@kamilion while it's true Classic Shell is officially deprecated the last time I tried the standard install from classicshell.net it still worked on a new PC. I have had to disable UAC on a couple of machines because Windows Update breaks it and it can't reconfigure itself after an update without an un-bypassable UAC warning otherwise.
VB6 is also officially deprecated and I still do most of my development for PC's (including both Windows and Linux via Wine) with it.
@localroger
I looked at classicshell.net
Will this work on my windows 10 pro? And what is the UAC you referred to? I have disabled all windows automatic updates so that I will only update if really necessary and only if it is very very important.
I am using Classic Shell as downloaded from classicshell.net on a Win 10 pro machine right now. I have had issues with some (not all; I don't know why) W10 machines not allowing read-write access to a program's own folders unless you are logged in to the same account that was logged in when that folder was created. Unfortunately the computer that was doing that which I was going to use to figure out what was going on got stolen, and none of my other machines do it.
User Account Control UAC is the nag utility that grays everything out and pops up the dialog that asks if you want to let this program make changes to your system every time you do anything. There are several ways to set its aggressiveness but my experience is that the only real solution to its dysfunctionality is to completely disable it by edting the registry. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and set the value of the EnableLUA key to zero. Windows will howl that you are releasing the Kraken and make you reset the computer but nothing bad has ever happened to any of the machines where I've done this. Note that major updates which can't be turned off tend to turn UAC back on, so you will have to redo this occasionally to keep it off.
Thanks for the tip about the UAC. I have turned off all update capability of w10. Will only select a severe update that is necessary.
Ah yes the cephalopoid of lore!!!!!!!!
Khan:
Joachim: We're all with you, sir. But, consider this. We are free. "FROM MICROSOFT" We have a ship, and the means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha V. You have defeated the plans of Admiral Kirk. You do not need to defeat him again
Khan: He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round Perdition's flames before I give him up!
I am using Classic Shell as downloaded from classicshell.net on a Win 10 pro machine right now. I have had issues with some (not all; I don't know why) W10 machines not allowing read-write access to a program's own folders unless you are logged in to the same account that was logged in when that folder was created. Unfortunately the computer that was doing that which I was going to use to figure out what was going on got stolen, and none of my other machines do it.
This is going to be every Win Vista, Win7, Win8, Win10 machine. Post windows XP, applications are not allowed to write into Program Files, as that is System territory and Users should only be writing into their profile folder.
Protip: The entire C:\Users\ hierarchy is protected by access control lists (ACLs) that will make your life hard.
Create C:\UserData\ (which will be owned by "nobody" since it's in the root of a drive letter) and do all your business there. Create a favorite to it in Windows Explorer's sidebar.
Never do anything in your own profile folder -- Avoid using the C:\Users\MyUserName\Downloads folder, the Pictures folders, the Documents folders...
By default, windows locks all of these down ONLY to your own user name. If you share the machine with others (or have a second Administrator account and log in as yourself) you'll find windows constantly refusing you access or demanding you "take ownership".
Don't. It only messes things up -- Make a C:\UserData folder instead, unbound by system ACL defaults. Make a Downloads folder in there. Tell your browser of choice to save there instead in the settings.
Problem two: Microsoft filesystems have a "Quirk"/"Bug" that the root of a drive may only have 512 entries (folders OR files), while subdirectories are nearly unlimited in comparison. This is so windows' bootloader can dig up it's files easily. So don't let your C:\ fill up with all kinds of stuff like C:\AMD and C:\Nvidia and C:\msys2\ -- The only folders you should have in your C:\ are:
C:\ESD\ (Windows Recovery)
C:\PerfLogs\ (Windows Visual Studio performance monitoring)
C:\Program Files\ (64 bit applications go here.)
C:\Program Files (x86)\ (32 bit applications go here, and get redirected through WOW64 layer in the registry. WOW = "Windows On Windows".)
C:\ProgramData\ (Windows, Hidden folder. App installers like .msi files and stuff get cached here. Deleting stuff here "to free up space" is a bad idea. Those MSI files are required for the uninstaller / repair item in the control panel to work correctly.)
