Servelius

I've hit this, as a workaround, disable transparency on the start menu. It may have to do with the insufficient transparency support in windows 8. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's same way in Windows 7 start menu, the color in the search box is not black.

You mean JUMPLIST = the area to the right, correct?

Under the built-in Administrator Account "Store" is the only app. But under newly created user accounts you can run "Store" and install other metro apps from it. In this case your Start Screen won't be empty. http://superuser.com/questions/480988/can-windows-server-2012-run-all-metro-windows-store-applications http://www.win2012workstation.com/windows-8-apps/ Huh? The only app for what? I never said Server 2012 can't run Metro apps. I said it doesn't come with any Metro apps by default. You don't even get "Store" unless you install the "Desktop Experience" and 99.9% of all people running Server will never do that. The point was, that everything you initially see on the Metro screen by default and by installing whatever roles and features you require (you know, normal server stuff) will disappear because everything it uses are desktop apps.....so far. So expect an empty Metro screen if you use that checkbox (in other words, not a bug). Yes, of course, if you install "Desktop Experience" then you will also have the Store app icon. Sure thing that Metro apps are not used by all server users. I'm only saying that quite a few people do install metro apps on servers, and for such people (including myself) "Rename Start Screen to Apps" is quite interesting an option. Of course I see your point that it'lll result in an empty Metro screen without DE installed, you are absolutely right it does that. Obviously unchek the box then.

Under the built-in Administrator Account "Store" is the only app. But under newly created user accounts you can run "Store" and install other metro apps from it. In this case your Start Screen won't be empty. http://superuser.com/questions/480988/can-windows-server-2012-run-all-metro-windows-store-applications http://www.win2012workstation.com/windows-8-apps/

You are right, the server 2012 defult is for all programs and services. I switched my inbox admin account's DEP to essentials only, but my new windows account that I created later inherited that setting from the built-in account. Anyway good we know now. ------------------------------------------- As for false positives, my security is the latest Eset Endpoint with all updates, and my StartIsBack comes out clean after scanning.

It's Windows 8 feature. Recycle Bin confirmation is off by default. You can change Windows 8 defaults in Recycle Bin properties: http://www.technophileshub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/recycle-bin-confirmation-dialog-checkbox.jpg

It's Windows 8 feature. Recycle Bin confirmation is off by default.I found how to fix Windows Server 2012 - exclude StartIsBackCfg.exe from DEP options. My DEP is on by default for essential windows programs and services, no crashes.

And by the way, thanks for restoring the context menu when right-clicking on "All Programs', so now you get "Open", "Open for all users", and "Properties" options. Handy.

Isn't there a way to enable UAC for the inbox admin via registry or gpedit.msc?

I can't reproduce that bug in Server 2012 after I uninstalled beta 2 and installed beta 3, try creating new user account and test it.

I use Windows Server 2012 RTM and StartIsBackCfg.exe DOES NOT crash at all. All features are perfectly functional. Renaming works fine if you Shift-Right click on a pinned item and choose 'Rename'. In this case no problem at all. However, if you right click a pinned item and choose 'Properties' and rename the shortcut in the general tab, the pinned item gets screwed up and all you can do with it is unpin it. I always use "Rename" from the context menu, so to me it's Ok. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- After installing Beta 3 you don't need to re-log in to get the Start Menu working. It's very nice indeed. What I would like to suggest is another option in the configuration windows to enable/disable StartIsBack.

Microsoft should simply release an update that would bypass metro on startup, and add back the start menu. That's all it takes, everyone will be more or less happy. In fact, metro is not bad, it's pretty much a replacement for Vista/7 sidebar. You needed to show actually how beautiful and helpful Metro is meant to be, such as Travels' Panoramas, Weather, People, etc. and better show that all in a tablet.

