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This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page.. With Windows 10 seemingly just around the corner, Microsoft plans to fix one of its most egregious mistakes with Windows 8: the missing Start menu. By now you may know the story, as the company has gradually backtracked throughout various updates since the OS launched in late 2012.

And will bring the real thing back, albeit in an enhanced fashion that doesn’t depend on fiddly per-user shortcuts and extra folders. The thing is, unless you’re willing to, the new version won’t help you yet. For several years now, every Windows desktop and laptop sold in a store comes with Windows 8.

While Windows 8.1 Update somewhat improves the situation, it’s still no Windows 7 when it comes to ease of use. Here’s the problem, in a nutshell: Let’s say you’ve just installed Windows 8.1 for the first time, or perhaps bought your first Windows 8 PC. After poking around for a bit you’ve finally found your way to the desktop.

In the bottom left corner, you’ll see what looks like the Start button, but when you click it, you’ll be rewarded with a hideous new Start screen, not the Start menu that you know and love from Windows 7 and Vista. For some reason, despite the aforementioned series of updates over the last two years that are meant to make Windows 8 more user friendly for mouse-and-keyboard users, Microsoft is still forcing us to use the Metro interface instead of a real Start menu. The good news is, despite Microsoft’s best efforts to ensure that the Start button and menu remain banished from its new OS, there are a bunch of third-party Windows 8 Start menu replacement apps that you can download today. Really, it goes to show how devoted the existing user base is. Microsoft completely stripped out the underlying Start menu code to quash potential Luddite revolutionaries, and yet now there are dozens of Start menu and Start button replacements — some of which are even superior to Microsoft’s own Windows 7 Start menu. If you’re running Windows 8.1 today and want the Start menu back, take a look at our list of the best, least expensive, and most authentic Windows 8 Start menu replacements.

Windows 8 Start button and menu replacements Start Menu Reviver 2 Start Menu Reviver 2 is a touch-screen-friendly option — one of the few that is, considering most people want the original Start menu back because they’re used to a keyboard and mouse. In this case, the new version is nicer, with plenty of sizing options and the ability to create shortcuts for documents, music, video, websites, and other tasks. It also embraces the Windows 8 tile design, without completely taking over the UI the way Windows 8 Metro does. It now includes scrolling tiles and a Windows 7-like mode as well. StartIsBack If you want a Windows 8 Start menu replacement that looks exactly like Windows 7, is for you.

You get the same Start button orb icon, the same Start menu search box, the same jump lists, and — for better or worse — even the same Aero transparency. As you can see in the screenshot above, StartIsBack even detects if your system needs to restart to apply some patches; it really is just like the Windows 7 Start menu. Where StartIsBack diverges from the Windows 7 Start menu, though, is configurability: You can adjust which hot corners are enabled, make your PC jump straight to the Desktop when it first boots up, and configure a key combo to show the Windows 8 Start screen (Win+Ctrl by default). ($3, free 30-day trial).

Pokki Where StartIsBack tries to replicate the Windows of yesteryear, (free) is very much its own beast — and as much as we love the Windows 7 Start menu, we have to admit that Pokki is probably even better. It utilizes a neat “pinning” system that isn’t unlike the home screen of your smartphone or tablet. You can also add widgets to Pokki, such as Gmail or Facebook, which display your latest email or status updates.

By default, Pokki will configure your Windows 8 system to boot straight to the Desktop — and there is an option that will just completely disable the hot corners, if you so desire. (Remember,, if you need.) (free). Microsoft is even more arrogant than that. They’re thinking “the users will use our new OS and learn to love it, what other choice do they have?” The whole design is to expand the windows phone and tablet markets. People get used to “Metro” or whatever it is now, and then when they go to shop for a smart phone they see that the windows phones/tablets look exactly like their home computer and they’ll hopefully choose the windows phone over the iPhone or the windows tablet over the iPad. It’s a brute force way of getting a larger portion of their PC User share into their tablet and phone markets. I’ve heard it called the “Total Windows Experience”.

But what Microsoft doesn’t understand is most people associate ‘Windows” with the buggy OS I am stuck using on my PC at home and work. They don’t want it everywhere. Now the word is out that Win8 sucks and its all done.

M$ didn’t listen during the betas (previews) now they will pay. People don’t want Windows on their phone or tablet. Nor do they want a touch screen on a desktop or laptop PC. Now with Windows 8 they’ve thrown their core users under the bus. So instead of a “Total Windows Experience” they have achieved “Total Failure”. Max999, let me respectfully disagree with your statement regarding laptop pc.

First let me tell you that I don’t have M$ in my heart. I started my computing history with apple with the first mac and only made the windows transition because my work required it. I now use Linux for development and windows for all my company internet crap. Having said that have you really tried a touch laptop running win8? I suggest you do even though you probably won’t.

I recently bought my wife a mac book air and an asus 31a touch not knowing what she would prefer. Guess which one is going back? The mac book. So I would suggest you don’t make such generalized statements since you do not represent or know what “people” want. Even though win8 was released probably too early and it really sucks for desktop, it is a very good starting point for touch laptop. I was myself surprised having heard a lot of negative comments. Where I doubt that touch desktop with our current technology will ever be viable since our hands are usually too far from the screen, it is actually truly applicable to a laptop.

I have seen many people switching from an ipad and a laptop to intuitively reach out to touch the screen on their laptop. I believe win8 is prime to capitalize on this intuitive gesture and to my great surprise it truly change the way you interact with your device. On the Total Windows Experience, While I don’t really understand and disagree why their decision to “touch” (pun intended) their successful Desktop interface, I am still impressed by Microsoft to have the courage to try an unified approach. This is by far their boldest move ever. Even Apple did not try this and future will tell who was right. M$ knows that desktops for the majority of their home users are going away replaced by smart phones and pads.

A few companies had the smarts and courage to understand they need to change their core solution while they maintains 95% of the user base in order to survive in the long term. Look at IBM, Western Digital So while I disagree with some of their design choices and their decision to launch it too early (major missing apps or functions), I am also willing to wait for them to get it right. Obviously that will depend on them listening to the right people. And in the end if they really fail, we still have macos:-) So no need of such emotional response. Do like me, wait and keep your win7 on your desktop. I believe we may see true benefits out of this that will change the way we interact with computers.

The “Metro UI” of UIFCM (UI Formerly Called Metro:-)) attracted so much criticism that improvements under the hood were not considered. You see the beauty of the new touch UI as soon as you use it on a tablet. I prefer the way it works over my iPad. But what is definitely annyoing is the constant switching between Metro apps and Desktop apps. You see that when you add a user and assign the rights. So the Job is just half done at MS. Looking Forward to Windows 9.

What is definitely a benefit is the quick boot time on a UEFI based machine. Does UEFI prevent Installation of other OSes?

Even some Linux distros support UEFI boot now. So, I have a perfectly great laptop that doesn’t have a touch screen and your solution is to go out and buy a new one so that I can effectively use Windows 8 as is? I don’t think so!

Better to spend the few dollars for a Start Button replacement app (like I did with Start8) than to have to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new machine just because Microsoft, in its arrogance, was not willing to add a switch that would allow end users to decide whether or not they wanted to use the Metro/Modern UI or the Desktop+Start Button UI that’s been available for 15+ years. It’s not like MS didn’t get feedback during the several Windows 8 Previews that the Metro/Modern UI was going to be problematic for the general public (ie, non-enthusiasts, the average consumer) on desktops and laptops, recognizing that it was a UI most effective on smartphones and tablets where you actually have the machine in your hands. As it appears, the total Windows experience across all types of hardware is still not generating larger market share for Windows smartphones and tablets, which it seems was supposed to be the whole point of the Metro/Modern UI.

Look at how arrogant Apple is and they get away with it. Steve Jobs did away with the classic Apple menu and to this day you still have to use a program to get it back. And then after their updates those Apple Menus don’t work, so they have to continually update them. It was one of the reason I didn’t like OS X; so I eventually left it.

Windows XP felt more like a Mac to me. It really annoyed me to no end.

They want you to use the “dock” which is ok but it doesn’t replace a startup up style menu. OS X is not your simple operating system like Apple Classic OS was.

