classic shell vs Retro UI

I have been using Classic Shell for a while in Win 8 and like it very much,
Now I see there is another similar utility out there called Retro UI. Has
anyone tried it yet? Is it as good or better than classic shell ?
I am not able to try it now as I cleaned out my trial Win 8 RTM. I realize I
am asking this a little too soon and may get better responses in a couple
weeks, Thanks in advance for any answers anyway.

Regards, Rene

"Rene Lamontagne" wrote:

I have been using Classic Shell for a while in Win 8 and like it
very much, Now I see there is another similar utility out there
called Retro UI. Has anyone tried it yet? Is it as good or better
than classic shell ? I am not able to try it now as I cleaned out
my trial Win 8 RTM. I realize I am asking this a little too soon
and may get better responses in a couple weeks, Thanks in advance
for any answers anyway.

I'll report later after I've tried it but Classic Shell is free and
Retro UI is not....


--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
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XS11E wrote:

"Rene Lamontagne" wrote:

I have been using Classic Shell for a while in Win 8 and like it
very much, Now I see there is another similar utility out there
called Retro UI. Has anyone tried it yet? Is it as good or
better than classic shell ? I am not able to try it now as I
cleaned out my trial Win 8 RTM. I realize I am asking this a
little too soon and may get better responses in a couple weeks,
Thanks in advance for any answers anyway.

I'll report later after I've tried it but Classic Shell is free
and Retro UI is not....

Full review:

It's gone. There's a free trial period, I decided free is better and
just deleted it. I did spend a couple of minutes removing Classic
Shell, installing Retro UI and couldn't figure out any way to make it
work so... it's gone, Classic Shell is now installed and I plan on
formatting that partition soon, running Easy BCD to remove the dual
boot and that'll be the end of my Win8 experiment.

Why? Because I've had nothing but problems trying to install my
hardware that all installed in Win7 with no problems and I really don't
want to fool with it any more.

I may take a look at the final version...


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"Rene Lamontagne" wrote:

I have been using Classic Shell for a while in Win 8 and like it very
much, Now I see there is another similar utility out there called
Retro UI. Has anyone tried it yet? Is it as good or better than
classic shell ?

http://retroui.com/pricing.asp
$4.95 per license, only a 7-day fully functional trial
3 hosts per license
license expires after 1 year, then you buy another license
open source
support is via web forum & basic contact form
just seems to get rid of Metro UI for classic desktop & start menu
retroui.com domain registered on 10-Aug-2012 (2 months)
current version: 1.0.9 (3 versions: 1st version + 2 subminor versions)

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
free (donationware)
unlimited number of hosts
license never expires
closed source
support is via web forum
classic desktop & start menu
Windows Explorer addressbar tweaks (multiple classic styles)
Windows Explorer toolbar tweaks
some IE9 tweaks
Sourceforge project registered 28-Nov-2009 (3 years)
current version: 3.6.1 (32 versions)

"Rene Lamontagne" wrote:

I have been using Classic Shell for a while in Win 8 and like it very
much, Now I see there is another similar utility out there called
Retro UI. Has anyone tried it yet? Is it as good or better than
classic shell ?

http://retroui.com/pricing.asp
$4.95 per license, only a 7-day fully functional trial
3 hosts per license
license expires after 1 year, then you buy another license
open source
support is via web forum & basic contact form
just seems to get rid of Metro UI for classic desktop & start menu
retroui.com domain registered on 10-Aug-2012 (2 months)
current version: 1.0.9 (3 versions: 1st version + 2 subminor versions)

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
free (donationware)
unlimited number of hosts
license never expires
closed source
support is via web forum
classic desktop & start menu
Windows Explorer addressbar tweaks (multiple classic styles)
Windows Explorer toolbar tweaks
some IE9 tweaks
Sourceforge project registered 28-Nov-2009 (3 years)
current version: 3.6.1 (32 versions)

XS11E wrote:
XS11E wrote:

"Rene Lamontagne" wrote:

I have been using Classic Shell for a while in Win 8 and like it
very much, Now I see there is another similar utility out there
called Retro UI. Has anyone tried it yet? Is it as good or
better than classic shell ? I am not able to try it now as I
cleaned out my trial Win 8 RTM. I realize I am asking this a
little too soon and may get better responses in a couple weeks,
Thanks in advance for any answers anyway.
I'll report later after I've tried it but Classic Shell is free and
Retro UI is not....

