Classic theme on Windows 8

[windows.nt.win32]

Yup, the taskbar is fixed in the new version.

This is coming along really well.

[Anixx]

Using Zero Dump it is possible to add a caption bar to the tree view so that it would be possible to close it without using the Command Bar (like in Windows 2000/XP):



or

[windows.nt.win32]

Just a thought. Could it be possible to get the broken control panel applets to work by somehow modifying their system DLLs/CPLs? Perhaps like in Resource Hacker or something? I just wish I knew why they won't load without visual styles enabled in the first place.

[windows.nt.win32]

Using Zero Dump it is possible to add a caption bar to the tree view so that it would be possible to close it without using the Command Bar (like in Windows 2000/XP):

The only problem with that is it doesn't seem to hide the pane, but just leaves a big white space where it used to be. It would be nice to have a shell extension to do that though. Try requesting that on the Classic Shell forums.

[Anixx]

I think it is theoretically possible to resize elements using ZeroDump technology, one only needs to add support for more properties. This way even Address Bar possibly can be hidden.

[windows.nt.win32]

The only problem with that is it doesn't seem to hide the pane, but just leaves a big white space where it used to be. It would be nice to have a shell extension to do that though. Try requesting that on the Classic Shell forums.

I think it is theoretically possible to resize elements using ZeroDump technology, one only needs to add support for more properties. This way even Address Bar possibly can be hidden.

Well that would be nice.

[windows.nt.win32]

So I've been using this since the new version came out, and I have a list of issues that still need to be fixed.

-The Start Screen doesn't seem to be very functional. Right-clicking on tiles doesn't seem to work, and they look weird when dragged/clicked on.
-Still some transparent windows that need to be fixed
-Right-clicking on a zip folder and clicking 'Extract Files' crashes Windows Explorer
-Alt+Tab menu sometimes has 3 blank application icons that don't switch to anything. This is a problem even when you enable the classic theme by renaming the 'Aero' folder and setting your system to auto login. Not sure why this is happening.
-I think I've mentioned the Control Panel applets enough times by now.

If I find more, I'll post here. Like I said, this is going great so far, and I would love to see it get even better. Great work.

[maur0]

http://i.imgur.com/332004C.png

it possible fix this white not option to change this color
http://i.imgur.com/zr1PHxc.png

http://i.imgur.com/3oQmi0u.png

[windows.nt.win32]

http://i.imgur.com/332004C.png

it possible fix this white not option to change this color
http://i.imgur.com/zr1PHxc.png

http://i.imgur.com/3oQmi0u.png

Huh, wonder why that's not changing for you. In any case, look in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors and look at the Menu and the MenuBar values. Try changing it there (the data is all RGB).

[maur0]

very thanks my friend

now is very good results

[windows.nt.win32]

Glad to hear!

[maur0]

Glad to hear!

other question its possible change color for this?

http://i.imgur.com/nLlg683.png


MOD Edit: please read the Forum Rules, especially Section 5 about pictures! Thank you.
Tags removed.

[windows.nt.win32]

I'm not sure there's a way to change that to be honest. I normally have the ribbon disabled, so I haven't really tried.

[Anixx]

People experience some problems with the latest version:

http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1 ... st46509884

[IbmPad]

Could you please copy/paste here people's complaints because I cannot access the page you are referring to without being a member (“To view this page you need to be registered and signed in”).

I know there are still many problems and since I am not very skilled it is unlikely that I will be able to fix them all…

[Anixx]

Some compliants:

makinero
February 2014
18 Posts

I can download this file only when I deactivate my antivirus. It seems that the file is a malicious software (or contains one) :

https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/1965e ... /analysis/

When I unzip the file, my antivirus detects a virus... Now I know why the source code is not provided...

MasterFen006
Zoe Quinn did nobody wrong.
MasterFen006's Avatar
December 2007
6,751 Posts

I tried it out, when I uninstalled my taskbar was black with a white outline and File Explorer doesn't want to open.


Just throwing that out there.

On the other forum people are very excited: http://www.eightforums.com/customizatio ... ike-4.html

I want just to note that this program is discusses in several places, so there is considerable interest. I wonder why people do not post here.

[IbmPad]

Thank you Anixx.