When the first Win 8 preview came out, when was that, two years or more ago? It took me a couple of hours to get comfortable with Win 8. After that I never considered going back to any earlier version. Since then they’ve improved the UI so that we can better use the mouse and keyboard on the Start screen, I appreciated that. I never missed the Start button or the Start menu. After all, you can easily make the Start screen do everything the Start Menu did. But then I am 70 years old, I couldn’t expect everyone to be as quick to accept change and learn new stuff as I am.

For instance, my wife is four months older and it took me almost an hour to show her the differences she’d have to deal with after we bought Win 8. Ncert Books Download Pdf File. How old are all you people who can deal with Windows 8?

Any WW One vets? I don’t think it has anything to do with arrogance, they simply made it clear that Windows is headed towards touch. This has happened before and eventually people adjusted. The options you speak of aren’t necessary because third parties have provided numerous options just for that. What’s interesting is that many end up uninstalling them after 2 weeks because they realize they’re not needed. I think Microsoft listens to their users but seeing all the mad bitching, false claims and hardly any constructive criticism over these 2 months it’s not shocking that they pay more attention to windows developers than regular users.

Also, bear in mind that Microsoft cannot possibly satisfy all its 1.5 billion users. Arash Jafari’s defense of Microsoft’s decision-making processes almost appears to make Arash Jafari a Microsoft mole attempting to mislead casual readers into believing that Windows 8 is a productivity tool rather than an entertainment platform. I’m actually surprised that nobody has yet compared Windows 8 to Windows 3.0.

Although the tiles in W8 are active windows that display running applications (whereas in Windows 3.0 those same tiles would have been static icons) the idea behind cluttering up an entire desktop with every single one of the hundreds and hundreds of programs running on your local computer isn’t a new idea at all. It’s actually an old idea — a very, very old idea — circa 1990. Welcome back, everyone, to the Windows 3.0 desktop. How do you think they listened to their users??? If there was “mad bitching” and there is still “mad bitching” then possibly they didn’t listen to anyone!! Windows 8 Metro screen is the worse implementation of a Desktop UI that I can even imagine.

Absolutely fantastic if there was a touch screen, but as I don’t want to shell out an extra $300 for a touch screen when my nice wide screen works fantastic, I am not going to. To change so drastically just to try to sell on a market that is already lost to them is wasting MY time not theirs.

Please find a read me document included with some freeware that you just installed. For that matter find the freeware! Find a system service. Pin a favorite anywhere.

Go from working in a spreadsheet to opening some text note that you created two days ago try it first with Windows 7 then time yourself while you do this in Windows 8. You MUST be a Microsoft employee, that is the only option. This means to me that your opinion is useless and wasted. You are now as pointless as Windows 8.

Well here is an adequate analogy. Pick up everything you have at home along with your family and move to work. That way you can have everything at work. Alternatively you can move all of your coworkers and all of the equipment you have from work to your home. Instead of having dinner with your family have dinner with the entire crew from work and their families. See how much of a disaster that would be?

Its not that I am not into trying new things. I tried an Ipad, I tried Android, I tried Mozilla’s smart phone os. I actually enjoy most of those. If they tried to cram it on my desktop ie like when I ran mozilla’s os.

I didn’t like it on my desktop, but its not designed for desktop. Its going on a phone. Window 8 and metro should be separate like OSx and IOS. “I understand that most people don’t see it that way, at least yet, but it’s better to have both worlds at once and be able to choose which you prefer.” Oh now you respect choice?

It’s OK that you have a choice to go between both the desktop and the touch experience, but when other people complain about the start button then they are just bitching? That’s what people here are complaining about, is that M$ didn’t give people a choice for the Start button. All the start button solutions are 3rd party, have yet to see M$ give people that option back. Metro/ModernUI it’s a childish lazy design unusable unproductive interface. That is why people don’t want to use it. At Microsoft with Steve Ballmer the employees must be on crack along with managers. In fact no one either business man or anyone else with a bit of brain would ever think about forcing something on customers that was clearly a failure already and the market rejected completely.

The MetroUI was already marketed by Microsoft on WindowsPhone7.x and what was the result? 2-3% market share Where the heck was the love for MetroUI anywhere in the world? If it was so good and loved by people it would have got at least 15-20% market share.

It’s just plain stupid forcing a clear failure of an UI on everyone from gamers to casual users to power users to business users to server administrators and developers and so on. Microsoft forcing Metro/ModernUI on Windows Server 2012 too clearly shows that Microsoft employees and managers are out of mind and absolutely on crack.

New does not necessarily mean better. When something new is an improvement, people embrace it. When that something new is a detriment, people reject it. People are rejecting Windows 8 because the changes it introduces are a detriment.

It is not the duty of consumers to adjust themselves to the wants and needs of vendors. It is the duty of a vendor to serve the wants and needs of its customers, if it hopes to keep them.

Vendors that do not understand this are beaten in the marketplace by vendors that do. If you own Microsoft stock, SELL! Excuse me but how much money do you exactly loose in 5 min? That’s the time it takes to learn how the new UI works. It’s not complicated, especially for a superuser but it can feel awkward at first and takes some time to get used to it. For instance it took half a month for the new shutdown procedure to feel natural to me but did that mean I couldn’t use my desktop as before and the productivity got low? No absolutely not.

Did you by the way know that Windows 8 on a desktop can cut the power cycle time up to a minute and that the modern start menu is 3 times faster at launching programs in average compared to the stat classic menu? The numbers are different depending on hardware but I save 30s each time I start and shutdown, which I do daily, compared to Windows 7 and that alone adds to 3 hours a year so learning new things doesn’t always mean lost time. I develop electronics and software and I often have to read ton of datasheets and documentation which is very time consuming and tiring but it’s a necessity for being able to offer better products. Learning new things comes with the territory in a business and it’s never a bad thing. Windows 8 has received a lot of unjust criticism but if people got over the start button or at least installed a replacement they’d be better for it because Window 8 is the very least a better Windows 7 even if you got rid of the new UI.

Arash, You are missing the whole point, here. You are a “techhead”, the rest of us are things like Salespeople,Doctors, Writers, oldies like me.

WE don’t like change! We like things the way they are. BECAUSE it is a pain to change habits – especially when we are stressed by just making a buck today and can be fired – not for incompetence – but just for being 40.

Even Volkswagen who’s motto was “if it works don’t fix it” didn’t leave it alone and forty years later successfully brought back the awful Beetle.:-0 •. Because change isn’t always necessary just for the sake of change. Only the complete ignoramuses like yourself and the other miscreants who voted your comment up i.e. The lowest common denominator, would favour a completely pointless core change to what we use; instead of the familiar and inherently better system we had before. What did removing the start button; in your opinion, do for the good of change?

Removing a familiar entity which people of all ages identify with and find useful? The more things change (The shitty Metro UI crap), the more things stay the same (Microsoft fanbase bringing back the start button themselves).

Get a clue before posting such bile. I think you should get clue before posting and being ignorant is something I’m definitely not. I’ve used Windows 8 daily for more than a year starting with the Developer Preview and have seen and talked with enough people using it to know that there’s really nothing wrong with the OS but people’s attitude and ignorance. The start button may have been removed from the taskbar but it’s not gone, it’s just hidden and moved a half inch to the left bottom corner. When that corner is approached the start button which is an actual miniature of the start menu appears and this behavior isn’t any different than the one people who auto-hide their taskbars in previous OS version are used to. When it’s left-clicked (or [Win] is pressed) it brings up the start screen called Start and when right-clicked (or [Win]+x is pressed) it brings up a context menu giving access to the very things some people claim to be gone.

The start screen is in-fact a start menu that has many advantages over the classic start menu which people wrongly just call start button. The most prominent is that most installed programs, if not all depending on resolution, are visible at a glance and a single click launches them. Tests have shown that on average the Start is 3 times faster than the old start menu. Windows 8 is not perfect but it has a lot’s of improvements that go beyond just the new Modern UI but some people instead of learning about these and use them to their benefit despite possible awkwardness at first, just choose to stay ignorant and throw dirt.

What’s common for these people’s posts is that they contain a lot of accusations and insults but no facts whatsoever. Hey Arash, You should simply point people here: OR quote this from your post above: The start button may have been removed from the taskbar but it’s not gone, it’s just hidden and moved a half inch to the left bottom corner. When that corner is approached the start button which is an actual miniature of the start menu appears and this behavior isn’t any different than the one people who auto-hide their taskbars in previous OS version are used to. When it’s left-clicked (or [Win] is pressed) it brings up the start screen called Start and when right-clicked (or [Win]+x is pressed) it brings up a context menu giving access to the very things some people claim to be gone. AND the bottom option is.