C:\UserData\ (Created by a smart user to dodge annoying ACL problems and sharing issues. Do *NOT* put a space between User and Data, as many things like msys2 build tools hate spaces in paths)
C:\Users\ (Windows, User profiles (Homedirs) are stored here, and as of Win8, only the Username owning the folder has access, even Administrator's flipped off now.)
C:\Windows\ (Windows. The freshmaker.)
C:\Windows.old\ (Hey, you've upgraded windows within the last week. Win10 will get rid of these after 7 days. It's a copy of the last C:\Windows\ before a new .wim installer image was downloaded and applied to create the new C:\Windows\ as part of the new Windows Imaging Management System)
A few more like C:\AMD are allright, but spend a minute or two while installers are doing their thing to whittle it down. If stuff like msys2 tells you it needs to be extracted to C:\, you can ignore that and unpack in C:\UserData\ just fine most of the time, since it's really just pissy about paths with spaces in them.
If you need to share files on your local network, you can share the UserData folder without much worry. Just make sure all of your accounts have passwords. Blank passwords mean free access to anything that can connect. Fot the love of all that's holy and good, set a single space as the password instead of leaving it blank. Or use the same password microsoft uses on their Free Internet Explorer Test VMs, "Passw0rd". Or get used to typing a real passphrase. Four simple words in lowercase is a good start. "today is good too" is going to be much more secure because of it's length of 17 than adding symbols, numbers or capitals to an 8 character string.
User Account Control UAC is the nag utility that grays everything out and pops up the dialog that asks if you want to let this program make changes to your system every time you do anything. There are several ways to set its aggressiveness but my experience is that the only real solution to its dysfunctionality is to completely disable it by edting the registry. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and set the value of the EnableLUA key to zero. Windows will howl that you are releasing the Kraken and make you reset the computer but nothing bad has ever happened to any of the machines where I've done this. Note that major updates which can't be turned off tend to turn UAC back on, so you will have to redo this occasionally to keep it off.
UAC's really easy and should be left on. The first time it dims out the screen to nag you, there's an underlined link that opens the UAC control panel. Drag the slider down one notch from "Dim my desktop" to "Do not dim my desktop", and windows will continue to pop up the safety warning "Signed by XXX"+BlueBar or "Unknown"+YellowBar when you run a file, but won't disrupt your screen and hide all your apps to do it.
You really should leave the UAC popup on, because it happens when *SCRIPTS* run executables too. And if you get one of those popups and you DIDN'T just double click on an installer, you can go snoop on what popped the dialog up without answering it, or answer no to refuse execution.
Just because it's got an unknown signature doesn't mean it's bad; just means whoever made it didn't pay the microsoft ransom of $99+ to buy an authenticode signing certificate. Like 7-zip!
So unfortunately, it is up to the user to decide which ones are good and which are bad. But if you turn UAC off, that's basically saying "I don't care, everything can run, including any malware, don't even bother letting me know I'm getting infected."
Pretty much this is all due to asshats on the internet writing scripts to attack users, and "hiding them in plain sight" on popular piracy endpoints, or Malvertising, the use of animated advertising banners to infect a system through browser exploits. Skype and other microsoft applications using the Internet Explorer rendering core were huge targets of this.
So you can blame all of this additional security on an unending stream of jerks on the internet. Everything good must be ruined by idiots, or it was never good enough in the first place... Heh.
Which will install on Win10 without a problem. Classicshell will still work, but it's got an automatic updater in it that could be taken over maliciously, so it should be avoided at this point.
After installation, the first time you click the 'start' button you should get the Wizard to set the new start menu theme -- I normally choose "Windows 7 Aero" since that's what I'm used to. You may prefer "Windows Classic" if you like the old nasty grey eyesores.
Edit: Ooh, just spotted the old Microsoft Edge icon on there, time to update that to the new Microsoft Edge (based on chrome).
I *HIGHLY* suggest y'all take this upgrade as well. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge
It will get rid of the old Insecure Internet Explorer stack and all of it's two decades of ActiveX Vulnerabilities too, and replace it with microsoft's fork of google chrome (chromium)
And while you're at it, grab the uBlock Origin adblocker for it as well. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/ublock-origin/9nblggh444l4
Hi
How do you know if you have the 'NEW' Edge?