Flip 3D is by far the coolest feature of Vista/Win7 (IMHO)!! It introduces a measure of FUN into an otherwise sedate business tool. And of course I use the Start Menu for 95% of my program launches. I find it psychologically unsettling to have a cluttered Desktop, or a Taskbar full of little permanent icons. --JorgeA I agree, we want something cooler than just Windows Millenium with a touch screen. Microsoft Start Menu was very helpful, and Flip3D was both functional and nice, it was a brand for both Vista and 7. Windows 8 does have Aero which is just as normal Aero but without translucency. Bao's Switcher (http://insentient.net/Index.html) does work in Windows 8, 7, and Vista. Go ahead and try it. Video demo here: This Switcher is a good illustration that Flip3D is still possible, someone may come up with a Flip3D replica or rebuild its original code. Good point, it was an addition to Alt-Tab rather than its replacement. Without the smooth animations it would be as fast as AltTab but not as gorgeous as Flip3D. I too found it very convenient cycling through large previews, that I could even read them and watch live media content while in Flip mode. That way I could watch and see which of my running tasks finishes first and decide whose window to switch to. Flip3D was fastest switcher ever you could find one working in a 3D environment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talking about different needs, the majority of users cast their votes in favor of start menu and aero. People even accuse Microsoft of loosing common sence, saying MS were obviously catering to tablet owners with Windows 8, but they should never forget their bread and butter. The desktop market is still huge and Microsoft has a responsibility to service them. Forcing them to use something that they don’t like isn’t exactly good service. And so on. Obviously Microsoft is a large monopolist who has already well tied up their users by offerring them DirectX and largest software segment for windows platform. This makes us use any OS they release even such as Windows 8 with that abundant Metro, no start menu, without Aero and shadows, which we’ll still have to love. There is no other way to use latest DirectX technology, play modern games and use modern software after a few years when XP and 7 age out. In other words, it’s our users’ duty to adapt our needs and preferences to Microsoft, not vice versa. Or go MacOS or Linux if we can.

Arr, come on, she's good. She did say that Windows 7 was her idea, and Windows 7 wasn't bad. But Windows 8 is a little bit ... not to say what millions of angry users think. I guess in time we'll love it and thank Julie Green for such revolutional step. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is Microsoft biggest mistake because Start menu and Flip3D were so succesfully designed, functional, and outstanding that other systems were not even close. Removing them was like throwing to the garbage a piece of art. Both Start and Flip were used and loved by many users, Microsoft should bring them back with SP 1: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsdeveloperpreviewgeneral/thread/693f1deb-8bc3-4408-af67-f9a94a800b64/ I wonder how much Flip 3D was actually used. I never used it (on purpose) and I think MS got that idea from Ubuntu anyways. -- Ubuntu's task witching layout and its animations are so different from Flip3D, Microsoft made it new and unique. Just my opinion. -- Quite a few people used it, take alone that msdn thread, or see internet how many articles since Vista times did mention this feature with praise and pictures. Well, since long time ago I read some people claim to do without start menu, so I guess their opinion was finally taken into consideration.

Right, desktop feauture is a must for me, and .net framework is a must for you, and other features is a must for others. Without those certain features installed, windows server installation is actually incomplete. Of course a big "advantage" of Windows Server without DE is the ability to boot straight to desktop, but the drawback of such approach is the lack of many essential components that are present in Windows 8 (by default). As a matter of personal preference, I'm not ready to boot straight to desktop by loosing desktop essentials. The way out of metro for me is via 3rd party tools I mentioned. = Classic Shell+StartIsBack. I'm with you on that. I've never understood why would MS deprive their power users of the handy classic start, forcing them to use the client 7-like menu instead. Now they've taken step further and gave us no menu at all.

This is Microsoft biggest mistake because Start menu and Flip3D were so succesfully designed, functional, and outstanding that other systems were not even close. Removing them was like throwing to the garbage a piece of art. Both Start and Flip were used and loved by many users, Microsoft should bring them back with SP 1: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsdeveloperpreviewgeneral/thread/693f1deb-8bc3-4408-af67-f9a94a800b64/ -------------------------------------------------- Availability of start menu in Windows 8 does not hurt metro at all, I use both. Diversity of features is always a big plus.

I must say, I've never used Server as Desktop/Workstation OS, so I have no idea if this worked or not. In biggest majority of cases it didn't.

Indeed, Desktop Experience feature is not there by default, neither are a few other features that are installed in Windows 8 by default (such as backup, bit-locker, etc). There's no new Aero theme, no WMP, no sound, no snipping tool, no widndows defender, no disk cleanup, no .net framework, nothing that makes your desktop comfortable and fully functional. So if you really interact with your server, be it 2003/2008/2012, Desktop Experience is a must, not an option. Without various features, windows server is not ready to use. With Desktop Experience on, Server does not boot straight to desktop. You can enable it, but then you loose "Change PC Settings" in your metro-style control panel, and currently there is no fix, http://www.win2008workstation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=2215 Instead, I use Classic Shell with StartIsBack to bypass Metro. But it's pretty weird still that Metro is available in Server OS, it would have been way more rational to keep the start menu in Server 2012. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772567.aspx

