Get Classic Start Menu Back in Windows 7 Using CWSM

There is no doubt, Windows 7 comes with lots of new features but its also true that some important functionality have been removed from Windows 7 like good old Classic start menu.

Classic start menu was very useful and easy to use but for some unknown reasons, Microsoft has removed it from Windows 7. Now if you want to get it back, you'll need to take help of 3rd party software.

We have covered "CSMenu" in past which is a free utility to bring a similar start menu in Windows 7.

Today we are sharing another freeware "Classic Windows Start Menu" which can provide a similar Classic start menu in Windows 7. Following is a screenshot of CWSM in action:

As you can see, it looks very similar to Classic start menu. The most impressive thing about CWSM is that it uses Aero engine to render its interface so you get a glassy start menu which looks great.

Its a portable utility so you don't need to install it. You can also customize it for your needs. For example, you can modify the text of menus, change background image, change left-side logo, change icons, etc. You can do all these things by modifying files present in its folder.

You can also make it more glassy by modifying "strings.xml" file and set "<MENU BACKGROUND PRESENT>Yes</>" to "<MENU BACKGROUND PRESENT>No</>":

Once you do it, exit from CWSM by right-click on Start ORB and click on "Yes" button in confirmation dialog box. Then run cwsm.exe again. Now it'll look as following:

There are also some BMP files in its folder: logoffback.bmp, ribbon.bmp, shutdownback.bmp which can be modified to change Log off dialog box, left-side logo and Shutdown dialog box background images respectively.

You can download it using following link:

Download Here

NOTE: It also works in Windows XP and Vista.

Thanks to our active reader "Bryan" for sharing this utility via email...

Complete list of AskVG articles

This article was posted in Portable Apps, Software Zone, Windows 7.

Share |

17 Comments

SCBright

Hi VG, thanks for sharing this interesting aplication.

I had some troubles to download it, because the web page don't scrool down. I had to adjust the zoom to 47% to find the link
LeOneL

Yes, the classic menu is useful and easy to use but i find the new start menu more easier to use and more helpful, especially the search function where i don't have to browse the application shortcut i want to launch, I just have to search it. nevertheless, i found this 3rd party software useful and its great!
Tyler

Why you want to use the old classic one is beyond me. Just use the search function, and you are good to go. You can find any program almost instantly.
Bimal Roy

Thanks VG. It was really helpful.
Tangmeister

Hey Vishal,

I wasn't sure if may previous comment was considered spam or if something happened, but I was a bit confused about this one...

I went to the download site and my antivirus blocked it saying it was classified as Dangerous.

Are you sure it's safe?
VG

^^ Yes. Its safe.
peter pan

Hey VG,

Im actually only interested in making the left pane transparent (blurry), but I still want to keep the windows 7 start menu. Is this possible with this utility??

Thanks
VG

^^ No.
Chris

Are you able to sort folders by name and add\delete folders with this?
ivan hoe

Nice tool Vishal , except it doesn't work on my win7 64 pro.

This may be caused by the way i've tweaked my system , too bad 'cause i like this new startmenu.

Is there a registry tweak i can use instead ??