Start Is Back - 2.1 release

[ISOHaven]

Here's another point of view. For home, I wouldn't really care which direction it went. Paid or ads (preferred paid). But for business...ads are a no go. I cannot implement anything ad driven.

On a side note, what's worked "well" for many people:

Free - ad driven

Paid - ad removal

Simple as that. But all in all, ads are a PITA for developers. I tried that direction once and quickly stopped.

[Tihiy]

BETA ONE "THE ONE"

http://tihiy.net/files/StartIsBack_betaone.zip

* Will expire November 1.

* No longer tied to RTM explorer.exe. Should work with all updates. Works with Release Preview also (but i won't spend my efforts on it).

* Slighly improved cracking protection. Some AV programs may detect heuristic malware.

FIXED:

* Start_AdminToolsTemp issue

* Start button could be closed with Alt-F4

NEW:

* Start Is Apps! Now the separation between desktop and Metro i promised is here (optional). When you enable it:

- Start will be renamed to Apps

- Pin to Start will disappear from shell context menus

- Desktop programs will be hidden from Metro start screen and all apps list

* Start/App screen can show on right winkey (optional)

* Start/App screen hides on Alt-F4

* Start menu is transparent (optional)

* Taskbar is not (optional)

You must uninstall beta 0 and logoff since you can't replace files while StartIsBack is working. Don't worry, installer will come soon!

Edited October 15, 2012 by Tihiy

[MagicAndre1981]

nice I'll try it

[roirraWedorehT]

Wow, most impressive! Uninstalling Zero and installing One now!

[ISOHaven]

So far with a new installation of Server 2012 and Win8....no more Reg problems. As soon as I get back from lunch I'll play with your new features.

EDIT:

Everything seems to be running great for me. The new features work. I know some people will like the no transparency. Just FYI, when you turn OFF transparency the user tile border is still transparent. I know how anal some people get about it But not me, I like the transparency. I think it looks great!

Edited October 15, 2012 by ISOHaven

[ISOHaven]

Just a word of caution for Server 2012 folks...most all apps on 2012 are desktop apps so....if you enable "Rename Start Screen...." then you'll wipe out just about everything except Desktop and IE. Which is odd because IE on 2012 is desktop only, no metro.

[roirraWedorehT]

WHAT TO TEST IN BETA 1:

1. * Start Menu, is it fully functional and works as you expect

2. * Start button, is it fully operational and draws as you expect

3. * Desktop, is it initialized correctly

4. * Start-up programs, are they all loaded in time

5. * Apps (Start screen), is it broken in any way

6. * Multi-monitor woes?

7. * Options for Start screen

8. * Everything else. This program will be targeted to most casual users, so behave like ones

KNOWN ISSUES LIST:

A. * Changing recent program count doesn't effect immediately

B. * "Pin to Start Menu" is not shown in left panel unless you shift+right click

C. * MFU program list is lazely populated

D. * Antiviral program may detect trojans / heuristic malware

* It's a beta quality

1. Yes with exception of known issue C.

2. Yes

3. Yes

4. Yes, they all are.

5. None broken as far as I've tested so far.

6. No anomalies noticed.

7. Can't test Right-Window key, otherwise works beatifully! The only keyboards I have with a right Windows key are PS/2 (that's NOT Playstation 2 for the young 'uns ) and I don't have working generic PS/2->USB adapters, only the other way around, or ones that only apparently work with the Microsoft branded keyboards they came with, which don't have a right Windows key. I know it's TMI.

8. This program is beautiful!!!

D. Built-in Windows Defender under Windows 8 not detecting this as anything (yet). Give MS time, though. That would probably be the most obvious uncasual thing to casual users.

Suggestions:

1. For keyboards without a second (right) Windows key, maybe a configurable shortcut for the Apps screen?

2. One thing that has always irked me about Windows XP+ recently used programs is the most used programs (not counting pinned) are furthest away from the Start Button. Once you have the MFU program list working as normal, it would be cool if you could have an option to reverse the order of the list, too.

Edited October 16, 2012 by roirraW "edor" ehT

[roirraWedorehT]

Changed answer to #6 above, "No anomalies noticed" instead of "Haven't tested yet."

[ISOHaven]

Microsoft Forefront isn't detecting anything.

[Servelius]

Upgraded to betaone, thanks for those cool improvement in 'advanced' tab.

Why does the menu close on its own after you stop mouse for a second, what if you need more time to choose a program? That way it screws up the whole idea of a Start Menu.

Other than that it works perfectly well. I don't mind error pop ups on first run of configtool.exe, error "can't obtain data..." show up only once or twice so no biggy.

I'm not having the trouble of the menu closing on it's own. I hovered in one place (over start menu button, over other areas of start menu) for ten seconds without it doing that.

Do you have any third-party mouse driver or mouse-related software?

No, of the drivers I only have catalyst and realtek, that's it. I also made sure to shut down any third-party tools which in my pc is only classic shell and its service and reboot. Same annoyance again and only with startisback for some weird reason:

- the start menu closes on its own after I stop moving mouse for 1 second;

- if I open the start menu and quickly hit and hold 'shift' or 'control', the menu stays open for as long as I need it;

- tried everything that came to my mind as well as advanced and modern UI options in the config menu, and no luck still.

I haven't spotted any bugs except for that awful one.

::sad

I must mention my windows is server 2012, but I've seen other folks with startisback on their servers fine. Or could server 2012 be the problem?

[jinkazama]

I've installed Beta0ne, my Windows hangs on desktop screen without icons and start menu.

I'm using italian Windows 8 Pro build 9200.

Before using your software i've installed Classic Shell and Stardock's Start 8

[Tihiy]

I've installed Beta0ne, my Windows hangs on desktop screen without icons and start menu.

Most likely you haven't installed it right. Anyway uninstall with reg file, Win+R should be working. And i hope you didn't left Start8/Classic Shell installed.

- the start menu closes on its own after I stop moving mouse for 1 second;

- if I open the start menu and quickly hit and hold 'shift' or 'control', the menu stays open for as long as I need it;

- tried everything that came to my mind as well as advanced and modern UI options in the config menu, and no luck still.

Let's take a look

Try downloading DebugView from sysinternals and post debug log (dbgview running when you open start menu and it closes itself) here or PM.

Also try invoking Start menu with Ctrl-Esc.

Edited October 16, 2012 by Tihiy

[paradox929]

I know it's a false positive, but this is what Bitdefender comes up with:

Edited October 16, 2012 by paradox929

[itoy]

I've installed Beta0ne, my Windows hangs on desktop screen without icons and start menu.

I'm using italian Windows 8 Pro build 9200.

Before using your software i've installed Classic Shell and Stardock's Start 8

your instll path is wrong

copy the “Startisback” to C:\

[Tihiy]

itoy, can you tell me about Chinese system experience?