The ol’ Desktop. ————————– Works a treat! Thanks!:-) •. It wasn’t even hindsight, it was foresight for anyone with a clue.

I knew it from the *start* (forgive the pun). It wouldn’t have been a problem had they allowed for a setting to turn it off, it was obvious touch screen devices were never going to be so prevalent! It was a jarring experience, and super annoying to exit from or use properly (poor choice of keyboard shortcuts). They should’ve gone for an *almost* full screen start menu that still showed the windows beneath it around the edges and the taskbar left visible, problem solved.

I rarely ever used the start button and find that the start page is far more useful. I’m growing tired of articles on how to bring back “this” or how to bring back “that”. I installed windows 8 on my sons(13) laptop and he was able to figure things out without any training.

I installed windows 8 on my parents(70’s) computer and showed them how to pin the apps they use most often and they have no problems either. So Microsoft if you are going to cave to the Start Button issue, then at least make it an option. Because I, for one, don’t miss the start button at all. Maybe Paul Humphreys is one of the 2% people who would use anything they think is new and mainstream, and never admit they really don’t like it, just to look cool. Did you show them how to actually power off their computer?

Why does it have to be so hard? Why should I be forced to click more places to power down than sleep a computer? Microsoft doesn’t pay our power bills, and there’s little green about what they want us to do. In reality they just want us to have always on connections back to their lair. LOL I am only half kidding Technically, I use the quick start bar more than anything else in XP or win7 Windows 8 can die I’ll wait for Windows 9 •. Apple Fan Boys buy iPads.

If you want to get real work done there’s no substitute for Windows – sure it’s not perfect and has its issues that sometimes give you headache but it’s about choice and gives you the freedom to do what you want on what you want. You certainly are entitled to your opinion but I wonder, do you even have put your hands on a Surface RT? Not only is the surface the most well-designed product I’ve ever seen it works perfectly with Win8. People have a hard time imagining the extra dimension in efficiency and productivity touch brings them even on big-ass desktop like mine but they will soon enough learn for themselves. ” efficiency” is the whole problem, without the start menu a simple 1 or 2 step has turned into a a keyboard / mouse acrobatic act. I’m all for change but not mindless change.

Efficiency would mean a task is performed less steps not more. Most people can’t get the simple concept of creating a shortcut, throwing this mess at them will just drive them to something easier like a mac of course after they take a small loan and get that mac they discover the breath taking lack of applications they always had with windows this will lead them to buy paralles and put a copy of Win 7 on. Hmm almost sounds like a plan thought up by a unified Apple – MS joint venture win win for both comapnies. With the Classic Start Menu, if your target app wasn’t pinned to the taskbar and didn’t appeared on the recent app list, then in the best case it required a start button click, click/hover on all programs, click on the parent folder and a final click to launch. That’s 4 actions and would be 6 or more if you had to scroll down and go deeper in the folder tree.

With the Modern Start Menu there is always 2 actions to launch the target app. If you’ve low resolution then scrolling is needed but since the start screen follows your mouse it does not count as separate action like in the Classic where you’ve to grab and move the scrollbar or spin the scroll-wheel. ALT+F4 and 1 mouse click and you can shutdown, restart, sleep, sign out or switch users. Not that hard.

I don’t see what people are complaining about. Windows 8 is faster even on a lower end computer. I think half of the people complaining about it have never used it and just read the reviews on it. There are many shortcuts for Windows 8 that are easier than XP or 7. Windows Key + Q shows all programs, use your scroll wheel on the mouse to move side to side.

Much easier that the start menu. I could go on and on. Plus it only cost me $40 compared to $299 for 7 Ultimate.

ALT+F4 and 1 mouse click and you can shutdown, restart, sleep, sign out or switch users. Not that hard.

I don’t see what people are complaining about. Windows 8 is faster even on a lower end computer. I think half of the people complaining about it have never used it and just read the reviews on it. There are many shortcuts for Windows 8 that are easier than XP or 7.

Windows Key + Q shows all programs, use your scroll wheel on the mouse to move side to side. Much easier that the start menu. I could go on and on. Plus it only cost me $40 compared to $299 for 7 Ultimate. I watched Jensen Harris’ presentation on why they did what they did with the Start Screen: It makes sense and made me hate Metro a little less.

I do agree that the client version of the OS needs an interface that can switch to being touch friendly on non-touch. The jury is still out for me on whether it is as groundbreaking as they intended it to be. I can see the value for those that focus on a single task or dick around, but for many office users and “power users” Metro is more of a burden than helpful. At least they still think that when doing actual work, the desktop interface is needed by evidence of Office 2013 and they even went one step further by giving the option to make it more touch friendly. I believe they should have made it an option to enable the Start Menu instead of taking it away. Give people a chance to progress over to the change and perhaps get feedback and make improvements before yanking it out.

Taking the Start Menu away in Server 2012 and leaving us with Metro was a bad move as well. Sure it will force more to use the command line and find different ways of accomplishing the same task. However, just trying to open the Start Screen in a RDP session is a PITA especially if one is under a lot of stress at the moment.

This is an old thread and an old argument I would never deploy a new OS straight away. I personally wait at least 1 year and then roll the latest OS out with new deployments. However, if it weren’t for the complication of large deployments and of course the cost associated with these deployments, all companies would or should be on Windows 7 by now. I found it counterproductive to downgrade a new computer’s OS and more costly in the long run. I will always adopt the latest OS so I know it inside and out. Windows 8, is a little bit of change and many people don’t like change.

Too bad for them because change can be a good thing. The more I use Windows 8, the less I like working in older non touchable OS’s. Touch of course isn’t for everything but, it has its place and the more you use it the more you will understand how well it plays into the old mix of keyboard and mouse. Windows 8 does weird things like logging out of running apps and demanding you enter username and password again.

No idea, it just does it. Right top corner menu thing, too inconsistent and hard to use, sometimes once you do get it to pop out of right side, as you mouse down and go just a hair too far left, it closes up and you have to go back to corner. Logging in, sometimes you just want the darn thing to startup to the account instead of wanting a username and forced password longer than x characters. This is for when you want to set up a home theater pc, and you absolutely just want to skip the login.

When you only have a remote and no mouse or keyboard handy, this is a real bitch. I could probably name more but only been using it a month. I have Windows 8 on my media pc in the lounge and cannot fathom what you are complaining about. If im reading you right, you want to autologin to the device so you dont need to login to windows using a local account with your keyboard.

As far as i can guess (i would never use autologin) you can do that as you could on windows 7 and previous versions of windows. If you are referring to logging into a MS account automatically, i will check that but again i wouldnt leave my devices with autologin to any online services.

I have a Windows Phone, and I know plenty of people who do. I’ve always run into many strangers who have a Windows Phone. I never got caught up in the iPhone hype, so I never had a reason to by one. The first smart phone I ever had was a Windows Mobile device. I was somewhat partial to Motorola and Samsung brands because their non-smart phones were the only ones where you could apply your pin lock to individual applications. So, when I got a chance to get a Samsung Blackjack at a good price, I decided to check it out. I had all 3 phones in the series, and when the last one was damaged, I got a good price on a Windows 7 phone from a friend who sales phones on Ebay.

I’ve never had a problem with it, the best phone I ever had. My only small issues with it were it didn’t have all the dating/social network apps Android/iOS have and some issues that were specific to the manufacturer. I will likely get another Windows Phone. I just won’t get one from this brand. Windows Phone is gaining share and will continue to do so.

Its kinda hard to get share when MS had only a tiny number of handsets running WP. Now the number of manufacturers is increasing and they are broadening their range of devices offering Windows Phone 8 at many different pricepoints. Windows Phone 8 is gaining especially quickly in Europe and i expect will do in emerging markets with more handsets available at affordable pricepoints for those markets. I dont own a WP yet, my partner has a Lumia 920 and it smokes everything else ive had my hands, i prefer it to the S3, i cant stand looking at my phone anymore it seems so dated with its old fashioned looking OS and the camera on 920 is amazing. Lumia 920 will be my next phone, the HTC 8X comes close too.