Full review:

It's gone. There's a free trial period, I decided free is better and
just deleted it. I did spend a couple of minutes removing Classic
Shell, installing Retro UI and couldn't figure out any way to make it
work so... it's gone, Classic Shell is now installed and I plan on
formatting that partition soon, running Easy BCD to remove the dual
boot and that'll be the end of my Win8 experiment.

I have been putting off installing Win8 RTM on my Win7 machine in a dual
boot configuration because I wasn't sure about getting rid of the dual
boot after I removed Win8. Can you run that by me?
--
Crash

Today is the first day of the rest of your life,
and there's not a damned thing you can do about it.

"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

I have been putting off installing Win8 RTM on my Win7 machine in
a dual boot configuration because I wasn't sure about getting rid
of the dual boot after I removed Win8. Can you run that by me?

Easy, I install 'experimental' OSs on a separate partition or on a
separate HD. To remove it, I just format the partition or HD where
it's installed and it's gone!

Now all that's left is to fix the boot menu to remove the unwanted
entry, here's two ways to do it:

1. Open a command prompt as administrator and type BCDEDIT to see your
boot loader, type BCDEDIT /? for a list of commands that will tell you
how to fix/change things or do it the easy way:

2. Download EasyBCD:
http://download.cnet.com/EasyBCD/300...-10556865.html

Run it to install it and then run it and follow the prompts to remove
the entry for the unwanted OS. It's pretty self explanatory!

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove the
entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the desired OS and
check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves the 2nd OS in place
but you'll never know it until you re-run EasyBCD and uncheck the box.


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XS11E wrote:
"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

I have been putting off installing Win8 RTM on my Win7 machine in a
dual boot configuration because I wasn't sure about getting rid of
the dual boot after I removed Win8. Can you run that by me?

Easy, I install 'experimental' OSs on a separate partition or on a
separate HD. To remove it, I just format the partition or HD where
it's installed and it's gone!

That part I figured out. :-)

Now all that's left is to fix the boot menu to remove the unwanted
entry, here's two ways to do it:

That was my concern.

1. Open a command prompt as administrator and type BCDEDIT to see
your boot loader, type BCDEDIT /? for a list of commands that will
tell you how to fix/change things or do it the easy way:

2. Download EasyBCD:
http://download.cnet.com/EasyBCD/300...-10556865.html

Run it to install it and then run it and follow the prompts to remove
the entry for the unwanted OS. It's pretty self explanatory!

Thanks. Sounds simple enough even for me. I will probably stick with the
include bcdedit utility. I try not to install anything I don't have to.

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove the
entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the desired OS and
check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves the 2nd OS in place
but you'll never know it until you re-run EasyBCD and uncheck the
box.

Not in this case. It is time limited.
--
Crash

Money may not buy happiness, but it can sure defray a lot of unhappiness.

"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove
the entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the
desired OS and check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves
the 2nd OS in place but you'll never know it until you re-run
EasyBCD and uncheck the box.

Not in this case. It is time limited.

Yes, but leaving the partition full of bits and bytes may prevent moths
from getting in.....

--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/

XS11E wrote:
"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove
the entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the
desired OS and check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves
the 2nd OS in place but you'll never know it until you re-run
EasyBCD and uncheck the box.
Not in this case. It is time limited.

Yes, but leaving the partition full of bits and bytes may prevent
moths from getting in.....

I can always fill it with Linux builds.

I downloaded and installed EasyBCD. Pretty neat, but I have a question.
If I uninstall it will the native Windows 7 boot stuff be restored?
--
Crash

"I'm told that Wagner's music is not as bad as it sounds."
~ Mark Twain ~

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:46:02 -0400, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:

XS11E wrote:
"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove
the entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the
desired OS and check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves
the 2nd OS in place but you'll never know it until you re-run
EasyBCD and uncheck the box.
Not in this case. It is time limited.

