Hi, there is so much software out there already to restore the start menu and the start button but for me personally the start screen is Windows 8 is plenty. I do however miss the start button, I know its just a button and that clicking the bottom left corner will bring up the start screen anyway but I would still love to have it sitting there in the corner. To get to the point is there a way to bring back the start button without a start menu and without any software running in the background? Thanks for reading and any help.

TL; DR, looking for a way to get a start button in the taskbar without adding a start menu and preferably without any additional software running in the background.

Sure there is. Just create a Autohotkey script that sends the Win key and pin it as the first item on your taskbar. Someone made it already: http://www.howtogeek.com/108838/make-your-own-windows-8-start-button-with-zero-memory-usage/

Sure there is. Just create a Autohotkey script that sends the Win key and pin it as the first item on your taskbar. Someone made it already: http://www.howtogeek.com/108838/make-your-own-windows-8-start-button-with-zero-memory-usage/

A big fan of autohotkey here, me, and I've used that approach successfully. However, in a few circumstances there's a huge lag after clicking that shortcut before metro comes up, like several seconds which is quite annoying.

There must be a point in a system's dll to start metro instantly just as fast as from Charms menu.

^^ Do you by chance have Windows Defender or MSE enabled? It is incompatible with AutoHotkey, causes CPU hangs. Disable it and use another AV because despite reporting the problem on Connect via MSE's "public betas", the problem hasn't been fixed for the past 3 releases.

^^ Do you by chance have Windows Defender or MSE enabled? It is incompatible with AutoHotkey, causes CPU hangs.

No, and I wasn't aware of this incompatibility, thanks for telling. My only security is Eset Endpoint. Normally the shortcut works pretty fast. My guess lags can be due to overloaded system and also when certain active windows intercept key strokes.

I'd think that almost everyone, by now, would be very much aware of the "Classic Shell" for Windows 8.

It not only restores the Start button and start menu, but traditional Windows Explorer as well. And it can be set up to jump right to the old familiar Desktop, bypassing the Metro screen all together.

I use it and install it for all my customers.

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