I am fully up to date and find I have-
Microsoft Edge 44.18362.449.0
Microsoft EdgeHTML 18.18363
Is that the new edge?- if so cant tell the difference!
Dave
@kamilion, I don't use Program Files. I always install my applications in c:\appname. It is under this model that some but not all win10 boxes will not allow read-write access to the data. (I also know I'm supposed to use Program Files, but sorry, no, that is stupid and I won't do it.)
An even better suggestion with regard to Edge is to use it to download Firefox and if necessary the actual Google Chrome, and make one of those your default browser. I turn off UAC on all of my machines and I use those browsers. In several years of doing this I haven't had a problem with malware, but then I also don't make a habit of browsing piracy or porn sites.
Yes, when you run the openshell/classicshell installer, uncheck the updater, as well as the internet explorer addin.
Only two components are needed, the Windows Explorer toolbar addin, and the startbutton replacement. And I tend to skip the Windows Explorer toolbar addin too.
Just rerun the installer if you've made a mistaken in selection.
@kamilion, I don't use Program Files. I always install my applications in c:\appname. It is under this model that some but not all win10 boxes will not allow read-write access to the data. (I also know I'm supposed to use Program Files, but sorry, no, that is stupid and I won't do it.)
Hah, well, have fun when you reach 512 entries in your driveroot. Don't say I didn't warn you
(I still cannot believe microsoft left that quirk in for NTFS. It's freaking 2020!)
My father still does the same thing, it's a nightmare trying to clean up his machines or move him from system to system.
Just trying to the restore the tools he uses to make fonts is ulcer-inducing.
Anyway, the point I was trying to make was, get out from microsoft's ACL fun by making your own folder by hand, and then telling other things to use it (like the installers, I'll pick C:\UserData\Games\Diablo II\ or C:\UserData\Apps\notepadplusplus\ or C:\UserData\msys2\ or C:\UserData\Micropython\git\micropython\ports\esp32\ )
Doesn't matter where you put it, as long as it's not in the drive root or microsoft ACL-forced paths, as long as there's no spaces in the path, it almost always works fine.
And that 'no spaces' rule generally comes about due to running lots of linux/unix commandline tools, like the gcc compiler that comes as part of msys2/mingw64.
Hi
How do you know if you have the 'NEW' Edge?
I am fully up to date and find I have-
Microsoft Edge 44.18362.449.0
Microsoft EdgeHTML 18.18363
Is that the new edge?- if so cant tell the difference!
Dave
No, new edge should be version 80 or above, keeping pace with the Google Chrome version numbers.
You'll have to stop by https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge and download it yourself, it'll still be a little while before they force-push it with windows update. Think they were saying may is when it'll get autopushed.
The old IE icon is darkish blue. The new Edge icon is an "Ocean Wave" of blue/green stepped gradient.
kamilion, I'm nowhere near 500 entries in any root folder. In the hundreds of machines I've deployed for customers our application is the only extra thing in the root folder, and moving them to a new machine is just a matter of copying that one folder and all its subfolders to a thumb drive and then to a new machine. On my development machine, I have about five root folders representing various development tools I've made for myself, with the individual applications grouped one layer deep under them. As I've said, I have encountered four or five Win10 boxes which will not allow a program run from those folders write access to the data files in the same folder unless you are logged in to the account which was logged in when the folder was created. Most Win10 machines don't do that and I haven't been able to figure out why some do.
It's the permissions assigned to that limited user account that prevent writing to certain folders.
There are also wrongly chosen decisions at install time, failing to choose "install for all users".
Yet another problem is encrypted virtual user folders. Which i mean i guess is important for hiding personal documents from other users on the PC. Even the administrator can't read them, just delete and rename permissions.
Yes just creating a folder in the root of C is a good workaround. But it won't stop a rogue batch file, vbs, or powershell script from just deleting it silently, inserting a virus, or stealing it. Which was the whole point of this extra step nonsense.
As I've said, I have encountered four or five Win10 boxes which will not allow a program run from those folders write access to the data files in the same folder unless you are logged in to the account which was logged in when the folder was created. Most Win10 machines don't do that and I haven't been able to figure out why some do.
