Change win7 shell to cmd.exe to run MAME?

[big10p]

Just wondering if anyone running MAME on win7 has tried changing the default shell from explorer.exe to cmd.exe (or something else)?

I was thinking about trying this on the MAME PC in my cab to try and get around a few issues, and possibly get better performance. Thing is, I don't know if doing this means certain drivers I need don't get loaded, or if it's generally a PITA to get working right.

Cheers.

[Le Chuck]

I have shelled W7 but anymore I just disable everything I don't need, hide everything using one of the shelling tools that's been out for ever, and then drop the FE exe into the startup folder. Crash free for years and that extra 10 seconds of startup time is never missed.

[big10p]

The main reason I want to do it is to stop the Windows desktop and mouse pointer flashing up when I start/quit games from my FE (MaLa). However, I'd still need to get back to the desktop (by running explorer.exe, or whatever) when I need to do maintenance.

What shelling tool are you using to hide everything, BTW?

[aldub516]

The purpose of shelling is indeed to change the startup process. So yes you can shell into whatever program you want. I for instance used to shell straight into gameex. But like he said I've found it easier to just remove everything I can from the PC, give it the cleanest most subtle theme, hide tool bars etc and just go with that. I even set my desktop background to the same theme as my front end.. U never notice

[vwalbridge]

I have shelled W7 but anymore I just disable everything I don't need, hide everything using one of the shelling tools that's been out for ever, and then drop the FE exe into the startup folder. Crash free for years and that extra 10 seconds of startup time is never missed.

The purpose of shelling is indeed to change the startup process. So yes you can shell into whatever program you want. I for instance used to shell straight into gameex. But like he said I've found it easier to just remove everything I can from the PC, give it the cleanest most subtle theme, hide tool bars etc and just go with that. I even set my desktop background to the same theme as my front end.. U never notice

This makes 3 of us. Don't bother with shelling. A clean install of Win7 and an SSD is plenty fast. Shelling is just a big headache when you need to go in and tweak something in windows. This thread will get you nearly everything you need to hide windows:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=113896.0

[big10p]

Yeah, I have an SSD so boot speed etc. is really good. I'll have a look through that thread you linked to. Thanks!