And no, i dont work for MS, i work for another company who makes technology products. I have been using windows 8 for nearly a year, and now with the latest exclusively I have no issues. It runs quicker, boots quicker,and i like pokki for the classic menu. My machine is dual boot win7 ultimate/win8 pro.

Soon to be exclusively win 8. No program I have attempted to run has failed to run. But then I don’t play any games. Most people when they look at my set up ask why I am not running win8. If you cant figure out which start replacement to install then you are too stupid to own a computer. I have same config as you, i have zero issues not having a start button or using Windows 8 and dont even boot into windows 7 anymore. Out of curiosity i installed start 8 but took it off when i had satisfied the curiosity.

I dont need a start button but for those that do, the Start8 is an excellent choice. I did look at the other stardock apps and have since purchased one that allows more start screen customisation, I forget what its called (im on a different device right now), but its good for those that appreciate the choice of customising their start screen UI or get start8 if you want to customise the classic desktop UI. $4.99 is hardly expensive especially considering Microsoft virtually gave away windows 8 with its upgrade pricing.

To name but just one very serious issue with Windows 7, if you expose an MP3 collection to windows 7, it will automatically update the ID3 tags without your permission. If there are any user specified fields in the ID3 tags, the MP3 file will be corrupted. In my case, I ended up with over 25,000 corrupted files. Google for the problem yourself. What makes this worse, is that it has been a well reported problem for over three years and MS hasn’t done a thing about it. Anther perspective my MP3 files are MY files.

If it was any other program damaging them, I would call it a virus. Anyone who does multimedia programming (as I do) will also know that MS has changed various aspects of the Windows API in Vista and W7 that impact the performance and function of a program that worked perfectly under Windows XP. Only MS will change the behaviour of an existing function call. All other OS vendors will introduce a new call rather than change an existing one to ensure backward compatibility.

So, I say again, MS don’t have a road map that they stick to. Arash, I just did what you suggested, and I’m hard pressed to see how that in any way replaces the start menu. I don’t know how you use your computer. Aside from taking up three rows for the entire length of my task tray, it accomplished nothing useful. Looking at the chatter below about the relative merits of different versions of Microsoft’s OS sounds mainly like school yard bickering. But, your post at least proposed a possible solution that I expected to look, and feel at least vaguely like the functionality that I lost when I moved from Windows 7 to Windows 8.

Aside from offering some explanation of why you think your ‘solution’ was even close to useful, why don’t you enumerate your list of what is so ‘great’ about Windows 8? Aside from taking me more mouse clicks, to do the same thing, and making the most basic tasks painful, I’m yet to see one ‘feature’ that I find useful. My full screen start menu streaches for the better part of 5 screens. I never use it because it always opens the application like it was the only thing you are running. (I tend to have 15 to 30 applications running simultaneously, and I pretty much NEVER want anything to take up all of my screen real estate.) Personally, I think it’s a mediocre entry into the tablet interface, and seriously misses the mark for system administrators and developers by a mile.

With that said, I’m yet to have it crash. And the security model is not bad. I will say that the disk manager failed to mirror my drives until I reformatted them both. Something I would never have had to do on one of my Linux boxes, or, on a Mac. Basically, they need to take the entire staff at Microsoft that made the incredibly stupid decision to remove the start menu, and fire the bunch. I had windows 7 ultimate x64 & wanted to try windows 8.

So i “burned” the iso i downloaded into a 4GB flash drive. Then i formatted & cleared one of my internal partitions to prepare it to install windows 8 on. Then i booted from the flash drive and then the windows 8 installer started. During the installation take care to choose “custom installation” and to select the disk that was prepared earlier.

Its recommended that rename the partition from Local Disk X beforehand to something more recognizable so we dont have to memorize it’s volume label. Then once you’re sure the installation is taking place on the correct disk/partition, continue as it is. From now on, everytime u start your pc, you’ll see a boot menu & will have to choose which os to boot.

I had windows 7 installed on c:drive by default, so i installed it to d:drive. When you want to remove windows 8, (which i’m sure you’ll be wanting to do once you’ve had enough) boot into windows 7. Then go to start>run>msconfig>boot tab. Right-click on windows 8 from the list of OSes. Click delete button & hit yes button on the confirmation dialog.

If you know anything about OS’ generally and Linux especially, you would know that it is a lot more complicated than “Linux isn’t simple enough for users”. There are a lot of other reasons, like Linux is made by a community that hasn’t the marketing possibilities (ever seen a TV-commercial for Linux) or budget to take measures to increase its market share. And if you seriously think that the product with the biggest market share is automatically the best product you’re pretty new to this planet. BTW: what does your logic say about Windows Phone (~1% market share) compared to Android (a Linux OS).

I have just started with windows 8 and have already had so many problems with it. Like where the hell is the simple back button on my internet browser Oracle 10g Odbc Driver For Windows 7 32 Bit Free Download. ! The start button is not even that big of an issue My phone is windows 7 and I love it! But this on a pc is not easy to use! I bought my last computer when vista; came out, and had problems with it too!!

XP was far more reliable! It isn’t really about learning new things and being afraid of that but it really sucks when you are putting in a business order and need to go back one page and have to go through a bunch of steps to get there. I do not love apple but it would be nice if all the changes with windows 8 came with a tutorial like where in the hell simple buttons went, not what a tile iscome on we know what that is.

Maybe I don’t know my computers but now searching the internet is a whole new experience and not a good one. I just went to post this comment and it sent me to a page I was on earlier today.i had to right click and choose the page I wanted,,did I ever want to leave this page,,I think not! Did I already see that recipe and move on? If I want to look up that page I will go there again on my own! Right click and the address bar appears at the bottom with nav buttons (including back) and other buttons appear to the left and right of the address bar. Also any other open pages (like tabs in older browsers or desktop browser) appear at the top. Finding pages you were on before is quite simple too.

I would recommend that you follow Microsoft and Windows on facebook, they post some useful tips and i think these would help you, theres also lots of tutorials online heres one for you to start with and see the links to the others on that page. Hope its helpful.

“Upstream supply chain sees Surface RT orders cut by half sources from the upstream supply chain believe the new operating system may not perform as well as expected in the market. []Microsoft originally expected to ship four million Surface RT devices by the end of 2012, but has recently reduced the orders by half to only two million units.” Windows9 is coming soon then. If people don’t drink Microsoft marketing machine lies kool aid it’s over soon for the atrocious childish unusable Metro/ModernUI nonsense. At least one would hope so. Unless Microsoft investors want the Corporation to go bankrupt following Ballmer and his lazy gang. Well if this is true it just means that Microsoft were too optimistic about the WinRT demand.

It’s still too early to judge how W8 is doing but I’m sure that all the undeservingly negative articles from ignorant and incompetent journalists have scared off a lot of people. Personally I wish Micorsoft never had created WinRT and instead concentrated more on W8 and WP8 while continuing to keep the well-guarded Surface (Pro) secret until Haswell arrived. Waiting for W9 won’t change anything specially since touch is not going anywhere. It honestly wasn’t a bad idea considering most peoples desktops are growing in screens, if your really wanting a start menu why don’t you go purchase a touch screen and convert it over to a start menu? That’s what this OS was designed to do! The problem I have is the world seems to be getting dumber because it doesn’t want to learn something new!

Stop being lazy and Enjoy using windows 8 while its here! Besides the start menu still resides in the lower left corner as it used to it’s just moved to a bigger screened format to fit the apps more abruptly into the design! MS has a very definite reason for totally removing the start menu. Metro is all about advertising money. Those menu tiles are apps, they are dynamic, and thus represent the potential for ongoing “interaction” with the end user.

Sales / advertising. MS KNOWS that if they allowed us to continue to use the un-intrusive old start menu, a great many of us would. They want to force us to “buy in” to their new sales paradigm. Instead of catering to the needs of their customer base MS wants to beat Apple at their own game. What WE want is immaterial to them.

What they don’t understand is that Apple people are NOT MS people, and we MS people don’t want to be forced into the same bullshit that Apple demands of their clients. It’s not like we have a choice in the long run, we have to take what we’re given. But the fact is, Windows 7 is going to hang on in the same way that XP did. If MS will continue to support it. It’s a shame that MS doesn’t really give a damn what WE want, they simply have this driving need to be the ONLY player, instead of just Number One. I am writing this comment using ChromeOS on a Chromebox.

