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I've decided to split some ideas from the contributing post into their own topic, so I can better explain them in a single contained post. This is the usefol tweaks program. I would really appreciate it if a tool like this was made. It would improve the usability of older/newer Windows versions alike.

I believe a lot of the framework has already been laid with Open Shell. I think it could be used as the basis for this tool.

Ideas:
Win + X menu like in 8+. I assume the options can easily be implemented in the application menu so right click and Win + X could work to open the start menu options menu with these options added.
Dragging and dropping to explorer breadcrumbs. This is missing from 7 and is a useful feature if you want to copy or move something a few folders up without needing to find it in the file pane.
Add My Computer folders to 7 at the top in the same sort order as 8.1.
Add Recycle Bin, Control Panel. and other icons that are in the desktop folder on 7 into 8/10.
Backport to 7 the connected to USB 3.x text for USB devices, and the this device can perform faster text if it's a USB 3 device connected to a USB 2 port.
Go up button (This is already implemented in Classic Explorer). However it would be nice to have it optionally replace the stock one in 8+ as the 8+ go up button is smaller than the back/forward buttons in 8+, where it's the same size with Classic Explorer on 7.
Active window indicator on the taskbar being the icon colored hover color rather than just the basic lighter coloring.
No duplicate USB or other devices in the file pane on 10. (Generic image as I don't have 10 on hardware to test lol)
Bring back the My Computer bar.
Backport to XP/Vista. I consider the 7 start menu almost perfect. However the earlier menus have some jank like you can't remove recent items from the Vista menu, or add downloads to it. XP also has no search bar.
Probably more when I think of it.

If backported to XP/Vista:
7+ file pane for XP/Vista. The earlier ones are weirdly jank and scroll everywhere and just are harder to use. The 7+ one behaves more naturally and is just better.
Taskbar pinning and dragging items around. I find taskbar pinning to be better than quick launch, and I like having my programs sorted in a specific order no matter how I open them. (I don't think I need an image for this)
Capacity bar for USB devices on Vista, and drives/USB devices for XP.

Optional:
Implement features of OldNewExplorer. There are some conflicts with Open Shell and OldNewExplorer like opening libraries folders from the start menu shows them under a phantom This PC folder for them instead of the library. Considering stuff is already being done with explorer, I assume this would be relatively easy to implement.
Aero Snap for XP/Vista. I assume this is a little too unrelated to what is being done here, so this is optional. I have also turned this into a request, the post of which is here.

You can add the folders into My Computer on Windows 7 via Winaero Tweaker.
You can remove the external devices from the navigation pane in Windows 10 with Winaero Tweaker, but that only removes it for 64-bit, so you'll really want to find the post from Winaero Tweaker, and apply that for Wow6432Node as well.
There's that one program called Vista Drive Icon that lets you sort of get the capacity bar on XP, but I don't think it's that good. As for Longhorn, even the first build had it, so maybe that is something to look at?
There have also already been third party apps made for Aero Snap for WinXP/Vista.

I remember something being wrong with My Computer folders and WinAero Tweaker. I forgot what it was, but now I remember, the folders are stuck at the bottom and I can't figure out how to move them to the top.

I knew removing external devices was some sort of registry tweak, but since this tool would do a lot of adjacent stuff, I see it as a why not.

For drive icon hmm, interesting. But not sure if it has any source so might not be useful.

Aero Snap stuff was split into another post. I describe the situation better there.

Thought I'd mention that there's actually three desktop folders, all of which still exist in W10: The root desktop, the standard folders desktop, and the C:\Users\Yourname\Desktop. The folder on W7 with all the extra icons is the root desktop. It's a bit hidden in W10, but you can get to it by going to This PC and pressing the Go up button.

teknixstuff wrote: *

15 Aug 2024, 22:40

Thought I'd mention that there's actually three desktop folders, all of which still exist in W10: The root desktop, the standard folders desktop, and the C:\Users\Yourname\Desktop. The folder on W7 with all the extra icons is the root desktop. It's a bit hidden in W10, but you can get to it by going to This PC and pressing the Go up button.

That's cool, I didn't know it existed in 10. I tried adding it to Quick access first, but it just adds the standard desktop. I also tried adding it to This PC folders with Winaero Tweaker, and I get an error. I'm not sure of any other way to use it.

This is a feature I miss most in 7 and newer : https://msfn.org/board/topic/184977-mycomputer-bar-hidden-useful-windows-vista-feture-removed-in-windows-7/

K4sum1 wrote: *

17 Aug 2024, 02:21

teknixstuff wrote: *

15 Aug 2024, 22:40

Thought I'd mention that there's actually three desktop folders, all of which still exist in W10: The root desktop, the standard folders desktop, and the C:\Users\Yourname\Desktop. The folder on W7 with all the extra icons is the root desktop. It's a bit hidden in W10, but you can get to it by going to This PC and pressing the Go up button.

That's cool, I didn't know it existed in 10. I tried adding it to Quick access first, but it just adds the standard desktop. I also tried adding it to This PC folders with Winaero Tweaker, and I get an error. I'm not sure of any other way to use it.

Yes, it seems to be quite weird as it collapses down to C:\Users\yourname\desktop if you attempt to make a shortcut to it, and it collapses down to the standard folders desktop if you try to pin it. Here's all the ways I have found of opening it:
A: Copy the shortcut from favorites on 7, 8, or 8.1, into a new folder, and then over to W10 (cannot be pinned still)
B: Run explorer /e, ::{04731B67-D933-450A-90E6-4ACD2E9408FE} (opens a new window though)
C: Open this PC and press Go up (inconvenient to do all the time)
D: Right-click on the navigation pane and select "Show all folders" (restores the XP/Vista navigation pane layout partly, with the root desktop at the root of it)

I think I can use D, it would workaround the issue as I can unpin the other Desktop and only have that one.

Still would be cool to have this tool that could do it though.

Something cool I just thought of is having the active window indicator on the taskbar being the icon colored hover color rather than just the basic lighter coloring.

Another thing, on Windows 8+ with OldNewExplorer, on the details pane, there's a connected via USB x.x text for USB drives. I would like to have this in 7 and earlier.

Also using 7 instead of 8.1 for a while, I'm really missing dragging and dropping to explorer breadcrumbs.

I also forgot to mention, but the go up button for Vista/7. (This is implemented already by the Classic Explorer part of Classic/Open Shell, so I have been able to use it and I forgot to mention it here)