Changing Windows 8 to look like XP

I've just started working with Windows 8 on a couple of laptops. Unfortunately, while Windows 8 was mostly designed for a touch screen  the laptop that I first installed it on does not have one. It is fairly old with only 3GB of RAM. That being said, I went from Windows XP to Windows 8 on it and it now runs much faster than ever before. I really like Windows 8, but have no wish to learn a completely new interface or wrestle with something that requires hardware that I don't have.

So, in that vein, I set about trying to make my Windows 8 look and feel like Windows XP. I managed to do it, while still keeping a few things about Windows 8 that I liked. I figured that others might want to do the same thing, so I present my procedure here for doing it.

1. The first step is to download and install two applications, Classic Shell and Taskbar Tweaker. 

Classic Shell will allow you to make modifications to most of the Windows 8 interface so that it will look and function like Windows XP. Taskbar Tweaker goes a small step further in fixing some of the annoyances with the taskbar that Classic Shell doesn't handle.

2. Now it's time to configure the start menu. Run the Classic Start Menu Settings application.

For the Start Menu Style tab, select Classic. 

In the Special Items tab, set the following:

Computer -> Don't Display
Recent documents -> Don't Display
User Files -> Don't Display
User pictures -> Don't Display

uncheck "Show Help and Support"
uncheck "Show recent programs"

In the Windows 8 Settings tab, set these:

check "Skip Metro Screen"

set Disable active corners to "None"

3. Continue by configuring the Windows Explorer. Run the Classic Explorer Settings application.

In the Navigation Pane tab, set the Style to XP Simple

In the Title Bar tab, set these:

check "Disable breadcrumbs"
set "Address bar history" to Extended Path

4. Now, right click on the taskbar and select Properties.

In the Taskbar tab, set these:

check "Auto-hide taskbar"
check "Use small taskbar buttons"
select "Taskbar Buttons" -> Never Combine

click Customize next to the Notification Area button, , then check "Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar"

In the Jump Lists tab, uncheck all of the boxes

5. Next, right click anywhere on the Desktop, then select Personalize

click on "Change desktop icons"

check Computer
check User's Files
check Network

6. Now, let's get that Quick Launch menu back again

Right click on the taskbar and uncheck "Lock the taskbar"
Right click on the taskbar again, then select Toolbars -> New Toolbar

In the field for Folder, enter this string:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Now, more your new Quick Launch menu over to the left where it belongs, then right click on it. Uncheck "Show Text" and "Show Title".

You may now lock your taskbar again, if you wish.

7. Turn off User Account Control (UAC) messages

This will turn off all those UAC pop-up windows asking you to confirm everything. This will not turn off UAC, only disable the messages. The messages are mostly superfluous if you have functioning anti-virus, firewall, and anti-malware applications running on your system. If you do not, then you probably have bigger problems than UAC can help with.

Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> User Accounts

click on "Change User Account Control settings"

move the slider all the way down to "Never Notify"

8. Enjoy!

That's it! You're done! Enjoy your new Windows 8 system while interacting with it like Windows XP. You will still get all of the new "under the hood" features. If you follow the above, you still have access to the Metro-style start menu and the Charms bar, among other things. So, it's like the best of both worlds.