It is the only system I use for surfing the internet even though I have a 16 GB, Core i7 desktop running a triple boot of Win 7 32 and 64 bit and Win 8 64 bit sitting right next to it. I use my Win machine primarily off-line for such things as photo and video editing and software development. I installed Win 8 on it so that I could learn how to use it in order to help friends and family. The first things I did on Win 8 were to install Classic Shell, GodMode and pin the Control Panel to the task bar.

I never go to the Metro interface. Most of the time I forget I am on Win 8 and think I am on Win 7. For real work I boot Win 7 and will start using Win 8 only if I have a compelling reason to do so. I have purchased and used every operating system produced by Microsoft since DOS 1.1 in 1981. The Windows UI evolved very naturally through Win XP.

After XP the UI started going downhill. The lesson for Microsoft should be DON’T FIX IT IF IT’S NOT BROKEN. I think they were running in fear of Apple and Linux. I think Microsoft has finally done them self in.

If you are going to go to all the trouble to learn how to use the convoluted Win8 maybe it’s the right time to switch to Apple. I have an issue with these tiles being updated all the time, like the widgets or gadgets in VistaIf I only have a 3 to 6 MBPS internet connection, it is barely capable of watching Netflix movies in HD. Throw in three or four of these Windows 8 laptops running and updating all these tiles, and I wonder how much (if any) reserve I’ll have for streaming HD movies. So, can these tiles be disabled by default? Can they be set to only activate when a mouse hovers over them? Bandwidth issues is why I didn’t like Vista, and this Windows 8 looks to be giving me the same problem. Looks like I’ll have to install some of these third-party START Menu programs and have my kid’s and wife’s PCs boot directly to the desktop, not to the infernal Metro interface.

And as an aside, does anybody else find the Metro interface just “kiddie” looking with all the bright Crayola colors? I can’t wait to see this on a bunch of Enterprise PCsand watch the IT guys try to keep a straight face. I don’t think on this entire thread of comments there re more than perhaps 5 people who understand anything about windows 8 and why it is not only superior but by leaps and bounds the only operating system in existence setting the path for the future. How about we talk about what windows 8 really brings to the table and stop with all the bashing, cause at best there have only been a few mediocre points made thus far. Most of the people on this thread seem to have no idea the driving force behind technology. Its business not end user.

You want to know what makes windows 8 better. There’s an awful lot. In the days of old pc’s started spreading into homes because they allowed for an extention of the workplace. I could take stuff off the mainframe at work and work on it using my pc at home.

Times have changed and mainframes are all but replaced with pc sized servers and actual workplace pc’s. However the new wave is to take stuff from my workplace pc and put it on my tablet or phone.

Windows 8 provides the first seemless integration for that to happen. The same windows 8 runs on your tablets, phones, and pc’s. This has never before been the case. Phones running windows 7 actually run a modified windows 7 made for phones. This isn’t ther case with windows 8.

Windows 8 can integrate seemlessly all your widows 8 devices. Tablet, pc, gaming console, and phone. Thats not all it does.

It dd the capability for OUTSTANDING touch based navigation on pc’s and laptops, not just phones and tablets. As if any of this matters. The real power of windows 8 lies in the fact that it is seemless integrated with the microsoft cloud based computing services. Changing your password on windows 8, requires you change your microsoft passport password (assuming you have windows 8 integrated properly).

No other operating system in existence is integrated with cloud computing. You my decide you hate all these features, but this is a dream come true for any real business or power user. If the future of windows holds what I suspect, then we are going to see all Microsoft software phased out and replaced with payed cloud based apps. None of these new features are a remote possibility for other versions of windows and yes. This means if you want to stick with yesterday’s version of windows.

Just like always you need to switch to linux. Linux is great at cloning windows features, but they are always one version behind. This is why they are not adapted by the majority. Microsoft and apple are the only ones setting standards, linux just follows them and integrates them and makes them better. A lot of people are going to argue this is whats wrong with windows 8. But a lot of people generally fight the future of technology trying to hold on to yesterdays past. I do agree with your overall premise.

I do think business drives technology more than end users. I also see the trend of BYOD starting to make foot. My only issue is that in some ways I do think Microsoft appears to be looking more at the end user market. That might not be the case, but that is how it comes across in some ways. Having worked in IT and in education, I would have been a little hesitant to suggest someone purchase Windows 8 boxes or upgrade all the computers on their campus(es) or their entire company or call center. Personally my job gave me an iPad.

I still go back to my desktop to do 90% of the things they say we’re allowed to do mobile now, and if not for the case with keyboard, I would use it even less. That being said, you are correct. After you get pass the interface issues and the tablet-friendly nature of Windows 8, it does have some good features and qualities for business users. I also agree that Linux is just good at cloning things, and a lot of people who are into the Linux, open-source, and P2P movement were never into driving new technological advancements anyway. The majority weren’t techies. They were just people trying to get stuff free or as cheap as possible.

I dont mean to offend and I dont often find myself defending comments about Linux very often but i think you have it completely wrong in your last 4 sentences. Its clear you are a consumer that uses a computer/devices at home and also at work but doesnt know too much about technology development in the last 30 years. I agree with everything else you said before that and especially the point that MS is focusing 8 on bridging the touch gap for consumers. They know that businesses are only finally finishing their upgrades from XP and 7 and adopt normally after at least a year into the lifecycle of a new OS (in traditional Windows Lifecycles). Blue might disrupt that somewhat, we dont know yet but i expect Windows 9 will be when businesses start to move over, not before.

Start8 is the best one. I tried out several and bought Start 8 in the end. It perfectly emulates the Windows 7 Start button behaviour and adds some nice configuration Options Windows never had. But I will not go back to Windows 7. There are several reasons for that -boot time is extremely short – on machines with UEFI BIOS even shorter -after a while I liked the Windows 8 apps actually (USA today, XBox games, etc) -a multi Screen setup is cool as there are now Task Bars on ALL Screens etc.

Nice info thanks.Windows 8 truly SUX on computers, and isn’t that what it’s supposed to be for? You don’t *have* to use any freeware to restore (or even add to) the functionality of the old Start Menu: Move the mouse cursor into the lower-left-hand corner of the Desktop (where the Start button used to be), and the Start Screen image appears, Click it, and you’ve got access to all your programs. It’s the Start Menu on steroids. If you don’t want to scan left or right to find what you want, just start typing to find any program, file, or setting you need (reducing or eliminating the need for programs like Enso or Launchy). If you right-click in that corner, you’ve got a menu giving you access to a number of system settings. (And the Win key is great.) Windows 8 is much more response than 7/Vista. It’s great with a Windows 7 touch monitor (make sure you calibrate it) and even better with a Logitech T650 Touch Pad.

(The only thing that bugs me about 8 is the way it treats Desktop like just another Metro app. 8 ought to run all legacy programs fullscreen and allow Win + Tab to cycle between all programs and apps, not just Metro apps. Alt + Tab does this, but it’s not as pretty.) •.

Microsoft is playing it’s hand, and that is that they are moving towards mobile. If you look at the direction of things in a few years, it’s a smart move. Soon everything will be touch input, Microsoft are just finally getting on board. As for Windows 8, I think it’s fine. It seems the only complaint is about the start bar which can be turned on using this blog post, and the apps which can be disabled as well.

When you look at all the performance enhancements and added features it really is a great OS in my opinion. This is simple.

Win 8 seem completely fine except when it doesn’t understand that I am not using a tablet. I don’t need or want an app to take over my entire screen since I typically have at least four or five apps going on my pc and they all require more detailed interaction than a touch interface will ever support. I got a 24 inch monitor so I could keep many balls in the air and I don’t want to completely lose sight of them or search through three screens of 2 inch square icons to start a new app. What Uber-geeks like Arash and Santiago don’t get is that No-One CARES how YOU like the Start Screen. No-one CARES if YOU think it’s Simple to find the hidden START Corner.

Most of us use the PC as a Tool. It isn’t FUN. We turn it on and DON’T go looking and hunting for neat, cool things to do, or to find hidden easter egg code. The MAJORITY of Windows Machine Users just want the thing to TURN ON and to get to the DESKTOP and use their program. ESPECIALLY in an Office setting. The START screen is an AGGRAVATION.