Are those machines on a domain / AD network? If so it could be group policy setting.
Some very aggressive anti virus / ransomware setting recommendations deny execution pretty much everywhere, except the usual places to prevent drop files (attachments, scripts autorun from external drives, downloads, etc... ) from running.
I was doing sysadmin for an AD network where this was in place. Real PITA. I linked a thread that contains detail you can use to identify it. You might get super lucky and find it's a local policy object, but I doubt that. Any admin who would apply this, would do it centralized like they would do everything else.
And you can do almost anything with group policy. Seriously. Anything. I once encountered a fairly evil admin who set a policy where spell check had to completely pass before an email could be sent. Felt for that poor guy.
Yes, when you run the openshell/classicshell installer, uncheck the updater, as well as the internet explorer addin.
Only two components are needed, the Windows Explorer toolbar addin, and the startbutton replacement. And I tend to skip the Windows Explorer toolbar addin too.
Just rerun the installer if you've made a mistaken in selection.
Uh, guys? pnut has to be somewhere on the path. Just like dos, windows 95, 98, NT3.51, NT4, Win2000, Win XP, Win2003, Win7, Win8, Win8.1... Nothing has changed in windows 10 in that regard. No need to spread FUD.
(Edit: Looks like you also need to have run/double clicked on the .exe manually at least once (Or RightClicked-Properties-Unblock), for it to have been added to windows' LRU (Least Recently Used / Last Run) array. Even on 7.)
Don't like Windows-Store? Neither do I. Install Server2019. At this point it's the same as windows 10 with some ifdefs changed and no storefront. Most apps just see it as win10.
And if you're stuck with windows 10, you really need to be on 1903 or 1909, otherwise scripted bots on the internet will attack you. WebRTC is the current dirty trick to slip past your router's NAT "firewall" of returning closed-port responses by pretending to be just another internet phone call to your Web Browser. Bots usually targeting the windows filesharing facilities, even if you don't have a fileshare, windows still makes a network printer spool for every printer you have (including that lovely PDF printer that *everyone* has now instead of having to pay adobe... hint hint. Unshare that thing.)
There is an active exploit for curveball (CVE-2020-0601 AKA Chain of Fools) in which Windows 10 can be tricked into believing malicious digital signatures for executables are genuine, and such executables can and do come from "nearly anywhere", from "Asus LiveUpdate" to Steam Games, to specific windows store "Free" apps and games loaded with hidden malware, to the apps that came on the machine (Like IOBit Uninstaller / ActiveCare for some set of unlucky users...)
@pilot0315
As for the quick fix to your pnut problems,
Windows-Break to open ControlPanel-System, Advanced System Settings, Environment Variables. Check the system PATH and the user PATH, and either add the path to your pnut executable with a semicolon separator, or copy the pnut executable into one of the paths in the listing.
I highly suggest grabbing procexp64.exe and leaving it running in the background all the time, with the "Check VirusTotal.com" option enabled, and "Submit Unknown Executables".
One of the easiest ways to work around the annoying "This binary hasn't been seen often by Microsoft SmartScreen".
Also python on windows likes to monkey with the path, as well as many many many other applications.
It's a constant headache if you use git or switch back and forth from linux a lot.
The path is the list of directories that will be searched when a command is given. Windows will look in each folder, and when it finds a match, will run it.
When you open a command prompt, and can type something and just count on it running anywhere, you know it is in your path correctly, and that is what a path is for.
In a command prompt you can examine your current path with the "set" command.
You can modify your path, which is a list of directories separated by semicolons ";" in the control panel, system applet.
On a Win10 machine, type "system" into the search bar, and you will get "System Control Panel" Click on that one, and you are in!
Pick "advanced system settings"
And then, the "Environment Variables" button.
In the "system variables" section at bottom, find path, and hit the edit button. Now, Win10 has cleaned this up. It's spiffy now.
Your path is shown to you as a list, first search at top, last search at bottom. Unless you have a good reason, just add your intended folder to the end of your path. That's pretty much always best practice, unless you have a reason to do otherwise.
Once done, close things up and you are good to go.
