Note: Classic Shell is no longer under development but you can try Open Shell which is a continuation of the project.

It has a customizable Start menu and Start button for Windows 7 and Windows 8, it adds a toolbar for Windows Explorer and supports a variety of smaller features.

Classic Start Menu is a clone of the original start menu, which you can find in all versions of Windows from 95 to Vista. It has a variety of advanced features:

  • Drag and drop to let you organize your applications
  • Options to show Favorites, expand Control Panel, etc
  • Shows recently used documents. The number of documents to display is customizable
  • Translated in 35 languages, including Right-to-left support for Arabic and Hebrew
  • Does not disable the original start menu in Windows. You can access it by Shift+Click on the start button
  • Right-click on an item in the menu to delete, rename, sort, or perform other tasks
  • The search box helps you find your programs without getting in the way of your keyboard shortcuts
  • Supports jumplists for easy access to recent documents and common tasks
  • Available for 32 and 64-bit operating systems
  • Has support for skins, including additional 3rd party skins
  • Fully customizable in both looks and functionality
  • Support for Microsoft's Active Accessibility
  • Converts the "All Programs" button in the Windows menu into a cascading menu (Vista and Windows 7)
  • Implements a customizable Start button (Windows 7 and 8)
  • Can show, search and launch Windows Store apps (Windows 8)
  • And last but not least - it's FREE!

What's New:

This is the first version to officially support Windows 10. It fixes all known crashes and compatibility issues with Windows 10.

  • The start menu searches modern PC settings for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
  • Added new Midnight skin with dark background
  • Added new flat Metro skin that uses the start screen colors
  • New ability to apply settings from XML files from command line: use ClassicStartMenu.exe -xml
  • New setting to override the system DPI resolution only for the start menu
  • New setting to change the user picture
  • Improved support for touch and high resolution displays
  • Added support for Scottish, Catalan, Macedonian and Persian languages
  • Multiple minor improvements and bugfixes