TRYING to FIND the START Spot to activate the START SCREEN is an AGGRAVATION. It’s like coming into a Dark room and having to walk back and forth rubbing your hands all over the fricking wall and cursing because the smart-aleck Builder thought it would be COOL and more LOGICAL to put the LIGHT SWITCH for the room OUTSIDE in the HALLWAY because “Obviously, you’d want the light to go on BEFORE you walk Inside.” By the time you’ve finished searching, go back outside and notice the Light Switch OUT THEREyou punch it so hard you break it!

Sometimes, the Geek has to shut-up and Listen to the Consumer. It may not be what you LIKE, but some things just ARE. And yes, it’s SERIOUSLY FUNNY IRONY– but the Windows START BUTTON and the DESKTOP have become a CULTURAL FIXTURElike the Light Switch we expect to find JUST INSIDE the door of the dark room you’re entering. You reach for it without thinking and EXPECT it to be there. When it isn’t therethe user starts growling. After that point, it doesn’t matter how GREAT the rest of Win 8 is purported to be, it’s been tarred and feathered by a STUPID DESIGN that smacks you in the face before you can see the rest. “What about all the people who have not been using Windows for years?” I presume you don’t mean people who are still using Win 3.11, I guess.

And yes– for a lot of new users buying their first PC, Windows 8 will be the new Standard. And for Home use, It really is a matter of personal preference. But in the workplace, the Experience is in 2000/XP and then the slight jump to Win7 which continued the Desktop Experience that was congealed with the Win 2000 scheme–Start Button & all.

For the Workplace, for those of us who aren’t under 25 who’ve NEVER worked with a PC before, and especially for the person who deals with the IT questions: Where’s the START button? Is a needless distraction. Where’s my Program? Is pointless teeth grinder. What happened to my Desktop?

I can’t find the Bump spot. Forget about it. For myself– I have a basketful of WIn7 licenses. And you know what, My staff STILL think they’re using XP!

Which means there’s no confusion. They look and FIND their programs in the usual places and get to their tasks. I can take care of all the other things I need to do. On the NON-Work side of things. I say This: The Start Screen is ‘Cute’.

Is it a REAL Game Changer? It’s extraneous. People don’t BUY PC OSes to ‘Have Fun’ with the OS. Think of it this way.

When you Log into your Bank Website to access your account– do you REALLY CARE about the cute flashing movies you see on the home screen? Do you browse every little linkjust to see what little suprise the Webmaster hid behind that nifty blinking link? Or do you just home that mouse STRAIGHT to the Login button– which you will notice tends to ALWAYS BE IN THE SAME PLACE. Well what if the Bank IT WEB Designers decided: Wouldn’t it be COOL! If you to came to a FLASH site where you could flick thru various informational screenlets and interactives? And that all you had to do when you wanted to Log in was ‘Bump’ the Left hand upper corner of the Webpage to get to the Login Screen?

You’d be pissed as Hell! Especially after you spent 10 minutes trying to figure out where the damned Login Button was. Because all you want to do is PAY A BILL.

And then NEXT Month, the Webdesigner would Move the Button Somewhere Else! Oh, the Customers will learn how to copebecause it’s COOL! And it’s FUN! That’s the thing.

PC’s aren’t the FUN hobbies they used to be. They are Data Appliances now. And like for MOST appliances– we like the ON/OFF button to be in the SAME PLACE EVERYTIME. So I guess my beef with the Start Screen is a ‘User Design Issue’. Products tend to run into trouble when the Designer starts deciding that the Users WILL adapt to something newbecause it what’s the DESIGNER Wants. Sometimes it works. A lot of times it doesn’t.

Time will tell with Win 8’s Start Screen. I hope that a Service Pack will give the user the option to Kill the Start Screen Altogether. I work in IT, and I personally really had not feeling Windows 8 since I installed an RC version almost a year ago. I really don’t like the Metro interface. Then again I really don’t like the iPad I used. If I didn’t have a case with a keyboard, I would rarely use the thing. I could instantly see issues someone who has never used a computer or has only recently started using Windows 7 would have.

I don’t like the fact the start button is gone. And to honest if I was on a tablet instead of a laptop and didn’t have the option of ALT+Tab, Windows 8 would just drive me insane.

I don’t like the steps you have to go through to get to the shutdown button. I really don’t like so much stuff on the default metro screen. It’s so busy. To me it would have been better if they did something that was “start menu light” like on Windows Phone.

They should have put just a handful of tiles on the main screen then had an arrow that gives you the other programs, similar to what you get with the old start menu. If you look at Windows Phone, that would be the ideal setup. They could have had just a few tiles, and then those tiles or an arrow could have led to other tile groups. Maybe what they could do is offer different layout options. I also think a could make sure all tablet manufacturers have a back button that goes one screen back like on the Phone and a keyboard combination that does the same for desktops and laptops. That being said, most of what I said is just stuff I don’t like about Windows 8 or that takes some getting used to. I do like the PDF reader.

I works just like the Mac one. It allows you to copy and paste. I also like the speed of Windows 8. I wouldn’t say there is anything WRONG with Windows 8. There are just some things that could have been implemented differently or take some getting used to. I’ve been using windows 8 on a desktop without touchscreen, w/ touchscreen and a tablet. There’s a learning curve – but is it really that difficult?

Even without a touchscreen, there are easy ways to access everything. The start screen feels like a giant start menu with some additional features. I always found my start menu got way too cluttered in windows 7/XP, if I deleted something from the start menu it was a pain to have to find the original program. In windows 8 I can customize the start screen easily and can group my most used apps so they are easy to find. I can see all programs on the computer if necessary a right click.

If I’m on the desktop – I point my mouse exactly where the start menu used to be and the start screen comes up with every program/app I use regularly. I can pin apps to the desktop/taskbar. My 3 year old can now access his computer games on a touchscreen – he couldn’t do this easily with a mouse. Start screen aside – windows 8 is fast.

It boots up in about 10 secs if you have an SSD – this is with older hardware. Has built in antivirus, explorer menus are better organized, burn to iso Not perfect – not sure what microsoft was thinking with the power button – you can easily create a desktop, start screen shortcut though. An option to boot directly to the desktop would be nice – particularly for business users/corportations. I also recognize that microsoft is trying a more unified approach to desktop/tablet/phone – is this such a bad thing?

I can learn one system instead of 3 – yeah it helps them sell devices – that’s the point isn’t it. You like the environment/ecosytem and microsoft makes money – this is how capitalism works.

I’d be interested in hearing from the people that actually purchased the OS and decided they are switching back to windows 7/mac/ubuntu or whatever. Was it just too hard to figure out? How long did you give it?

I suspect a lot of the negative comments are from people that haven’t actually used the OS long enough to appreciate it. Maybe i’m brainwashed – I tried ubuntu and macintosh and went back to microsoft. The start menu sucked. Why would you want a menu that can’t be customized over a fully configurable menu with live information being fed through the icons. As for the absence of a button, I would prefer it be optional. The hot corner is better in most circumstances since it doesn’t take up space on the task bar. Although, sometimes I’ll play around with the touch screen desktops at Best Buy, and without a windows button on the monitor I can’t get to the menu without the keyboard, unless I bring up charms.

People talk about how W8 is unintuitive. The menus are quite intuitive.

They are just hidden. Once you figure out the new features the pattern repeats for all the applications. The same can’t be said for traditional desktop apps that all have different menus to figure out for each application. My biggest complaint is having all apps run in full screen. It’s rare that this is an issue, but when I’m in IE doing my bills, and I need to use the calculator it’s a real pain.

Of course I can switch to desktop and everything is fine but it’s an annoyance when I’m trying to get stuff done. I prefer to live in the metro interface, but there are times when it just doesn’t work. I would really love to see this get sorted out. Every person that I have seen or heard bag on windows 8 is because they haven’t even tried it No body likes change, and no body likes to admit that they don’t have the money to upgrade. I specifically remember a lot of people bagging on vista. And yes it did suck, but it paved the way to windows 7 which, in my opinion, was a beautiful success.

I do miss the start menu and I don’t like some of the complicated ways of accessing apps. But when it comes to the app menu, I love it. This is where technology is headed and it must be accepted. Yes there are a few bugs to fix, If more people tried the beta version and provided more valuable feed back then maybe Microsoft would have released a better OS, but who knows. I do agree that they should have kept certain things familiar because that is what really made windows great, but it does not mean it’s a complete failure.

It’s only a stepping stone to an amazing OS, and I do have confidence that Microsoft will achieve this. -It’s better to try then to not try at all. No true success comes without making a few mistakes.

