Retaining features across shells

[jimk]

I have just started using Aston 1.7, and it is great, I love it. I notice one thing, which maybe somebody can help me with. Once I've run an Aston shell, when I go back to Explorer, even after rebooting, it keeps some of the features of the Aston theme, for instance, weird cursors, titlebar colors, etc. If I change the features in Explorer and go back to Aston, they show there, too.

Is there a way to keep them separate?

JimK

[The_PC_Mechanic]

Hi Jim,
the simple explanation is that the changes made by an Aston theme, or in the explorer environment, are stored as a set of system state values in the registry (which, put simply for the uninitiated, is a critical set of files that tell your computer how to work, and which acts like a huge address book for almost every program component). When you make changes to these settings, they are stored in either the individual users section of the registry, or in a "local machine" section (read: system wide). There is no prior state record kept, so this is why you see those items persisting across the shells.

Depending on your setup you could try having two logon ID's - one for each shell, but this is obviously a very involved workaround. Another way is to use a program such as is found at http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/38356.html to make a theme for windows under explorer (including icons etc), and place a link to this on the explorer desktop for loading when you are in that shell. Even then, it's not going to be perfect, and unfortunately, this is a shortcoming of Windows itself.

With any luck, you will soon become so devoted to Aston, that you will not need Explorer, and therefore will not notice this problem!

I hope this helps,
regards,

[jimk]

OK, thanks, I was afraid it was something like that (registry stuff). I am actually very happy with Aston, and have been hacking the theme I downloaded, personalizing it and getting to understand it at the same time.

I put a link labeled "Windows" to Shell Swapper on the desktop, so family members who can't find their way around my Orange desktop can get back to something more familiar. But it's not *that* familiar, with the orange-slice cursors, orange titlebars, and orange backgrounds on everything.

I had already started to look for a theme manager for Explorer, thinking of the same workaround you mentioned. That's probably not that bad -- it would be ideal if I could figure out a way to run the Windows theme whenever Explorer comes up, so users don't have to do anything special to get their old familiar (awkward, ugly) desktop back. I'll keep picking at it until I get something.

Thanks again,

JimK

[The_PC_Mechanic]

Hi Jim,
you may be interested in the discussion at http://www.astonshell.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2351#2351 - it covers a related set of issues.

regards,