Now, one more thing:
In pretty much every OS I've ever run, when you open a shell up, terminal, command prompt, whatever, the environment is copied into the process memory space and is available to it. When you change things, it's not going to be reflected in shells already open, unless you've made the change in that shell specifically. In Windows, that's using the "set" command [not recommended, unless you know what you are doing], linux it is "export" and or "setenv" and so forth.
In all other cases, just open a new shell and then test. And you can verify by using the set command.
I am pretty sure there are ways to refresh the environment, and I think I've used 'em, but it's been a long time and I still feel crappy, so I'll leave that for someone else.
Thank you I will look at this tomorrow. Too many Vodka's. The stress of working at home, three weeks of being out of the loop with coding on the p2 my hobby. Had to quit my weekend job because of being lied to and possible exposure to Covidd-19, VERY LOW PROBABILITY, X 9 DAYS. THAT DESTROYED A 12 YEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH MY WEEK END PATIENT SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS THIS EXTERNAL KEY BOARD IS SCREWED UP GOTTA BUY ANOTHER TOMORROW. MY BRAIN IS TIRED. THANKS FOR LISTENING.
I WILL LOOK TOMORROW
THANK YOU
MARTIN
I replaced Pnut_33 with Pnut ver 34q
tried to use your path directions again that worked with the previous ver of Pnut but it does not work now. any ideas?
Thanks
@pilot0315
As for the quick fix to your pnut problems,
Windows-Break to open ControlPanel-System, Advanced System Settings, Environment Variables. Check the system PATH and the user PATH, and either add the path to your pnut executable with a semicolon separator, or copy the pnut executable into one of the paths in the listing.
@Cluso99
I attached snips one works one does not. Followed the same procedure. These are two different programs so I think there should not be a conflict.
Any further suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Martin
@Cluso99
I attached snips one works one does not. Followed the same procedure. These are two different programs so I think there should not be a conflict.
Any further suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Martin
I have tried the same instructions and still get the same app store stuff. I have installed 34r and still get the annoying app store pop up. I followed the instructions. I have a quick question please. When I did this the first time for an earlier version of pnut it worked. Now it does not work for the later versions. Is this because the earlier version is there?
Firstly v34r is the latest and has been for a while.
For your question... No idea what's happening.
When I download it goes into the download directory.
I have a directory C:\P2\ and within that I have sub-directories pnut34r etc. So I copy the downloaded PNut_v34r.zip into it's relevant sub-directory and unzip it. Then I create a taskbar shortcut to this pnut34r.exe (deleting any pnut taskbar shortcut first). Note that I don't run pnut from the command line.
BTW I don't get any app store popups! This is a danger sign of a virus. I suggest you run your virus software for a check. MS have Windows Defender which IIRC comes with W10. Otherwise you can download it.
Hi @pilot0315
I have been running PNut on Windows 10 Pro for some time. My system is 100% up to date and I have no trouble other than Windows defender sometimes displaying dialogues. The first dialog objects to running PNUT and I click "More Information". The second dialog objects and I click "Run Anyway".
Hope all is well for you.
Kevin.
Comments
Well of course it's MICROSOFT. I hate windows 10. This is why I bought the key to make it 10 pro.
Btw
@localroger
I looked at classicshell.net
Will this work on my windows 10 pro? And what is the UAC you referred to? I have disabled all windows automatic updates so that I will only update if really necessary and only if it is very very important.
thanks to all
User Account Control UAC is the nag utility that grays everything out and pops up the dialog that asks if you want to let this program make changes to your system every time you do anything. There are several ways to set its aggressiveness but my experience is that the only real solution to its dysfunctionality is to completely disable it by edting the registry. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and set the value of the EnableLUA key to zero. Windows will howl that you are releasing the Kraken and make you reset the computer but nothing bad has ever happened to any of the machines where I've done this. Note that major updates which can't be turned off tend to turn UAC back on, so you will have to redo this occasionally to keep it off.
Thanks for the tip about the UAC. I have turned off all update capability of w10. Will only select a severe update that is necessary.
Ah yes the cephalopoid of lore!!!!!!!!