LolI bought a dell xps 12 because I like the idea of a full function laptop with tablet function. I am still learning to work with it but feel it is in fact the right decision. True navigating windows is a change from my usual experience but it was the right decision. All the functionality is there albeit in a different format (something to learn) but that is part of the fungo with it. Quick access thru metro for commonly used functions is great, navigating windows for settings has been a chore.

But the more I read in forums such as this the more I learn.pretty cool dual function as far as I am concerned. As a consumer I am enjoying the experience. Download a start button if that pisses you offlol •. Windows 8’s new Start screen has been hotly debated since the operating system launched in preview mode earlier this year. Acknowledged by some as a bold step into the tablet market, and criticized by many others who prefer the familiar desktop experience, the new ‘Modern UI Style’ home is here to stay. But beyond not offering a way to bypass this screen (not without the help of third-party utilities), surprisingly Microsoft is also limiting your options when it comes to customizing the Start screen’s appearance.

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Windows 8 isn’t all that bad, or should I say Windows 8.1. They realized they made a mistake not having a start button, or a start menu by adding a start button, but that’s all it really is. Just a button.

But, in a way, the Metro interface IS the start menu we all know and love, just in some new clothes if you will. The apps, programs, search, they’re all still there. It just looks a hell of a lot different. Many people fail to remember that. Hopefully, Microsoft will realize they’re mistake and at least give you the option to have the old start menu.

I just gotta LAUGH at ALL of you complaining about the Metro UI and using that to say Windows 8 sucks. If that is the ONE feature you don’t like then GET OVER IT. To be honest, I don’t use the start menu that much in Windows 7 and most people I know don’t use the start menu. People put shortcuts to things that they want on their desktops or task bar and then work from that.

I for one use A LOT of keyboard shortcuts. The ONLY thing I regularly use my start menu for on Windows 7 is to shut down the computer. Anytime I wanted to find something that I didn’t regularly use with Windows seven, i would press the start key on the keyboard and start typing what I wanted and it would pop up in the search. I do the SAME thing in Windows 8.

I have windows 8 on my NON-touchscreen laptop and I have no troubles. Also, I haven’t seen the Metro UI in a week because I work from the desktop and I have everything I need there. Windows 8 is A LOT faster, smoother, and more stable than Windows 7, even with the Metro UI ALWAYS running in the background. So why don’t you people LEARN HOW TO USE THE OPERATING SYSTEM PROPERLY and stop complaining. I purchased a new machine 2 months after windows 8 came out, and sure enough, it arrived with windows 8 installed.

I used it for 2 weeks before downloading Start8. It has been the best $5 I’ve ever spent.

100% of my time is spent on the desktop, I haven’t used a metro option yet (the few attempts I’ve made I quickly changed my mind). Office/paint/games/music – all in desktop mode, all easy to use and find – all familiar to me without needing retraining or wasting my dual 24″ monitors on huge tiles. Whatever option you decide on, if you don’t have the time or desire to retrain yourself, these task bar add-on are well worth the look. They all allow you to mess with metro if you want, or use the hard earned experience you already have on the desktop you are comfortable with. Peace of mind was worth $5 to me, but the $3 or free options will work too. I never really liked the start menu in windows 7. The only part of it I ever used was the search function.

I made a habit of purposely removing any and all start menu items possible so that it is basically stripped to search and shutdown. What most people dont realize is you simply need to RIGHT click on the start button for the same basic functions of the win 7 start menu (run, search, control panel, etc etc.). This is all blown out of proportion. Simply set win 8 to boot to desktop, prevent the navigation bars, and right click start menu.

No third party program required. IMHO Modern Mix is much better of an app to buy. It allows all of your windows 8 apps to open right in the desktop.

Good bye metro, I have completely went around it. Windows 8 really is a far superior OS. It has more features and functionality, its smoother and faster when it comes to general use, the driver support is fantastic, has MSE built in to windows defender. It runs smooth as hell, havent had a single problem with it in the last 2 years.

In fact once I learned how to navigate in it I decided to buy it for every one of my computers. But hey dont take my word for it, I have only been using windows 8 since developer preview. I was supper annoyed with windows 8 when I first got it, hated the metro screen because like everyone has observed, its made for a touch screen, and is not user friendly for mouse and keyboard use.

However, I quickly found classic shell and now I forget i’m on windows 8 because everything essentially functions just like windows 7, but it seems to crash less (and thats saying something as I rarely had crashes on windows 7). In fact I’m not really sure that they changed anything about the desktop in windows 8, maybe they just tacked metro onto windows 7 and called it a new OS. I predict that tablets die out long before laptops do.

I could see ultrafast smartphones with docking stations replacing everything in a decade or so, but until something can come along to emulate the ease with which laptops make actual work convenient, I don’t see tablets replacing them. Tablets are fads for people with purses who like to surf the net and watch movies and don’t know where the ‘any key’ is. If I’m gonna schlepp something around that won’t fit in my pocket, I’ll just go for the laptop bag. My Tablet PC gives me an option that laptops, iPads, and phones don’t. I can go to a meeting or class and, with stylus in hand, use my Tablet PC like a pad of paper. No clicking away on a keyboard, no screen flipped up between me and the people I talk to. I can write longhand on the screen and get immediate conversion to text anywhere that keyboard input works.

Or I can hold what I write in ink form and export to text later. The handwriting recognition accuracy is excellent. And I have the added ability to draw diagrams and sketches right in my notes. Point me to any other device that lets me function effectively in a meeting or classroom. Especially when you encounter a manage or instructor who hates people typing while he’s talking. Who likes to observe body language when you speak (and doesn’t want you popping up and down like a jack-in-the-box so he can). I’ve even encountered instructors who discourage or forbid laptop use in his class; but never one who said no to someone using a touch screen device.

Apart from the convenience, there’s the necessity. Due to multiple sclerosis, I cannot make effective use of a keyboard or mouse. At home I work from the desktop interface. I have a headset microphone and speech recognition software (Dragon) so I can do everything on my computer by voice. No way of interacting with a computer beats it, but speaking to my computer in a class or meeting or library or Starbucks is an obvious non-starter.

But since I can still hold a pen and write legibly, I have a pen-sized stylus for the tablet, as well as the ability to manipulate things on my Tablet’s screen with a finger or two. What I do on my desktop computer works exactly as it did in Windows 7, except the Windows 8 is faster, and everything is far more stable. And there is no OS in existence I could use, apart from Windows (no universal speech recognition elsewhere).

What I do on my Tablet PC is unequalled on any platform other than Windows 8. Some platforms have some of the capabilities, but no platform has all of them. And no other platform offers the handwriting capabilities I can’t work without. .//Hello World. Far from a M$ only fan, I’ve managed to make a decent living helping companies and (open minded) people recognized the value of technology.

I started my career in “computers”, or what is now commonly known as I.T., as Win95 was creating a similar revolutionary shift of interacting with WinX by introducing the “Start” button. One of the many things the start button did, and why it was quickly embraced is it gave users a location from which to organize typical tasks.

The Start button in its original form had a good run – almost 20 years. Until Windows 8. Like most people I was initially puzzled by the new Metro UI, and remain mostly averse to interacting with it unless I have a touch screen laptop or tablet. Which, in my opinion, is why the Metro UI is not only necessary, it can provide the most optimum way of performing one of the most common interactions users need to perform: look, select and consume information. But not the way most people think about this today, rather how we (can be) will be interacting with this information whenever we choose to start making the leap.

Few can argue the cost of purchasing powerful technology is well within reach of large portions of our population. This includes gigantic, big screen TV’s. I just purchased a 65″ 4K UDH LED TV (Se!k!) for less that $1K in spring of 2014!

If you want to hook up a computer to that size screen would you sit in front of it like your traditional 18-22″ PC monitor? I suggest not. Most would be sitting more than 10′ away, on a couch or easy chair. From this distance, reading and navigating via traditional Start Menu method, is no longer as efficient as say, a completely updated and optimized format that can still provide a launch point for all the most common tasks you would like to perform, but do it with a “bigger and blockier” interface, that moves dynamically across the screen based on “gestures” easily performed on a wireless touch pad, or mouse. Next, consider the same UI is being standardized across M$ platforms, Mobile, Desktop, and Gaming and consider how the XBox continues to refine the skills and “comfort” of interacting with the technology without “touching” it, but rather with movement, or gestures.