@makinero : There is no malware in the file — but you are right not to trust me. An antivirus may detect a threat because the program uses techniques that might be used by malware. I was not aware it was detected since I don't have an antivirus. I have included the source code in the ZIP file so you can modify and/or compile it yourself.

@MasterFen006 : This can occur if the file “C:\Windows\dwmapi.dll” could not be deleted by the uninstaller. Please delete the file yourself using a command prompt while Explorer.exe is closed. Sorry for the inconvenience…

[Anixx]

I reposted your reply there.

By the way, have you looked into Zero Dump yet? Is it possible to automatize it somehow?

The most important thing for me is making the 3D borders in File Explorer, like in the Classic Windows (because otherwise it looks buggy/unfinished), but also it would be great if it worked elsewhere as well (such as in Wolfram Mathematica and file open/save dialogs).

[windows.nt.win32]

I reposted your reply there.

By the way, have you looked into Zero Dump yet? Is it possible to automatize it somehow?

The most important thing for me is making the 3D borders in File Explorer, like in the Classic Windows (because otherwise it looks buggy/unfinished), but also it would be great if it worked elsewhere as well (such as in Wolfram Mathematica and file open/save dialogs).

The only problem with that is that this application is for Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10. Unless you're talking about creating a separate application that Vista/7 users could use as well.

[Anixx]

I reposted your reply there.
The only problem with that is that this application is for Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10. Unless you're talking about creating a separate application that Vista/7 users could use as well.

What application are u talking about?

[Anixx]

It seems there is a problem...

gooooooooooogle
Blue Member
September 2011
4,045 Posts

cool

but

look at THIS



taskbar buttons for windows are 1 pixel too high
im using classic shell btw



i disabled classic shell for this pic
program button still looks like it's 1 pixel higher than it should be
it would line up with the thing on the right if it was 1 pixel lower

It seems to be a common problem as other people experience it too:
http://www.eightforums.com/attachments/ ... sic-82.png

[makinero]

That problem is annoying but it's a small bug compared to the previous one : taskbar fully white. Thank you ibmpad for bringing us this tool.

Did somebody test it on a real machine which is really used ? I only tested it on a virtual machine... What does really the program do ? I don't have enough program skills to study the source code. Does the uninstall option takes back de machine to the initial configuration (like if the program was never installed ?).

Thank you

[windows.nt.win32]

What application are u talking about?

IbmPad's application (aka. Windows 8 theme disabler).

[IbmPad]

To answer your questions :

The program does the following things :
— When you log on, “ClassicTheme” is run by “UserInit” (instead of “Explorer”) ; it closes the memory mapping named “ThemeSection” in the “WinLogon” process — since this section was only opened by Winlogon it is deleted by the Object Manager —, then it lets “UserInit” run “Explorer”. ⇒ The “ThemeSection” memory mapping is used by “UxTheme.dll” when a GUI process is initializing to access theme data. Since it does not exist anymore, the theme data cannot be loaded and the window decorations are rendered by “Win32k.sys” (→ classic theme) instead of “UxTheme.dll”.
— In the “explorer.exe” and Internet Explorer processes, some functions exported by “dwmapi.dll” are replaced by dummy ones located in the file “dwmapi.dll” that is copied in the “C:\Windows” directory by ClassicTheme. ⇒ This corrects the taskbar problem and the transparency issue of programs using DWM functions like IE or FireFox.
— A thread running the function “SetProcessDPIAware” exported by “user32.dll” is created once in every new GUI process. ⇒ This is meant to fix the issue with the buttons on some title bars.
— A thread is created in “Explorer.exe” that fixes the taskbar and notification area borders.
— A thread is created in “Explorer.exe” that monitors desktop switches and restore the window colors when you return from the “Ctrl-Alt-Del” screen (without this, the colors would be incorrect after pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del).

Perhaps I forgot a few things but I think that's pretty much it.

When you uninstall the program, the following stay unchanged :
— the Internet Explorer patch is not reverted, you have to manually rename “iexplore.bak” to “iexplore.exe” ;
— the file “C:\Windows\dwmapi.dll” and “C:\Windows\dwm_rdr.dll” are normally deleted but sometimes they cannot be deleted automatically and you then have to remove it manually ;
— the colors and fonts settings you have changed using the “Appearance” control panel applet supplied with the program are not reverted — but I think they are not used by the normal rendering engine.