Yes, but leaving the partition full of bits and bytes may prevent
moths from getting in.....

I can always fill it with Linux builds.

I downloaded and installed EasyBCD. Pretty neat, but I have a question.
If I uninstall it will the native Windows 7 boot stuff be restored?

If I understand your question, the answer is it never went away.

AFAIK, EasyBCD is only a graphic interface into the command line Windows
stuff.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove
the entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the
desired OS and check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves
the 2nd OS in place but you'll never know it until you re-run
EasyBCD and uncheck the box.

Not in this case. It is time limited.

Yes, but leaving the partition full of bits and bytes may prevent moths
from getting in.....

--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/

"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

XS11E wrote:
"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove
the entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the
desired OS and check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves
the 2nd OS in place but you'll never know it until you re-run
EasyBCD and uncheck the box. Not in this case. It is time
limited.

Yes, but leaving the partition full of bits and bytes may prevent
moths from getting in.....

I can always fill it with Linux builds.

I downloaded and installed EasyBCD. Pretty neat, but I have a
question. If I uninstall it will the native Windows 7 boot stuff
be restored?

It only alters the boot manager. There's no need to uninstall EasyBCD.

--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
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On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:51:45 -0700, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:46:02 -0400, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:

XS11E wrote:
"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove
the entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the
desired OS and check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves
the 2nd OS in place but you'll never know it until you re-run
EasyBCD and uncheck the box.
Not in this case. It is time limited.

Yes, but leaving the partition full of bits and bytes may prevent
moths from getting in.....

I can always fill it with Linux builds.

I downloaded and installed EasyBCD. Pretty neat, but I have a question.
If I uninstall it will the native Windows 7 boot stuff be restored?

If I understand your question, the answer is it never went away.

AFAIK, EasyBCD is only a graphic interface into the command line Windows
stuff.

I still think I understood your question, but what I got wrong was I
oversimplified EasyBCD. Basically, EasyBCD is not a GUI into BCDEdit but
an editor in its own right.

Windows has a command-line tool called BCDEdit, which modifies the boot
data base. EasyBCD is a GUI editor that does the same thing. The boot
data base affects the boot process.

In either case, the changes you make remain regardless of the tool used
to change them and regardless of the installation status of the tool.

The problem with BCDEdit is it's very difficult to use and IIRC easy to
make error with it. EasyBCD is a great improvement.

I viewed an article that made little sense to me, then I looked at this
one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Boot_Manager

which helped clarify my understanding.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

"XS11E" wrote in message
...
"Dave \"Crash\" Dummy" wrote:

I have been putting off installing Win8 RTM on my Win7 machine in
a dual boot configuration because I wasn't sure about getting rid
of the dual boot after I removed Win8. Can you run that by me?

Easy, I install 'experimental' OSs on a separate partition or on a
separate HD. To remove it, I just format the partition or HD where
it's installed and it's gone!

Now all that's left is to fix the boot menu to remove the unwanted
entry, here's two ways to do it:

1. Open a command prompt as administrator and type BCDEDIT to see your
boot loader, type BCDEDIT /? for a list of commands that will tell you
how to fix/change things or do it the easy way:

2. Download EasyBCD:
http://download.cnet.com/EasyBCD/300...-10556865.html

Run it to install it and then run it and follow the prompts to remove
the entry for the unwanted OS. It's pretty self explanatory!

NOTE: One thing you can do is NOT remove the OS and NOT remove the
entry from the boot menu but in the Edit tab check the desired OS and
check the "Skip the boot menu" box. That leaves the 2nd OS in place
but you'll never know it until you re-run EasyBCD and uncheck the box.


I wonder. . . I have Win8 installed on a spare drive, and Win7 on the only
drive in my laptop. It has space for a second drive (I used slot that to
clone my primary shortly after purchasing it). If I installed EasyBCD on the
WIn7 drive, then put the Win8 drive in and booted to the primary Win7 drive,
do you think I could add the Win8 drive as a boot option? I've used EasyBCD
before, but never on something like this. Might be worth a try (after I
image my primary).
--
SC Tom