So when I try and think of a better idea on how to build the type of UI that you stand up/sit down and interact with, from across the room – which will grow much more common as technology claims a bigger and bigger stake of the previously “reserved” space of people’s living rooms. But when your entire living room wall, vs. Could be your interaction screen – how would you want the Start Menu to look? Hopefully, I’ll have more customization options on “how it will look”, but I could see how interacting with my information, would be more effective building off of a “Metro”, “Android” or “IOS” touch or gesture style interface that can be controlled.

I think being able to point from across the room, select my calendar, Facebook, Twitter or whatever, and scroll through it “Minority Report” style in my living room, on a big screen TV, or mold-able LED walls that will eventually reach consumer level pricing, is not only within a very reasonable future, but might already be possible. It will always be a challenge to interpret where a “finger” is pointing with the precision needed to select on a traditional start menu since logically the “bullseye” zone needs to get bigger and bigger, to account for all the variables that might be introduced by big, little, young, old, skinny, fat, stubby, missing, etc. Appendages, or just sh!ty aim. But assume the bullseye does grow proportionately, to accommodate for distance away from the screen – flip things around a little bit, and out comes Metro, or at best some similar compromise. But more importantly, considering M$ history of pushing technology forward, one could begin to understand why they need to be on the edge of this paradigm shift – as they have done in some many other areas, by helping people learn to embrace a more ubiquitous blending of your traditional PC way of working, and help move things forward.

Yes, it appears M$ may have capitulated, but I would suggest they’ve listened and been forced to respond to the consumer to give back something (Start Menu) they’ve yet to realize, they no longer need. But that is just me and my 2 cents. A tech nerd kid who grew up watching the Jetson’s, Dick Tracy and Batman, hoping I live long enough to see all the technology “future” come true.

(this is not an endorsement, just one persons view point) •. Microsoft is too mentally warped to think that any of their productsucts actually are supposed to affect the end user.Or rather, that’s just what they’re telling people through advertisements. Windows is simply a product designed for Microsoft to 1. Thieve more money from you and 2. Lock you into needing their products more and more so you have to keep them paying money. And then when the time comes for you to pay up, they specification-fix their products so you have to pay even more. Take for example the end of Life for Windows XP.

When Windows XP expires, most computers aren’t strong enough to handle Vista, 7, or 8. So they have to buy a new computer. So Microsoft gets the price of a full OEM license, instead of an upgrade only. And Microsoft designs all of its products so they’re only compatible with Windows, making it ruthlessly hard to switch. And worse, despite no working bug report form or support service where people actually bother to go, if a user does not complain, or even if they leave windows and switch to gnu/Linux, as I did, they count them as one jolly old customer who has absolutely no problems with any Microsoft product at all! Note: it was pretty hard to make the switch to Linux because of Microsoft lockin methods, but now it works like a charm.

Hell, Linux mint has a better start menu than Windows 8 itself! Not surprising, actually. At the point when Windows XP terminates, most machines aren’t solid enough to handle Vista, 7, or 8. So they need to purchase another machine. So Microsoft gets the cost of a full OEM permit, rather than an update just. Also Microsoft outlines every last bit of its items so they’re just perfect with Windows, making it heartlessly hard to switch. Furthermore more awful, in spite of no meeting expectations bug report structure or help administration where individuals really try to go, if a client does not grumble, or regardless of the fact that they leave windows and switch to gnu/Linux, as I did, they consider them one buoyant old client who has truly no issues with any Microsoft item whatsoever!

Hello everyone i want to share a live testimony on how Dr Alex was able to bring my husband back to me, myself and my husband were on a serious breakup, even before then we were always quarreling fighting and doing different ungodly act. My husband packed his things out of the house and we had to live in different area, despite all this i was looking for a way to re_unite with my husband, not until i met Dr Alex the great spell caster who was able to bring my husband back home, Dr Alex cast a love spell for me, and after some time i started seen results about the spell. Today my family is back again and we are happy living fine and healthy, with Dr Alex all my dream came through in re_uniting my marriage, friends in case you need the help of Dr Alex kindly mail him on( ) or call him on +351, Sir i will forever recommend you!!! Start8 from Stardock costs a whopping $5 and gave back the exact start menu I was used to, as well as the “boot to desktop” option. The other nice thing is that it “duplicates” the ribbon onto a 2nd screen in multi-monitor mode. So if you have 4 programs open, those programs are seen at the bottom of both monitors, not just your main. I’ve found I really enjoy that feature.

I tried to use tiles for two weeks. They aren’t hard to figure out, but on two 24″ monitors the transition was so jarring I decided I didn’t need tiles on my desktop as they gave me nothing. This was a very inexpensive and simple solution, and it has worked for me since windows 8.0 came out. Hey what about me?

I’m still waiting for Microsoft to do away with User Account Control. Remember how Vista came with UAC and the world nearly ended? Whatever can we do without a Start Button? Oh, not that it limits a single thing that we can do it’s just that it’s well different. And we can’t handle different. Sure, sure we’re the Extreme Tech crowd and we’re all into all the techy things that are in our future.

We’re all up for electric cars, solar power and colonizing Mars. As long as we don’t have to change or adapt of course. This is a good outline of what they, at least, think they’re doing A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow They believe, and in general, it’s true, that if you just keep feeding people something over and over for longer terms they will assimilate. (repetitive habits gets drilled deeper into your brain) I just wish people would learn something from the whole marijuana thing.

Hello everybody in this world, I'd really like my very old HP Deskjet 520 printer to run under win7 64-bit The printerdriver is not anymore supplied in the driver-database that comes with the OS. HP customers-service says: not possible (driver update stopped with XP) They got several so called Universal Print Drivers, I installed them one by one, but they make the printer just come to life, printing some rubbish on the first line and then loading the next sheet and printing some rubbish on first line then loading the next. Tried ad random to install some other HP printers (drivers), same results. The original connection with the XP machine is an parrallel printer cable to LPT 1, the connection to the new Win 7 machine is an USB to parrallel cable.

Unfortunately I lost the original setup files, till now the printer ran smoothly on my XP- 32bit machine, I can see a fistfull of files in the printer server >properties, things like 'unidrv.dll' Would it be possible to transfer these files manually to the right places on the Win 7 machine? Thanks in advance for evry help or hint or workaround Poetman PS if you wonder why I want to combine a state of the art Win 7 (I7 processor, 16 Gb ram etc) with an antique black & white printer: I'm a musician, the computer will become my DAW, but evryday I need to print some pages sheetmusic for my students. Yep ss220sl and SR-71, thanks for the contributions, but I knew all that. I'm trying to find a solution.

Or workaround. Grtz Poetman Probably far too late for Poetman but in case there are others still wanting to do this. Our trusty old workhorse HP 520 is working fine in Windows 7 (32 bit). In Control Panel/Devices and Printers click on Add a Printer. Ask for more printers to be shown.

It took ages for that to happen but eventually it showed a list which included HP Deskjet 500 and HP Deskjet 500C. Select the appropriate one (Colour or not) and hey presto. I have Windows 7 64-bit and a wonderful Deskjet 520. The only workaround I've come up with is to install XP in addition to Windows 7 on the same machine and then create a dual menu.

It sounds complicated but it works. It has worked fine for me for 4 years.

Just boot to XP and the drivers are there. To create the dual menu I installed EasyBCD 2.0.2 which was free. There's lots of links out there on how to do this, though it's surprisingly straightforward. I see EasyBCD is also available for Windows 8.1. Yep ss220sl and SR-71, thanks for the contributions, but I knew all that.

I'm trying to find a solution. Or workaround. Grtz Poetman Probably far too late for Poetman but in case there are others still wanting to do this. Our trusty old workhorse HP 520 is working fine in Windows 7 (32 bit).

In Control Panel/Devices and Printers click on Add a Printer. Ask for more printers to be shown. It took ages for that to happen but eventually it showed a list which included HP Deskjet 500 and HP Deskjet 500C. Select the appropriate one (Colour or not) and hey presto.

Thanks, That one really worked for me! Add printer ->Add local Printer ->Use an excisting port: LPT1 (Printerport) Then click the [Windows Update] knob, and wait for a couple of minutes. You will be rewarded! After the update, scroll thru the Printers again for HP Manufacturer.