Khan:
Joachim: We're all with you, sir. But, consider this. We are free. "FROM MICROSOFT" We have a ship, and the means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha V. You have defeated the plans of Admiral Kirk. You do not need to defeat him again
Khan: He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round Perdition's flames before I give him up!
This is going to be every Win Vista, Win7, Win8, Win10 machine. Post windows XP, applications are not allowed to write into Program Files, as that is System territory and Users should only be writing into their profile folder.
Protip: The entire C:\Users\ hierarchy is protected by access control lists (ACLs) that will make your life hard.
Create C:\UserData\ (which will be owned by "nobody" since it's in the root of a drive letter) and do all your business there. Create a favorite to it in Windows Explorer's sidebar.
Never do anything in your own profile folder -- Avoid using the C:\Users\MyUserName\Downloads folder, the Pictures folders, the Documents folders...
By default, windows locks all of these down ONLY to your own user name. If you share the machine with others (or have a second Administrator account and log in as yourself) you'll find windows constantly refusing you access or demanding you "take ownership".
Don't. It only messes things up -- Make a C:\UserData folder instead, unbound by system ACL defaults. Make a Downloads folder in there. Tell your browser of choice to save there instead in the settings.
Problem two: Microsoft filesystems have a "Quirk"/"Bug" that the root of a drive may only have 512 entries (folders OR files), while subdirectories are nearly unlimited in comparison. This is so windows' bootloader can dig up it's files easily. So don't let your C:\ fill up with all kinds of stuff like C:\AMD and C:\Nvidia and C:\msys2\ -- The only folders you should have in your C:\ are:
C:\ESD\ (Windows Recovery)
C:\PerfLogs\ (Windows Visual Studio performance monitoring)
C:\Program Files\ (64 bit applications go here.)
C:\Program Files (x86)\ (32 bit applications go here, and get redirected through WOW64 layer in the registry. WOW = "Windows On Windows".)
C:\ProgramData\ (Windows, Hidden folder. App installers like .msi files and stuff get cached here. Deleting stuff here "to free up space" is a bad idea. Those MSI files are required for the uninstaller / repair item in the control panel to work correctly.)
C:\UserData\ (Created by a smart user to dodge annoying ACL problems and sharing issues. Do *NOT* put a space between User and Data, as many things like msys2 build tools hate spaces in paths)
C:\Users\ (Windows, User profiles (Homedirs) are stored here, and as of Win8, only the Username owning the folder has access, even Administrator's flipped off now.)
C:\Windows\ (Windows. The freshmaker.)
C:\Windows.old\ (Hey, you've upgraded windows within the last week. Win10 will get rid of these after 7 days. It's a copy of the last C:\Windows\ before a new .wim installer image was downloaded and applied to create the new C:\Windows\ as part of the new Windows Imaging Management System)
A few more like C:\AMD are allright, but spend a minute or two while installers are doing their thing to whittle it down. If stuff like msys2 tells you it needs to be extracted to C:\, you can ignore that and unpack in C:\UserData\ just fine most of the time, since it's really just pissy about paths with spaces in them.
If you need to share files on your local network, you can share the UserData folder without much worry. Just make sure all of your accounts have passwords. Blank passwords mean free access to anything that can connect. Fot the love of all that's holy and good, set a single space as the password instead of leaving it blank. Or use the same password microsoft uses on their Free Internet Explorer Test VMs, "Passw0rd". Or get used to typing a real passphrase. Four simple words in lowercase is a good start. "today is good too" is going to be much more secure because of it's length of 17 than adding symbols, numbers or capitals to an 8 character string.
UAC's really easy and should be left on. The first time it dims out the screen to nag you, there's an underlined link that opens the UAC control panel. Drag the slider down one notch from "Dim my desktop" to "Do not dim my desktop", and windows will continue to pop up the safety warning "Signed by XXX"+BlueBar or "Unknown"+YellowBar when you run a file, but won't disrupt your screen and hide all your apps to do it.
You really should leave the UAC popup on, because it happens when *SCRIPTS* run executables too. And if you get one of those popups and you DIDN'T just double click on an installer, you can go snoop on what popped the dialog up without answering it, or answer no to refuse execution.