Regarding the 1 pixel difference, I think the other problems are more important. When I have time I would like to try another approach : window themes — at least in XP — work by “UxTheme” hooking functions like “DefWindowProc”, to let this component draw the window instead of functions like “xxxDrawWindowFrame” in “Win32k.sys”. My idea would be to control this hook and bypass UxTheme for most windows, and let it handle the rendering for windows that need it (e.g. Charms Bar window)… I don't know if this is complicated or not…

@Anixx : Automating what ZeroDump does is a priori easy. Could you please tell me exactly what settings you want on what windows and I will automate it in another program (that would also be compatible with Vista/7) when I have time.

[Anixx]

@Anixx : Automating what ZeroDump does is a priori easy. Could you please tell me exactly what settings you want on what windows and I will automate it in another program (that would also be compatible with Vista/7) when I have time.

This would be great!

Most of all I want to fix the bugs introduced in Classic Theme with Windows Vista as they switched the priority to Aero.

- FolderView captioned control in all File Explorer (Windows Explorer) windows should be set property "Client Edge"
Note that I and windows.nt.win32 use the ListView (SysListView32 as reports ZeroDump) control rather than ItemView used in Win7+ by default
(thes can be changed via registry). This is the most important. Would be good if the change affected both ListView and ItemView.

http://storage5.static.itmages.ru/i/14/ ... 05137d.png

- The same with TreeView in File Explorer

- The same for FolderView in legacy and new file open/save dialogs:
http://storage8.static.itmages.ru/i/14/ ... 29b0dd.png
In newer dialogs, both TreeView and FolderView:
http://storage8.static.itmages.ru/i/14/ ... 437a8b.png

- The same in Office 2003 dialogs:

http://storage5.static.itmages.ru/i/14/ ... 36b2e3.png

In all these places the control is captioned "FolderView" and uses ListView or ItemView class.

- Similar thing in Mathematica:

http://i.stack.imgur.com/EkcXz.png

The class is named "NotebookContent". The process is "Mathematica.exe".

MOD Edit: please read the Forum Rules, especially Section 5 about pictures! Thank you.
Tags removed.

[Anixx]

By the way, using ZeroDump I was able to move the taskbar buttons down a bit:



by enabling and than disabling the Static Edge property (I was using Win7). May be this can help to mitigate the Windows 8 issues.

I also wonder if it is possible to directly change positions of controls using the ZeroDump technology by adding some new properties (as of now it does not allow doing that).

[windows.nt.win32]

Thank you so much for the exclamation, IbmPad. I was wondering how it all worked.

Also, would it be possible to hide the address bar too? That would be very nice.

One last thing, I should tell you. I mentioned earlier that the 'Extract Files' dialog with compressed folders crashes explorer. Well I've discovered that the new shortcut dialog also crashes explorer. If I were to guess, I would say that they use the same type of dialog. But I'm not sure though.

I can honestly say that you have made my experience with Windows 8.1 so much better. Thanks a million for everything you have done, and are doing! You're awesome.

[windows.nt.win32]

By the way, using ZeroDump I was able to move the taskbar buttons down a bit:

http://storage9.static.itmages.ru/i/14/ ... 29b77c.png

by enabling and than disabling the Static Edge property (I was using Win7). May be this can help to mitigate the Windows 8 issues.

I also wonder if it is possible to directly change positions of controls using the ZeroDump technology by adding some new properties (as of now it does not allow doing that).

The only issue I have with this is it cuts off the bottom of taskbar buttons, meaning that the bottom border is hidden. I had never even noticed the issue with taskbar buttons being 1px to high, but it would be kind of nice to fix it.

[Anixx]

By the way, using ZeroDump I was able to move the taskbar buttons down a bit:

The only issue I have with this is it cuts off the bottom of taskbar buttons, meaning that the bottom border is hidden. I had never even noticed the issue with taskbar buttons being 1px to high, but it would be kind of nice to fix it.

Also it seems the tray area has somewhat excess height (1px more up and 1px more down) compared to dwm off mode. Here a user posted a comparison pic:

http://i.imgur.com/98Gyq8U.png

Left is w8classic mode, right is dwm off mode. I also wonder why he has the window buttons corrupted.

[windows.nt.win32]

I really don't know what's up with those window buttons. That was a problem I got with old versions of theme disabler, but not in the newer versions.

Yeah, the screenshot on the right does look better, I wonder what's going on with the taskbar buttons here.