Start8 for Win8 - Bring Back Windows 7 Start Menu - $3.99

Quote from myamex : no, I don't miss the start menu. I have no idea why you need one. Learn how to use Win 8.

While I agree with you, there are people who are resistant to change. This deal will probably useful to them.

I agree that there is a learning curve to using Windows 8, but once I figured it out, I'm back to my usual groove when using my computer. Don't need the traditional start menu. The new system works quite well if you learn how to properly utilize it.

Quote from myamex : no, I don't miss the start menu. I have no idea why you need one. Learn how to use Win 8.

Windows 8's Start Screen is much slower to use and find things in that the Start Menu was -- especially if you have a lot of programs installed. And Search isn't always that useful either because it means you have to remember the name of what you are searching for....which isn't always all that easy for less frequently used apps. The full screen nature of the Start Menu also means you lose all screen context for what it was you were looking for.

Similarly, it's a pain to have to navigate the Charms bar to shutdown/sleep/sign out all the time.

Personally, though, the Start Menu is the smallest of Windows 8's deficiencies -- but the most easily rectified.

My bigger complaint is that the entire Metro interface is a pain of massive proportions if you want to do multitasking and have multiple apps on screen at once -- and the split screen view is NOT a replacement. Honestly on a decent monitor (24" or larger) the absolute huge size of the Metro apps is downright obnoxious. Some of the Metro apps are sort of neat, but most of their options are so dumbed down as to be laughable. If I could (easily) run them in a Window though, at reasonable size, they might not be too bad -- on a decent 27" monitor you could easily run 5-6 apps comfortably.

Another issue is, many apps will ONLY run in a Window in the desktop environment -- so why shouldn't I be able to run a Metro app in a Window? In the current setup, I can't leave my e-mail app up and visible all the time while I work on something else -- which is what I typically do.

As I mentioned on an earlier post, it IS possible to get a Metro app in a window (if you don't mind jumping through some rather large hoops to do it) -- and, hopefully, once I get a virtual monitor driver working, the hoops will be much smaller.

I know how to use Windows 8, it simply doesn't increase my efficiency to use the Metro interface. I read about Win 8 and love the under the hood optimizations, so I bought it. Being constantly thrown between full screen programs is not ideal for me in a desktop environment, so I went to Start8

Quote from ferganer : - having to jump between the two UIs (e.g. to find a desktop program in the Metro/Modern Start menu, which will open in Desktop )

Put your frequently used software on desktop/taskbar. The Metro App list is easier to find stuffs anyway. Why would anyone prefer a long tiny list over some bigger icons?

Quote : Application.- having to use that horrible Charms thing to turn off your PC

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Alt-F4. I don't turn off PC anyway.

Quote : - stupid implementation of multitasking between Metro and Desktop apps (two separate multitasking systems that are absolutely different in the way you use them).

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You don't even have to use Metro apps. I never use it.


Metro is just a full screen application list menu for PC users. You can access all the items from the original start menu with a couple clicks. Get used to it.

Quote from zipxavier : I know how to use Windows 8, it simply doesn't increase my efficiency to use the Metro interface. I read about Win 8 and love the under the hood optimizations, so I bought it. Being constantly thrown between full screen programs is not ideal for me in a desktop environment, so I went to Start8

Ditto -- the under the hood optimizations are nice (and some of the extra features -- like Storage Spaces -- are a welcome addition), but the loss of efficiency in the UI is ridiculous.

Hot corners are a "cute" idea -- but a ROYAL pain in the rear to use when you have three monitors setup. Yes, they work on the far left and right, which requires a TON of mouse movement to get to, but trying to actually HIT the corner you are aiming at on the center screen without going over onto one of the adjacent screens is a real headache.

Microsoft should have kept one interface for desktops and one interface for tablets and let you choose -- one size does NOT fit all. Even Apple is smart enough to realize this -- i.e. OS X vs iOS.

Quote from myamex : Metro is just a full screen application list menu for PC users. .

I wish it was just a full screen app list menu, but it's not.

Quote from zipxavier : I know how to use Windows 8, it simply doesn't increase my efficiency to use the Metro interface. I read about Win 8 and love the under the hood optimizations, so I bought it. Being constantly thrown between full screen programs is not ideal for me in a desktop environment, so I went to Start8

If you have to constantly flipping between metro and desktop, maybe you should just put that damn shortcut on the desktop?

