Discussion on:

Start 8: Put the Start Menu back in Windows 8

Is the Start Button so important to you that you will install a third-party version?

Right now that doesn't look likely, but I'll wait until the final release before deciding. If I can't live with Metro and don't have to have W8, I'll stay on W7 as long as possible (except for testing and support purposes, loading it on a virtual machine). If forced to W8, hopefully a more full-featured 'Start Button Replacement' will be available.

I'm very certain that many geeks will be clutching to their copies of Windows 7 for as long as they are supported (which will be for awhile). I suspect that Windows 8 is going to be another risky gamble for Microsoft.

Microsoft may have created one big turkey. Us "geeks" may be able to handle Win 8 with this Metro face - although barely. But I can't see the typical novice understanding what to do with this interface on a desktop or laptop [with no touch screen].
At least this looks better than the crapware [and possibly spyware or maleware] infested ViStart. That is a piece of junk.
Why on earth did Microsoft disable the option to use the old Start menu. It's probably still there [as it was in the developer preview].
Hopefully this app improves over time.
Direct link to download: http://storage.stardock.com/files/Start8_setup.exe"

The old style Windows 7 start menu can actually still be brought back in Windows 8 with a simple registry hack. However, caveat emptor, you lose all the nifty desktop mode features such as the vastly improved task manager and file move/copy dialog. Then, at that point, why bother switching to Windows 8 in the first place?

I think that registry fix was removed between the Developer's release and the recent Consumer release.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/boot-to-the-classic-desktop-in-windows-8-consumer-preview/19068

That supposedly works for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Granted... it probably does a little more than just enable a classic Start menu, but I have not tried this method myself personally.

but I'm not optimistic. The article discusses booting to the 'classic' desktop instead of booting to Metro, but it doesn't say what happens AFTER you boot. I suspect I'm going to see Metro the first time I try to start an app.

Definitely let me know if the classic desktop solution does anything to change the Start Menu. It could just simply change the look and feel of just the desktop only, giving the windows a more Windows 2000 style.

I've pushed W8 to the back burner.

Why not create a new tool bar, navigate to the Start Menu folder, and choose it. The same can be done with Quick Launch still. If you must see a shut down, there are gadgets for that. Also, Windows Key plus i puts you on the screen from the right to shut down, restart, etc. Just putting how I did things on W8 CP.

just to recreate something Microsoft never should have removed?

And don't get me started on maintaining it...

I don't care about the Start Button at all... but the Start Menu? Yes, that's evolved, over more than a decade, into a very efficient way to find and launch programs. Mine isn't left flat, I have it sorted into categories. I have hundreds of programs on my PC, some of which I use only rarely. I might not remember the name of that video morphing program I bought for a project last fall, but I can find it in seconds, navigating the Start Menu: Multimedia/Video/Effects/... there it is. The Start Screen is dramatically less efficient, not hierarchical, and suited only to a fairly small set of applications... even fewer than I have on my Android devices at this point in time.

So yeah, having used the Windows 8 Preview for several weeks now, I would absolutely use a third-party replacement for the Start Menu (with or without button), were I forced to run Windows 8 on a desktop PC. Aside from being forced, I will not run Windows 8.

Thanks for your input Mr. Haynie! Of course, the superior desktop experience should be modeled more after AmigaOS Intuition.

But yes, Windows 7 will be with us for the foreseeable future, so I see sticking with that version as a better way to avoid this slight mess for now, unless Microsoft gets their act together.

Absolutly!

1) I buy Windows 8 and 2) if the final, released, on the shelf (virtual and physical) version of Windows 8 doesn't include the start button and menu.

One obvious question to ask: does removing the Start button from the desktop make Windows 8 easier or harder for most users? I'd be skeptical if MSFT claims to have user data showing either indifference or wide-spread support for removing it.

For myself, I don't use Explorer as my desktop shell. As long as Windows 8 still allows me to choose another shell, I won't much care what MSFT does with the default UI. If I'm stuck with the default UI, then I most definitely would install a replacement Start button/menu.

If there's value to live updating tiles in Metro's start screen while users are selecting applications to run, there may also be value to live updating in visible open application windows on the desktop when the Start menu is open. It'd be nice to be able to choose which background updates I see when I'm launching other applications.

Users should have some choice about the UI they use.

After several weeks persistently trying to live with Metro and Win8, I finally gave up and went back to Win7. I *never* want to see live tiles, gadgets etc taking up valuable real estate and performance from my desktop. Just give me the minimal Win2k style interface, as little boot-time junk as possible and let me decide which apps I want to fill my monitors with. Metro is clunky, ugly, gets in the way, hinders multi-tasking, slower, counter-intuitive and generally looks like it is a toy designed for a 2 year old child to use.
I have never before had to google how to shut down a computer, not even the very first time I used a computer.

With the major ISPs now incorporating monthly download limits into their plans, it makes no sense to have constant updates to your desktop. Granted, those updates don't take up a great deal of bandwidth, but it all contributes to Internet congestion, not to mention valuable computer resources for what is mostly useless information or info I can get when I need it. Plus, I don't care to be updated on who just blew their nose.

Will users see increased bandwidth usage with live tiles? Or are so many already running assorted desktop gadgets that they won't notice any difference?

