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Getting rid of windows shell

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Ampeter:
Hi guys!

I'm tweaking a windows xp install to use on a UMPC, so I want it to use as little resources as possible(while still being easy to use and looking nice)... so far everything has gone smooth, but now I'm trying to get rid of that stubborn explorer.exe (I hate how it's always sitting there doing nothing... using 18-30mb of ram and lots of CPU cycles when it sees fit) and I'm almost there!   


So far I'm using:


-FARR to launch programs and run commands so I don't need the start menu.

-Objecdock to launch programs, minimize and maximize apps and check the system tray, so I don't need the taskbar...

-Freecommander to browse files, so I don't need windows explorer.

-Opera (I like firefox better but opera is much lighter) instead of internet explorer.

-Avedesk (It's a shame it's not being developed anymore as it is still the best widget engine out there in my opinion) so I can have nice desktop icons and even icons for removable drives when using a thumb drive or mp3 player... so I don't need the desktop for anything...



Looks perfect right? wrong! I have 2 big problems I can't solve yet after closing or replacing explorer.exe with any of this or other programs in the registry (it's what you have to do so explorer.exe stops being the shell and doesn't load automatically on startup)


1) windows minimize ok to objecdock but still show where the taskbar would be... I guess it must be because explorer desktop is some kind of frameless window behind which this minimized windows bars would hide or something like that... It looks really ugly, and it's confusing...something like this:


Getting rid of windows shell

What could I do to prevent that? I tried putting the dock on the bottom to try to hide them but they come on top of it again when minimized.


2) tray doesn't update or doesn't work properly... this is minor as I don't really have a crowded tray but still I'd like to have a way of checking it if I need to.




What could I do? I've thought about a shell replacement but litestep and bblean use way too much resources for my taste (specially cpu)...

maybe a minimall shell that is only a desktop without icons? what about the tray then?


Apart from that, it's great to live without explorer.exe! Everything else is working fine and I don't miss it one bit  ;D

TucknDar:
Liteshell, maybe? http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~mosses/rob/liteshell.html

40hz:
I don't really see how you could do it other than by replacing the command interpreter with something else: (ex: shell=\directory\command_interpreter_name.com)


You could look at Black Box for Windows (BB4W)
Link: http://www.bb4win.org/news.php

or its cousin Xoblite
Link: http://xoblite.net/

Doesn't get more minimal the BB4W. If you want something leaner you may need to consider writing your own.

scancode:
What could I do? I've thought about a shell replacement but litestep and bblean use way too much resources for my taste (specially cpu)...
-Ampeter (October 19, 2008, 01:36 PM)
--- End quote ---

Are you serious? I'm running bblean on my Asus Eee 900  (1GB RAM, no swapfile, 630mhz celeron, xpsp3) and I never saw it taking more than 5% CPU (while opening and closing lots of windows, I think it was bbleanskin's fault) and eating more than 4MB of ram.

I attach my whole bblean setup so you can see for yourself: , and a screenshot.

Getting rid of windows shell

VideoInPicture:
Ever had any compatibility issues with using an alternative shell in place of Explorer.exe?

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