Great post!!
I don't want to get into the "I hate Metro" discussion because those views have already been endlessly aired. I decided I'd simply knuckle down and get used to the new interface, as I've done so many times with generations of operating systems. And enjoy the new facilities, super stability and speed that W8 brings.
I had arrived at the same conclusion as Greg. The Metro Start Screen is just a Windows 7 start menu on steroids. With Windows 7, I'm forced to navigate through levels of a start menu that's stuffed into the bottom left of the screen, at the expense of a nice, hi res screen background that has no useful function and is pure eye candy unless you've installed a few gadgets. And if I slip off the side of that W7 start menu I have to start over... No, I must be one of the few that can see where Metro is going, and I like it. Not perfect yet though - I'm still (not yet?) as fast.
But -
With Windows 7 I could easily open the folder "Start Menu", either "All users" or my own, in Explorer, and tidy/rationalise the messy start menu that installing a bunch of programs leaves it in. I create folders like "Utilities" and "Hardware" and move stuff around. I've searched everywhere in W8 for a similar method that will allow me to move stuff around and also name groups, instead of having to laboriously right-click each item individually and "Pin to start screen" or "Delete". I wish that was easier in W8, just as it is in W7.
I took my carefully tidied W7 install and upgraded to W8. I also wish that upgrading to W8 would preserve my start menu folders and copy the to named groups with separators whilst adding a couple of new groups on the left that showcased all the Metro apps as now. Those can be (individually nd laboriously!) deleted, as Greg describes, but that would also be easier if I could get a folder view
Anyone any suggestions where the Metro start screen layout is stored? Registry? An XML file somewhere?
Richard
