windows 7 Start Button Creator
If you need to create three unique icons for the start menu button, and you cannot find a suitable option, then we suggest using Windows program 7 Start Button Creator, which will combine any three PNG images into one BMP file. Creating icons is pretty straightforward:
Bug fix with restoring default view
If you decide to restore the original appearance of the button using restore via "Restore" and received an error, as a result of which the explorer stopped working, you need to use a simple instruction:
In this article, we took a closer look at the process of changing the appearance of the Start button icon. There is nothing difficult in this, you just need to follow simple instructions. The only problem you may encounter is system file corruption, which happens very rarely. But don't worry, it can be fixed in just a few clicks.
Windows 7 Start Menu
Let's start eliminating the shortcomings of the new Windows 7 interface. First of all, let's cut out the monstrous "Start" menu and return it to the usual XP-shny look. Unfortunately, this is not done by regular means, updates or any other official means. However, there are several standalone third-party programs that can bring back the compact look of the Start menu. Each of these programs has its pros and cons, so the final choice is yours.
Commercial program with a 30-day trial period. Registration solutions for latest version not found yet, but you can find the release of the previous version on the Internet. The program converts the Start menu into a more compact form, but still very far from ideal, the transparency effect is supported. Exclusively for an amateur.
... A free version of the previous program, but the installer contains several advertising toolbars for the browser, which can and should be disabled during installation, and while CSMenu is running, it constantly wants to access the Internet. To work requires installed .NET Framework. During the installation process, it copies program icons from the "Start" menu to some of its own internal cache, then folders and icons are added automatically when installing programs. The documentation says that the program comes with some kind of configurator, but it was not possible to find it in the distribution kit, and through the icon in the system tray you can only switch the interface language. The appearance of the menu turns out to be quite good, but the lack of settings is annoying, I will also add to the disadvantages the "stuck" backlight of the "Start" button after removing the cursor from it.
... In my opinion, the most successful solution of all tested. From the offsite you can download versions of the program for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems, as well as localized kits, including Russian. If you wish, you can localize the interface yourself by editing the settings file as needed strings.xml... Right-clicking on "Start" opens the program settings menu, where you can easily edit menu colors, gradients and others visual effects... The program is absolutely free, the only drawback is that you have to run it manually each time or, again, manually add it to startup. Otherwise, everything is just fine.
Aston2 Menu. The second version of the once better worker substitute windows desktop, and now turned into a shiny and blinking squalor with minimal functionality. Sharovarity issues are solved by purchasing a program or a free search result on the Internet. After installing the main Aston2 files, you can download and install the Classic Menu or Classic Menu Windows 7 skin. The Start menu looks like this:
"A pitiful sight ... Heartbreaking sight ..." (C) For some reason, the Aston developers or the author of the skin did not foresee the fact that the user can simply select and disable some items in the main menu. Although the menu itself turns out to be really more or less pretty.
UPD... The forces of the collective intelligence have found two more similar programs.
Windows 7 Classic Start Menu - free program, replaces the standard Windows 7 menu with the classic menu. It is tiny, less than 60 kilobytes. Controlled through the system tray icon, supports AeroGlass mode.
Do you miss the old classic Start Windows 98 (2000) pop-up menus? If you do not know what this is about, then these were menus that were organized by the type of displaying all subfolders in a submenu. With the help of them, a tree-like menu was created, which allowed one mouse hover to move from the start button to specific programs or Windows components.
Of course, such a menu may not be to everyone's liking, but there are still many users who would like to see pop-up menus return. In Windows XP and Vista, Microsoft allowed an alternative option called "Classic Start Menu" to be included, provided that the menu design changed as well.
Starting with Windows 7, Microsoft decided to completely remove support for the classic menu. Nevertheless, it is still possible to partially restore functions.
Customizing the classic Windows Start menu
One of the changes you can make is to tweak some of the Start menu items, namely changing "display as links" to "display as menus".
To do this, open the Start menu customization dialog box (see). And go through the entire list of items such as "Computer", "Documents" and others. Figure 1 below shows a part of the set settings. After you set all the settings, click the "OK" button. Now, some of the Start menu items will be displayed in classic style... Below in Figure 2, you can see an example of what will happen if you select display as a menu for the "Computer" item.
Of course, such a list will be limited only to the first nesting level (for example, for the same "Computer" only disks are displayed), but still this is a more classic style.
Figure 1. Configuring Start Menu Properties
Figure 2. Let's see the result. Displaying a list for the "Computer" item
Note: Slightly more complex methods will be discussed in the following articles.
