How ReactOS Can Do Better Than Vista+

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This is a list started with ideas from this forum topic: Aspects of Vista/7/8/10 that should NOT be ported to React

Of course, this is all just expressed user preference. It is not a definitive list, nor is it reflective of any 'roadmap' or developer intent.


  • In NT 5.x, MJPEGs and animated GIFs would animate correctly when set as wallpaper or viewed in Windows Photo Viewer. In NT 6.x, they did not. (User: wdstudios)
  • In NT 5.x, users could download files directly to c:\. In NT 6.x, this is not authorized, even for administrators, and a specific directory must be chosen for downloads. (User: wdstudios)
  • In NT 5.x, users could edit the contents of the "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)" directories. In NT 6.x, this is not authorized, even for administrators, which is a huge pain in the ass when developing game mods, or really just for anyone who wants to be treated like an adult and like the owner of their own f**king computer. (User: wdstudios)
  • In NT 5.x, the "Open With..." menu would remember EVERY program that you had ever opened a specific file type with. In NT 6.x, it's a crapshoot, though I suspect that it's based on which programs are installed vs. which ones are merely run as-is without needing to be installed. (User: wdstudios)
  • Windows deciding what properties I want to be shown with a file and removing some for me, when I prefer to have the classical ones. Give me name, extension, last mod date, and size. I agree that having .MP3 tags, etc., can be useful, but I shouldn't be forced to change the "content type" of every folder I create or constantly editing the displayed columns. (User: PurpleGurl)
  • XP's taskbar was resizable vertically by hand, ie. you could drag the top of the taskbar and shrink it in size so it was a mere sliver or expand it back up again. You can make it bigger and you can make it smaller by dragging so that it corresponds with the original size but it cannot be reduced in size to a sliver... (User: dizt3mp3r)
  • The Vista + search facility that seems designed to prevent searches. The underlying search service always consuming disc i/o and cpu time is the first thing I disable on any Vista-win10 system. Vista+ search results were always unreliable, a search missing out on files that can be subsequently found to be present by hand. A poor quality interface and an unreliable sub-system that uses up to much in the way of resource. Let's avoid it by all means. In addition to this the Vista + searches fail to highlight what folder is currently being searched, XP had this... (User: dizt3mp3r)
  • In windows 10 (?) the background image has now been tied into Windows explorer whereas it was previously independent of it. This means that when explorer.exe is not running the desktop is blank. This ties any look-and-feel into explorer's GUI and prevents you from running alternate shells that do not have the means to update the background themselves. Previously you could add a background, kill windows explorer and use alternate shell elements such as rocketdock and jetstart and have a usable desktop without explorer.exe running. (User: dizt3mp3r)
    • My guess is that's related to the improved ability to customize multi-screen wallpaper layout. This is an extremely useful feature, and Microsoft's decision not to put that additional logic into win32k seems entirely reasonable. So you'd have to find some sort of middle ground, and it likely would still make 3rd party shells fall behind the built-in one. (User: ThFabba)
  • Multiple file copying/deletion/moving operations on folders containing thousands of files (not unusual) will always be preceded by the NT6 "discovering files" text but on large file systems Windows explorer seems to go into overdrive 'discovering' the files but not actually doing anything with them. When you try to perform a copy it often takes longer for Vista+ to discover the files than it does to actually copy or move them. I have had instances when the discover will not complete at all and after an hour or so of discovering zero files have actually been copied. XPs file copy/move/deletion routines were far superior in this respect. It was often touted that Vista's file copying was superior in efficency but that was only after a copy actually started... (User: dizt3mp3r)
  • Ribbon bar in windows explorer file manager and WordPad and Paint. (User: MadWolf)
  • The start screen right click Jump lists. (User: MadWolf)
  • Forcing user to use the settings metro app. (User: MadWolf)
    • Compatibility would be cool, just... don't implement the actual metro crap and just only have metro compatibility. (User: Missingno50)
  • One feature that I deeply dislike in Windows in general from 95 upward is the inability of a window to hold focus. There should be a choice that protects the user window selected from being superceded by any pop-up. (User: dizt3mp3r)