Just because it's got an unknown signature doesn't mean it's bad; just means whoever made it didn't pay the microsoft ransom of $99+ to buy an authenticode signing certificate. Like 7-zip!
So unfortunately, it is up to the user to decide which ones are good and which are bad. But if you turn UAC off, that's basically saying "I don't care, everything can run, including any malware, don't even bother letting me know I'm getting infected."
Pretty much this is all due to asshats on the internet writing scripts to attack users, and "hiding them in plain sight" on popular piracy endpoints, or Malvertising, the use of animated advertising banners to infect a system through browser exploits. Skype and other microsoft applications using the Internet Explorer rendering core were huge targets of this.
So you can blame all of this additional security on an unending stream of jerks on the internet. Everything good must be ruined by idiots, or it was never good enough in the first place... Heh.
Yeah.
The latest version is here:
https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu/releases/download/v4.4.142/OpenShellSetup_4_4_142.exe
Which will install on Win10 without a problem. Classicshell will still work, but it's got an automatic updater in it that could be taken over maliciously, so it should be avoided at this point.
After installation, the first time you click the 'start' button you should get the Wizard to set the new start menu theme -- I normally choose "Windows 7 Aero" since that's what I'm used to. You may prefer "Windows Classic" if you like the old nasty grey eyesores.
Edit: Ooh, just spotted the old Microsoft Edge icon on there, time to update that to the new Microsoft Edge (based on chrome).
I *HIGHLY* suggest y'all take this upgrade as well.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge
It will get rid of the old Insecure Internet Explorer stack and all of it's two decades of ActiveX Vulnerabilities too, and replace it with microsoft's fork of google chrome (chromium)
And while you're at it, grab the uBlock Origin adblocker for it as well.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/ublock-origin/9nblggh444l4
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en
Added a picture of the filters I checkbox in the ublock origin settings to maximize adkilling.
Any way to disable the automatic updater???
I found this about killing the automatic update in classic shell. Let me know what you think.
http://www.classicshell.net/faq/
search for automatic update.
Thanks
Martin
How do you know if you have the 'NEW' Edge?
I am fully up to date and find I have-
Microsoft Edge 44.18362.449.0
Microsoft EdgeHTML 18.18363
Is that the new edge?- if so cant tell the difference!
Dave
Yes, when you run the openshell/classicshell installer, uncheck the updater, as well as the internet explorer addin.
Only two components are needed, the Windows Explorer toolbar addin, and the startbutton replacement. And I tend to skip the Windows Explorer toolbar addin too.
Just rerun the installer if you've made a mistaken in selection.
Hah, well, have fun when you reach 512 entries in your driveroot. Don't say I didn't warn you
(I still cannot believe microsoft left that quirk in for NTFS. It's freaking 2020!)
My father still does the same thing, it's a nightmare trying to clean up his machines or move him from system to system.
Just trying to the restore the tools he uses to make fonts is ulcer-inducing.
Anyway, the point I was trying to make was, get out from microsoft's ACL fun by making your own folder by hand, and then telling other things to use it (like the installers, I'll pick C:\UserData\Games\Diablo II\ or C:\UserData\Apps\notepadplusplus\ or C:\UserData\msys2\ or C:\UserData\Micropython\git\micropython\ports\esp32\ )
Doesn't matter where you put it, as long as it's not in the drive root or microsoft ACL-forced paths, as long as there's no spaces in the path, it almost always works fine.
And that 'no spaces' rule generally comes about due to running lots of linux/unix commandline tools, like the gcc compiler that comes as part of msys2/mingw64.
No, new edge should be version 80 or above, keeping pace with the Google Chrome version numbers.
You'll have to stop by https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge and download it yourself, it'll still be a little while before they force-push it with windows update. Think they were saying may is when it'll get autopushed.
The old IE icon is darkish blue. The new Edge icon is an "Ocean Wave" of blue/green stepped gradient.
Thanks kamilion, I suspected as much.
Dave
There are also wrongly chosen decisions at install time, failing to choose "install for all users".
Yet another problem is encrypted virtual user folders. Which i mean i guess is important for hiding personal documents from other users on the PC. Even the administrator can't read them, just delete and rename permissions.