Programs for creating the classic Start menu in Windows 7
If you are longing to bring back the old style of the Start menu completely, then there is a good free program for this that completely changes the behavior. standard menu... This program is "Classic Shell". You can download the program from Source Forge at this link. The program is quite easy to use and has a large number of settings, which gives it special flexibility.
Note that the program has three components "Classic Explorer" (Windows Explorer), "Classic Start Menu" (classic Start menu) and "Classic IE9" (add-on to IE9 browser). You don't have to install all of them. If you are only interested in the Start Menu, then you just need to install the "Classic Start Menu".
- How do I add the classic All Programs pop-up menu to the Windows 7 Start menu?
Technical Tips
And it is a clickable ball containing the Windows logo. If you click on the ball, our gaze will be presented with a set of the last running programs and a list of the most needed items. To make your PC unique and personalized, check out how to change the start button in Windows 7 of all editions(Maximum, Home Basic, etc.) in this manual.
When, in most cases, the "start" remains unchanged, since it is tied to the explorer (explorer.exe). To fit it into the current design, use the programs and pens to change the look.
Changing the start button through the Windows 7 StartOrbChanger (W7SOC)
Free W7SOC program that can change the start button on Windows 7 with a couple of mouse clicks. W7SOC has a simple interface and is easy to operate. She works:
- With all DPIs (if the image is too large or small, the utility resizes itself).
- With X86 / 32 - bit and X64 / 64 - bit OS versions.
- With graphic PNG formats and BMP.
To change the start icon in Windows 7, follow these steps:
1. Download the program and extract it from the archive.
2. Click on w7soc.exe right click and enable it as administrator.
3. At the main window, the interface is nowhere simpler. The top part shows 3 states of the start button: default, hover and pressed.
The states are followed by 2 buttons:
- Change - helps to specify the path to PNG and BMP and changes the start button.
- Restore - discards changes and restores the default icon.
To expand the settings, there is an arrow at the bottom right.
4. Click on the arrow and you will see an additional menu. In the picture below the numbers, see the transcript. The menu contains the following items:
- Change the start button by making changes to the.
- Change the start icon by replacing the original file% WINDIR% \ explorer.exe.
- Adds a "Start Orb" shortcut to context menu desktop, invoked by the right button. This way you can quickly turn on the W7SOC.
- Adds a "Set As Start Orb" option to the menu when right-clicking on PNG and BMP files. When this weave is selected, the appearance of the start button instantly changes.
- Turns off the success message.
- When you run the utility, it always displays the extended menu.
- Shows the execution of the process in cmd. , a cycle is done and after pressing any key, the start changes and acquires a new icon.
5. Configure W7SOC for yourself and click "Change" and specify the path to the icons. There are already 11 different buttons in the "start buttons" folder, select any and click "open". You can also download it from the net or draw it yourself.
Explorer will restart and the start button will change the icon to the chosen one. If you want to return the old icon, then click "Restore".
Important! If the taskbar and desktop are gone, click the file - new task and in the line enter explorer.exe and press Enter. If nothing works, then in cmd enter the command to restore the system SFC files/ SCANNOW press Enter and wait for the end of the procedure.
Change with Windows 7 Start Button Changer (W7SBC)
Another W7SBC utility can change the start menu icon. Worse than the first option, but the result is similar. It is advisable to create a system restore point, or skip this step and use the restore command in case of damage to system files.
1. Download the utility and extract the archive.
2. Run Windows 7 SBC.exe from the W7SBC folder as administrator. Do not change the name of the folder, this action may lead to problems.
3. The current design of the launch will be displayed on the left in the main window. With the help of 1 line, it becomes possible to change the start button in Windows 7. The line below restores the default icon. Click line 1 with the rounded logo.
4. Specify the path to the downloaded or finished (10 Sample Orbs folder) bmp file. Click "open". Wait for the explorer to restart and see the result.
If you want to return the "start", then click on the explorer icon to restore original files... Wait for the explorer to reboot, then, if the situation is successful, you will see such a sign.
If you need to change the start button again, first restore the original, and then put a new icon.
If you have followed the steps, and the start has not changed, do this:
- Close the program.
- Take responsibility manually by the path C: \ Windows \ explorer.exe.
- Run the program, repeat the steps.
Change start button in Windows 7 will not be too stressful. For harmony, so that they are fully combined. Of the 2 programs, W7SOC is preferred, it has a number of flexible settings that expand the functionality.