Just wondering. I have my apps tiled to cover most or all of the desktop and haven't found any gadgets I want, so I don't have anything running on the desktop and don't know what it would do to my bandwidth numbers.

I think though that MS will have a way to turn off live updates in Windows 8 Metro UI mode, because yes... not everyone has a decent mobile data plan and conservation of our bits and bytes should be at the highest order of magnitude. It's amazing how even the little things like live updating tiles can actually cause those "Oops!" moments with billing.

I know that most US users get unlimited data plans (except on phones), but that isn't the case in the rest of the world. Is Microsoft really so deaf to these consumers that it doesn't care about all the extra network traffic?

They still exist, you know. They may have a flat rate, but what's the impact on other traffic when the OS is constantly updating those tiles?

Just turn the tiles off.

Is that easier said than done?

I think the tiles are a good interface for touch screen PC's/tablets but for a standard desktop/laptop I wanted to get to the desktop to do "real" work. It's bad news for Microsoft when I had to resort to Googling to find out how to launch an app in the Windows 8 desktop interface. Not very intutive at all that you need to hover in a hot-corner. Did the Start button really take up THAT much real estate? Funny that MS claimed space by removing the Start button but the IE icon and Explorer remain in the task bar.

In typical fashion of a company trying to get their foothold back, Microsoft seems to be changing things for the sake of change in hopes of bringing people back to Windows. What they need to do is keep what works well and only make changes to make the product more usable. Apple's recent success has been largely due to the fact you can sit down and figure most of iOS and Mac OS without reading the manual.

Why all the fuss? After the initial shock and dismay, then familiarizing myself with the newness of the Metro UI, we conclude that in time we will work well with this version of Windows. We have our old desktop and the popup menu replacing the "Start" button gives us the functionality for both developer and casual user. Give it time, folks! One suggestion, if it hasn't already been addressed, is to make the menu for the search, start, etc. popup optionally fixed on the desktop.

In the Developer's preview last year there was still a start orb which when you clicked on it you were sent immediately to the start screen from the desktop, more or less exactly what we want. Then the morons at MS decided to make Win 8 less easy to use and removed it for the Customer Preview. Who the hell decided that I should use a keyborad shortcut to get to the start screen instead of just having an easy orb to click?

Microsoft is really trying to push consumers along a path that relies less on the desktop and more on Metro. They wager that, by making the desktop less familiar and somehow making Metro stand out more, the average consumer will just adapt to the new interface accordingly because the powers it be want it that way. Don't get me wrong, Windows 8 also offers some nice features, but Metro for x86/x64 desktop PCs is going to need a good bit more baking in the oven for it to come off as successful. In the end tho, considering that Windows 8 is going to be a more experimental OS, Windows 9 may end up righting the wrongs just in time to prevent Microsoft from completely blowing it, just like they did when Windows 7 replaced Vista.

I think windows 8 sucks I hate it and would never buy that piece of crap they call an operating system. I had to change my hard drive just to get rid of it. It is worthless as far as I am concerned. Never will buy it and never will use it after I tried the preview version.

Surely, Windows 8 is here to stay whether we like it or not. On the topic of your hard drive, Instead of swapping it out, have you considered erasing it or using Darik's Boot & Nuke?

If Win8 turns out to be another Vista (and I think it will on the desktop),
Microsoft-In-The-Head will have to realease Win9.
I bet they already have it ready - just in case.

Consumer demand still drives the market.

It has not met my demands as of yet. Albeit, I am a patient consumer.

What is up Internet Explorer?

remember that this is still a beta version. It's supposed to have problems, and not intended for normal use.

Now here's hoping MS adds whatever polish is necessary to stave away the complaints.

After Win 8 was downloaded and installed, my wifi network disappeared totally without much of a trace. Are there drivers available to recover the network driver(s)? All attempts have been unsuccessful.
Casablanca7703

Well I tried the start program and it worked pretty well for getting rid of the issue of no start button it did however make W8 features when in Metro area not work correctly as well the charms feature and a few other did not seem to work so back to the old W8.
Even though I do not really like some features others are quite nice and I use them in the background.
I do hope we get some more choices on the final for the display of tiles though, it is hard on the eyes.

Aston Menu adds a start menu icon on the desktop of Windows 8; which, you can then pin to the task bar and slide to the left corner of the task bar. When you boot up Windows 8, it will bring you to the Metro screen; which, will continue to function as usual. When you click on the desktop icon; you will enter the desktop as usual. In the desktop; whenever you click on the Aston Menu icon on the task bar, it will will display a skin-able version of the Windows Classic Menu showing all previously installed applications, windows utilities, etc. You can even customize it to suite your preferences. Now you can have the best of both worlds; the Classic Menu and the Metro. Note: unlike Start8, Aston Menu is not a free software; however, you can download a trial version by navigating to the Aston webpage listed bellow: http://www.astonshell.com/aston2/

I use Start Menu 7 (www.startmenu7.com) and it works very well. You have a start button and start menu. You can change the start button skin from Angry Birds, Apple, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and Windows 8 color. I find this to be better than Stardock's Start Button for Consumer Preview.

Impressive. I will need to try this out for myself and see.