Yes just creating a folder in the root of C is a good workaround. But it won't stop a rogue batch file, vbs, or powershell script from just deleting it silently, inserting a virus, or stealing it. Which was the whole point of this extra step nonsense.
Are those machines on a domain / AD network? If so it could be group policy setting.
Some very aggressive anti virus / ransomware setting recommendations deny execution pretty much everywhere, except the usual places to prevent drop files (attachments, scripts autorun from external drives, downloads, etc... ) from running.
https://serverfault.com/questions/571715/windows-software-restriction-policy-to-block-exe-files-in-all-subdirectories
I was doing sysadmin for an AD network where this was in place. Real PITA. I linked a thread that contains detail you can use to identify it. You might get super lucky and find it's a local policy object, but I doubt that. Any admin who would apply this, would do it centralized like they would do everything else.
And you can do almost anything with group policy. Seriously. Anything. I once encountered a fairly evil admin who set a policy where spell check had to completely pass before an email could be sent. Felt for that poor guy.
had to do it gain with pnut q version and it did not take
any ideas
The path is the list of directories that will be searched when a command is given. Windows will look in each folder, and when it finds a match, will run it.
When you open a command prompt, and can type something and just count on it running anywhere, you know it is in your path correctly, and that is what a path is for.
In a command prompt you can examine your current path with the "set" command.
Here is mine:
You can modify your path, which is a list of directories separated by semicolons ";" in the control panel, system applet.
On a Win10 machine, type "system" into the search bar, and you will get "System Control Panel" Click on that one, and you are in!
Pick "advanced system settings"
And then, the "Environment Variables" button.
In the "system variables" section at bottom, find path, and hit the edit button. Now, Win10 has cleaned this up. It's spiffy now.
Your path is shown to you as a list, first search at top, last search at bottom. Unless you have a good reason, just add your intended folder to the end of your path. That's pretty much always best practice, unless you have a reason to do otherwise.
Once done, close things up and you are good to go.
Now, one more thing:
In pretty much every OS I've ever run, when you open a shell up, terminal, command prompt, whatever, the environment is copied into the process memory space and is available to it. When you change things, it's not going to be reflected in shells already open, unless you've made the change in that shell specifically. In Windows, that's using the "set" command [not recommended, unless you know what you are doing], linux it is "export" and or "setenv" and so forth.
In all other cases, just open a new shell and then test. And you can verify by using the set command.
I am pretty sure there are ways to refresh the environment, and I think I've used 'em, but it's been a long time and I still feel crappy, so I'll leave that for someone else.
I WILL LOOK TOMORROW
THANK YOU
MARTIN
I replaced Pnut_33 with Pnut ver 34q
tried to use your path directions again that worked with the previous ver of Pnut but it does not work now. any ideas?
Thanks
@pilot0315
As for the quick fix to your pnut problems,
Windows-Break to open ControlPanel-System, Advanced System Settings, Environment Variables. Check the system PATH and the user PATH, and either add the path to your pnut executable with a semicolon separator, or copy the pnut executable into one of the paths in the listing.
I attached snips one works one does not. Followed the same procedure. These are two different programs so I think there should not be a conflict.
Any further suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Martin
I attached snips one works one does not. Followed the same procedure. These are two different programs so I think there should not be a conflict.
Any further suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Martin
For your question... No idea what's happening.
When I download it goes into the download directory.
I have a directory C:\P2\ and within that I have sub-directories pnut34r etc. So I copy the downloaded PNut_v34r.zip into it's relevant sub-directory and unzip it. Then I create a taskbar shortcut to this pnut34r.exe (deleting any pnut taskbar shortcut first). Note that I don't run pnut from the command line.
BTW I don't get any app store popups! This is a danger sign of a virus. I suggest you run your virus software for a check. MS have Windows Defender which IIRC comes with W10. Otherwise you can download it.
I have been running PNut on Windows 10 Pro for some time. My system is 100% up to date and I have no trouble other than Windows defender sometimes displaying dialogues. The first dialog objects to running PNUT and I click "More Information". The second dialog objects and I click "Run Anyway".
Hope all is well for you.
Kevin.