Ways to get back the Start Menu/Button in Win8

[JorgeA]

Here's another option for booting straight to the Windows 8 Desktop.

It might also reduce the annoyance of having the Charms appear when you happen to leave the mouse pointer in the wrong place.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Wentutu Start Menu includes the ability to list frequently used items and to boot directly to the Desktop. Works on 32- and 64-bit systems.

--JorgeA

[Servelius]

Wentutu Start Menu includes the ability to list frequently used items and to boot directly to the Desktop. Works on 32- and 64-bit systems.

--JorgeA

Wentutu Start Menu has a serious bug with 'All Programs' list if your Windows 8 root drive is other than C. My Windows 7 is on drive C, my Windows 8 is on drive D; I've installed Wentutu on Win8 and it shows me 'All Programs' from my Windows 7.

And I don't like Wentutu menu start button.

[Servelius]

Nope. After that skin, it will still be a flyout menu. That is its distinguishing factor from other hundred replacements and isn't going to change because Vista/7 style restricts all programs to a too limited area for browsing with mouse.

I like Classic Shell very much and I use it a lot in my both Windows 7 and 8. I'm dissapointed to hear that there won't be non-cascading all programs and search, why not? True that cascading menus was distinguishing factor in Classic Shell - but it was before Windows 8 RTM. Now it's a good idea to bring back the functionality of non-cascading start menu. Why, because it's more compact and handy and saves desk space which is quite useful sometimes. Both search results as well as all programs list could take both panes of the start menu, left and right, this way it would give user enough space (almost as much as cascades do), and thus it would be different from the original 7 start menu.

Why do I prefer Classic Shell overall, because it's very stable, fast, and does the job.

[JorgeA]

Wentutu Start Menu has a serious bug with 'All Programs' list if your Windows 8 root drive is other than C. My Windows 7 is on drive C, my Windows 8 is on drive D; I've installed Wentutu on Win8 and it shows me 'All Programs' from my Windows 7.

Thanks for the bug report! Did you notify the author? Maybe he will fix it.

Has anybody else experienced this issue?

--JorgeA

[xpclient]

It's a good idea to bring back the functionality of non-cascading start menu. Why, because it's more compact and handy and saves desk space which is quite useful sometimes. Both search results as well as all programs list could take both panes of the start menu, left and right, this way it would give user enough space (almost as much as cascades do), and thus it would be different from the original 7 start menu.

Why do I prefer Classic Shell overall, because it's very stable, fast, and does the job.

Making Classic Shell more compact is easy. Make the menu single column from "Menu Look" tab. Reduce main menu width to 20, sub-menu width to 30. On my laptop, at just 1280 x 800, it takes up 1/3 (33%) of the screen. To make it further compact, check "Small icons" on the Skin tab. It can easily be made narrower than the Windows 7 Start Menu. The only space it takes more than the Windows 7 menu is the block indicated in red. I don't think that's too large a part of the screen. And that's just compared to default height of Windows 7 Start Menu. If you enable more items in your Windows 7 Start Menu, it can grow taller too. If this is not enough to make folks happy, then there is always Start8.

Edited October 15, 2012 by xpclient

[Servelius]

Wentutu Start Menu has a serious bug with 'All Programs' list if your Windows 8 root drive is other than C. My Windows 7 is on drive C, my Windows 8 is on drive D; I've installed Wentutu on Win8 and it shows me 'All Programs' from my Windows 7.

Thanks for the bug report! Did you notify the author? Maybe he will fix it.

Has anybody else experienced this issue?

--JorgeA

I did, I reported the bug and suggested a few options, but the author wouldn't reply.

If your Windows 8 is on drive other than C, you'll see what I mean, Wentutu can't see other drives.

[Servelius]

Making Classic Shell more compact is easy. Make the menu single column from "Menu Look" tab. Reduce main menu width to 20, sub-menu width to 30. On my laptop, at just 1280 x 800, it takes up 1/3 (33%) of the screen. To make it further compact, check "Small icons" on the Skin tab. It can easily be made narrower than the Windows 7 Start Menu. The only space it takes more than the Windows 7 menu is the block indicated in red. I don't think that's too large a part of the screen. And that's just compared to default height of Windows 7 Start Menu. If you enable more items in your Windows 7 Start Menu, it can grow taller too. If this is not enough to make folks happy, then there is always Start8.

Thanks for your reply, @xpclient.

Still it would be great if clicking on 'All Programs' would expand to the entire start menu area instead of cascading, optionally, like this, all handy in one pane and witb lots of space, very elegant:

Cascades are great, but adding variety is always a big plus.

As for why not choosing other projects like Start8, I very much like the speed and the stability of classic shell, it's really handy. I'm using it in 8 with a hotkey to invoke and without a start button at all. If I end its process in device manager, it doesn't stop working unlike others' menus that fail. Classic Shell pops-up instantly and even offers me sounds, as well as tons of customizations - unlike other start projects. Good, fast and customizable search, bugs free, so why should I switch to Start8?

Oh, and not the least, classic shell is free.

[DosProbie]

Been using Ex7forW8 and works great, only thing is where is the Jump List? Post if you know..

thanks, DosProbie

[Tripredacus]

Been using Ex7forW8 and works great, only thing is where is the Jump List? Post if you know..

thanks, DosProbie

Tihiy has abandoned Ex7forW8 tool, so I doubt it will ever be fixed.

[Tihiy]

Tihiy has abandoned Ex7forW8 tool, so I doubt it will ever be fixed.

I never said that. If he reports bug, he does it in Ex7forW8 thread. I see just empty menu; that's okay.

[Tripredacus]

Tihiy has abandoned Ex7forW8 tool, so I doubt it will ever be fixed.

I never said that. If he reports bug, he does it in Ex7forW8 thread. I see just empty menu; that's okay.

Ok this is good news for those users then. For the record, here is the thread in question:

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Here is another that I didn't see mentioned yet. NeoWin reports on another entry in the replacement Start Menu sweepstakes ...

Pokki Menu by SweetLabs.

( original )

EDIT: updated image URL, and again

Edited May 7, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[JorgeA]

Here is another that I didn't see mentioned yet. NeoWin reports on another entry in the replacement Start Menu sweepstakes ...

Pokki Menu by SweetLabs.

Thanks, Charlotte. I'll add it to the list.

BTW, check out the video at the bottom of the page, where Chris Pirillo introduces Windows 8 to a number of people, some of them obviously tech-savvy.

--JorgeA

Edited October 18, 2012 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Wentutu Start Menu has a serious bug with 'All Programs' list if your Windows 8 root drive is other than C. My Windows 7 is on drive C, my Windows 8 is on drive D; I've installed Wentutu on Win8 and it shows me 'All Programs' from my Windows 7.

Thanks for the bug report! Did you notify the author? Maybe he will fix it.

Has anybody else experienced this issue?

--JorgeA

I did, I reported the bug and suggested a few options, but the author wouldn't reply.

If your Windows 8 is on drive other than C, you'll see what I mean, Wentutu can't see other drives.

Huh, thanks for letting us know. I'll keep the listing but add a note to this effect.

Please do post the news if you ever hear back from the author, or if the problem gets fixed.

--JorgeA

Edited October 18, 2012 by JorgeA