Click on the image. He already gave you the link. Right, just click on the image, in post #206 or #208

Two versions of new AMD graphic drivers were just released and both versions on the same day, 10/22/2012, Catalyst 12.10 WHQL and Catalyst 12.11 beta: ==> http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx Very hot so grab them while they are. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For AMD Radeon™ HD 5000, HD 6000 and HD 7000 Series users, Microsoft® has certified today’s AMD Catalyst™ 12.10 release as “compatible with Windows 8.” With this driver, these products offer full support for WDDM 1.2, which is an updated model for graphics drivers that Microsoft has developed to ensure smooth performance and wide compatibility in their new operating system. Target-Independent Rasterization (TIR): TIR is a new rendering path that enables superior anti-aliasing in Direct3D driver applications. Native Stereo 3D Support: Windows 8 natively supports stereoscopic 3D gaming and videos via compatible applications. Unified Video API: Video playback has been integrated into the DirectX® 11 API, enabling simultaneous video and gaming content. Transcoding performance may also be improved for supporting applications. Optimized screen rotation for rotation aware devices Improved sleep/resume performance Optimized GPU power consumption Major technologies / features also supported under Windows 8: AMD Eyefinity technology OpenCL™ OpenGL Unified Video Decoder (UVD) AMD Dual Graphics AMD CrossFire technology AMD Overdrive AMD Catalyst Control Center Vision Engine Control Center For more advanced users, we are also making the AMD Catalyst™ 12.11 Beta available today. This driver introduces significant performance improvements for many games across ALL 28nm AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series products: HD 7700, HD 7800 and HD 7900. Check out our blog posting on Catalyst 12.11 Beta for more information. Highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 12.11 Beta. Performance gains seen on the entire AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series: 10%-15% more performance in Battlefield 3 in most cases More than 20% in certain missions and sequences (Comrades) Up to 7% more performance in Metro 2033 Up to 10% more performance in DiRT Showdown Up to 8% more performance in Sleeping Dogs Up to 12% more performance in Civilization V Up to 10% more performance in StarCraft II Up to 8% more performance in Sniper Elite: V2

No, the default policy for Server 2012 is to load metro first. Quite a surprise for many people because it implies you wanna equip your server with a touch screen as in tablets and cell phones. I installed Server 2012 recently and can confirm it doesn't boot to desktop by default: http://www.win2008workstation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=2215 http://www.win2012workstation.com/boot-to-classic-desktop/ http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/networking/how-to-navigate-start-in-windows-server-2012/5850 Great if boot straight to desktop works without issues in Windows 8.

Does look neat to me too, good job. ---------------------------------------- Start button maker if anyone's interested,

explorer.exe shell:::{2559a1f8-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0} is cool but not quite what I'm looking for. There has to be another similar code that launches metro start screen. The Classic Shell's hotkey opens up StartIsBack menu instead of the metro screen. I'm well familiar with Autohotkey, but that script also launches StartIsBack, not the Metro Screen. Err ... wait, StartIsBack gives me the right-Win to launch Metro, so I'll use this script: #NoTrayIcon Send {RWin} ExitApp Yehoo, works! Start Metro.zip Did you even read my post, I posted one for the left window key for the start menu and one for the right window key to launch the start screen using startisback, that's why I gave you both links because I wasn't sure if you were using Startisback. Thanks, now I have followed your second link but the problem is I'm not registered at my digital life so I can't download from there. Anyway, I can use my own shortcut with an icon thanks to Autohotkey and RWin (my keyboard doesn't have RWin and I had totally forgotten about it until I spotted it in the options). --------------------------------------------- After using Window Spy for a while I discovered that the Metro Screen is ahk_class ImmersiveLauncher, but activating it does nothing. Activating ahk_class DV2ControlHost shows StartIsBack menu. Thanks for all replies, appreciated.

explorer.exe shell:::{2559a1f8-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0} is cool but not quite what I'm looking for. There has to be another similar code that launches metro start screen. The Classic Shell's hotkey opens up StartIsBack menu instead of the metro screen. I'm well familiar with Autohotkey, but that script also launches StartIsBack, not the Metro Screen. Err ... wait, StartIsBack gives me the right-Win to launch Metro, so I'll use this script: #NoTrayIcon Send {RWin} ExitApp Yehoo, works! Start Metro.zip

Lol, browsing forums for 'no start menu' I read someone pretending quite happy with it, saying that Metro screen provides better access to all programs (!) "as it was frequently proven in blogs." That means if they prove something got better in Windows 8, you better take it.