Aqua-Soft Forumsso i got bored of damn explorer.exe and instead i make my computer start up uisng only object bar and object dock. but now i ran into some problems. first off the "system tray" inside of object bar is good but it doesnt always work and some programs hide. and now i have windows which are hidden and i dont know where they are. for example if i use trillian and im chatting and then im writing this in opera. the window remins hidden. also what can i do to create kind of show desktop button or icon or something. becuase the orignally doesnt work any more cuase i killed explorer. all and all its been a good idea. thanks all bye
[help] I kiled my explorer.exe
uhm, killing your explorer.exe normally is not smart, windows NEEDS it to funtion properly...
to get explorer working go to run and type explorer.exe
no the point is i dont want explorer.exe it works perfectly fine without it. its quicker is better i just dont have a taskbar or systray. besides windows doesnt need it. how else can u use blackbox for windows. whihc i have used once. it doesnt use explorer.exe explorer.exe is SATAN
the taskbar and systray are part of the explorer.exe, therefor windows NEEDS it.
Its not satan, it only takes up to 20 mb of ram, if it takes more than 24mb your computer is more than likely infected with a virus. (or if your using finderbar its normal to have it higher).
Blackbox is a shell replacement, it simply hides the taskbar like objectbar. It does NOT kill the explorer.exe
bah. i dont like explorer and it kills explorer. i have proofe
4 to 443 posts... i'll side with Astyanax on this one
@Astyanax and nappystudios--Board rules are to provide a solution for his problem instead of telling him to do something else.
@rialye--They're right 
.
In all seriousness, you DO need some sort of shell.
Technically, Windows doesn't need Explorer for its lesser capabilities, but functionally is a different story.
I can't think of any answer to your question--either of them--that doesn't involve either Explorer or some other shell replacement. If you want to look into other, less memory-intensive shells, on the other hand...
Sorry we couldn't be of more help, but it's really not the greatest of ideas 
.
-NC
P.S: On the other hand, I have a question for you. How do you get Explorer to stay down everytime you restart your computer? Do you use pskill.exe/taskkill.exe and a .bat file on startup, or something else?
@nc: you can change the shell in regedit. the line normally reads 'shell=explorer.exe', but seriously, you can make it 'shell=defrag.exe' if you want. i've actually done this. anyways, that's how.
edit: mebbe my memory ain't so good. all the references i found say to change that line in system.ini. i swear there's a way with regedit, though...
Having an explorer-less desktop sounds interesting
About your hidden windows, have you tried ALT + TAB to see if they show up there? My guess is they would.. and you can always launch explorer via Task Manager by pressing ctrl+alt+del and choosing File--->New task and typing "explorer" in the Run window.
that or run some kind of expose clone app. unless of course, your apps minimize themselves to the tray, then you're sol.
I have an idea
- Kill explorer
- Use finder clone (i.e. Looca or nexplorer for file browsing)
- Objectbar for the menu bar
- RKlauncher for start menu and taskbar (sort of)
The only issue is that we would have no systray...hmmm how about using systray docklet with RKlauncher? I haven't tested it myself but that could be a nice idea 
:D
if your feeling adventurous you could try Litestep.net or any other number of skinable shell (explorer) replacements, over at shellfront.org.
Good luck
as for BlackBox for Win, while it does hide explorer when launched as an app.
it is fully capable of replacing Explorer as a shell. it doesn't need explorer to run
the taskbar and systray are part of the explorer.exe, therefor windows NEEDS it.Its not satan, it only takes up to 20 mb of ram, if it takes more than 24mb your computer is more than likely infected with a virus. (or if your using finderbar its normal to have it higher).
Blackbox is a shell replacement, it simply hides the taskbar like objectbar. It does NOT kill the explorer.exe
A bit off-topic here, but whatever.
Over 24 Mb isn't normal? Yeah right.... It's common for me and many people to have explorer at over 30Mb, maybe even 40. When I have just booted it's at 15Mb, but it will raise the longer I keep my computer running and use explorer.
So no, don't believe that, it doesn't mean you have a virus.
mine never exceeds 10MB :confused: :confused:
Memory use for explorer is dependant on many things. The number of programs that hook into it for example, which means any shell extension and all sorts of other programs, and also factors like your icon and thumbnail cache sizes, which shell32 you're using, how long you hold things like history lists for. Anything between 10mb and 50mb can be completely normal, and it isn't unusual to see it creep up significanly as you stay logged on. Only if explorer starts low on first logging on, and then very quickly jumps to a memory usage of over 50mb are you likely to have some sort of problem.
Litestep with retain all of explorer's functionality whilst at the same time being very easy to set up. Looca is not a wise replacement for explorer as explorer is a lot more than just a file browser.
@nightcrawler1089 I did not tell him what to do, if I did you would see "START UP YOUR EXPLORER.EXE NOW, OR ELSE.
Which wasnt there.....
If you really hate Explorer, why don't you use something like LiteStep?
If you really hate Explorer, why don't you use something like LiteStep?
//Post deleted. This constituted flamebait--you could have made your point without calling him what unintelligent :slant:. Thanks! -NC
Well, upon reading this I've done some testing;
You don't need Explorer.exe at all. It's highly overrated.
I added a systray bar to Objectbar, and it works fine without explorer.exe being on.
I don't know any shell replacements, though I would well be interested in them.
Given; Nextplorer and other Finder clones are probably not as stable as explorer.
WooT my first post. Ya'll didnt answer one thing. He asked about a show desktop button.
Anyways....The thing about windows explorer is, it's not only your file shell, its also your desktop, meaning you would have to replace both.
EDIT: Bit of an extrapolation (if thats how its spelled). I typically do not run explorer.exe, I close it in Task Manager. I use Nexplorer, ObjectBar, and ObjectDock. However, if you are closing explorer for performance reasons, this doesnt really help much. Also, this leaves me without a desktop. I've tried to find a decent desktop replacement, but there arent many decent ones out there.
I've had the problems with minimized windows as well, not all programs show up in alt+tab, i.e. your contact list for Trillian. BUT....most programs that aren't in alt+tab are in the systray in objectbar.
If your main problem is that you dont have a desktop, just keep your shortcuts in something like ObjectBar.
I think I covered it all.
P.S. I have a friend who completely deleted explorer and didnt replace it with anything, he just uses TaskManager and Alt+Tab for everything.
for the last time. KILLING EXPLORER.EXE IS BAD unless you know what u are doing
for the last time. KILLING EXPLORER.EXE IS BAD unless you know what u are doing
It's not "BAD" as you really aren't hurting anything. You just won't have access to the windows shell. All of your services are still running, so the system's working just as it did before. All that you'll miss are your desktop, taskbar, and file explorer. As was mentioned, the old alt+tab or ctl+alt+del easily enable you to switch tasks and start new ones.
I purposely kill explorer all the time, especially when gaming, or using any other app that's CPU/memory intensive. If I really have to have a desktop, then I can always go to taskman and start explorer all over again.
If you were usin windows 98 you wouldn't be having this problem...
Why? Becuase it uses taskbar.exe and systray.exe. see if you can find them in any of your windows directories, such as windows, or system32.
Just an idea.