Quote from myamex : If you have to constantly flipping between metro and desktop, maybe you should just put that damn shortcut on the desktop?

Indeed, there are so many workarounds to be almost as productive as you were with Windows 7

Quote from ferganer : There are. But Start8 is the best one IMO.

if Start8 pays me to use their solution, I will use it, if not I am all for Free

Quote from myamex : Put your frequently used software on desktop/taskbar. The Metro App list is easier to find stuffs anyway. Why would anyone prefer a long tiny list over some bigger icons? Alt-F4. I don't turn off PC anyway. You don't even have to use Metro apps. I never use it. Metro is just a full screen application list menu for PC users. You can access all the items from the original start menu with a couple clicks. Get used to it.

1) Icons are ugly. Especially when they are huge and in your face. I greatly prefer a nice cascading menu with logical groupings of functions (XP Style) -- that visibly retains the context of the menu tree that got you there (unlike Vista/7).

2) The Metro Start Screen covers the ENTIRE SCREEN and hides any context of why you went looking for it in the first place.

3) With the Start Screen I have to scroll through PAGES of installed apps -- and, worse yet, it DOESN'T SUPPORT FOLDERS. On the old Start Menu I can create application folders with what I want in them, with the Metro Start Screen, you can't. Heck, even Android ICS allows you to create application folders on the desktop! Yes, you can group apps, but that still sucks -- I want a way to collapse the views so I only see the names of the groups, not the contents (unless I open them).

4) Alt-F4 works -- but I can't comfortably reach both keys at once without taking both hands to do it. Which means I have to move my hand off the mouse, if I was using it. With the Start Menu, I can also hit CTRL-ESC (which I can just comfortably reach with my left hand alone) and then navigate to "Sign Off" or "Lock" with about three keypresses. Or, on keyboards that have them, I can press the Windows key to bring up the menu, then navigate to the Power options. The new interface forces you to switch from mouse to keyboard to mouse and back again WAY too often -- and trying to use a touch screen all day would be ridiculous (your arms would be horrendously tired). For efficiency and effort, the LESS hand/arm movement any operation requires, the better.

5) I generally don't use the Metro apps either -- they are too dumbed down. So why the devil do I need to have the bloody Charms bar popping out whenever I go to close a fullscreen program??? With a good program like Start8/ClassicShell/StartisBack/etc. I can disable the Charms Bar completely -- except for when you need to get to Settings, which has about half the user stuff in it (of which part of it you HAVE to change from Control Panel and the other half from the Settings page -- which is really moronic and seems half finished). The best solution is to setup a shortcut on the desktop or Start Menu to get to the Settings screen (http://www.7tutorials.com/downloa...-windows-8) and the Start Screen (http://www.7tutorials.com/downloa...en-desktop) -- then you can just turn off the Charms bar and not worry about it.

6) Since I don't use Metro, having to have all the stupid Metro apps thrown up at me whenever I use the Start Screen is a nuisance -- which, yes, they can be removed, but that is yet another step and more time to do.

Quote from ferganer : There are. But Start8 is the best one IMO.

Have you tried StartIsBack? The beta works well -- but the price hasn't been set yet.

Personally, I like ClassicShell better because of the cascading start menu.

I also like it better because I can use Classic Explorer to turn off the horrendous built-in Windows search capability (which is way to difficult to do date ranges, file types, wildcards, regular expressions, etc with -- and also misses tons of stuff) and put a shortcut that launches a real search program like Agent Ransack instead.

To each his own, do whatever you like to your PC to suit your needs.

The problem with the Start Menu is that Microsoft doesn't hold your hand for the transition. It took me about 10 mins to actually sit at my desk and figure things out, but afterwards I fell in love with it.

For the guys complaining about apps; don't use them. I don't and it feels just like windows 7.
Get rid of all the Apps in the Start Menu and customize it for programs you do use. (You can create groups and name them on the Start Menu)
Google "Launch into desktop for windows 8" (It'll skip the Start Menu)

Thanks OP, I'm in for a copy, can't beat this price. I tried this and it's nice. I like being able to access the new start screen with it when I want to use it, I am sure I will eventually get used to it, but I didn't like having it forced on me.

I like classic shell too, but this looks nicer overall. I plan on donating to Classic Shell also. It's nice having multiple choices for useful programs like this.