Skip to main content

Windows 8 - Where's the missing Start Button (and how to get it back)

As many of you out there know, in previous versions of Windows, pressing the 'Windows' button on your keyboard, normally brings up the 'Start Menu'. In Windows 8, this has been changed to bring up the Windows Metro Interface, and as many have discovered, the Start Button (or Start Menu) has been removed from Windows 8.

Unfortunately, this is a strategy that Microsoft has employed to try and get users to rely more on the Metro menu. But some of us 'old school' users are so used to the Start button and would like to have this brought back. So - how do we do this?

Well there are a few methods but I will elaborate on 2 of my preferred ways.

VISTART and CLASSIC SHELL.

Vistart
Vistart will bring back your Windows button in it's near original format. The only part of this method that irks me is the fact you could 'unwittingly' install software onto your system by accepting the terms and conditions - so please take the time to read what the terms and conditions are before pressing on the OK or ACCEPT button.

Please note: at the time I tested it today, with the retail release of Windows 8, I have found that, upon restarting, the Start Button has reverted back to text only and the button functionality has been lost. I am not sure if this has been a deliberate attempt by Microsoft to stop this button from working or not, but for now, please use Classic Shell (as per description below).

Classic Shell
Classic shell is a SourceForge community attempt to bring the start button back. Although the button doesn't resemble the old Start button (it looks like a Windows 'Shell' button), it does what it's meant to do and has a myriad of menu styles you can choose from, Windows Classic, Windows XP or Windows Vista/7 style of menu.
Upon installing this add-on you may be in a panic when you can't seem to get the Metro menu back. Don't worry, this can be reversed by doing the following...
  1. Click on the Start Shell Button
  2. Select the 'Basic Settings' tab
  3. Move to the 'Windows Key Opens' option
  4. Select 'Windows Start Menu'
  5. Click on OK and you're done.
 Now, pressing the Windows Key will bring the Metro Menu back again.

Classic Shell is the way to go to get most of the 'familiarity' of Windows 7 back to your Win8 setup and I would recommend this over all other methods at this point.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cloud computing - what it is and how it has evolved

Many years ago Internet Service Providers (ISP's) and internet hosting companies languished in profits when users used the ISP's servers and hosting services to hold emails and files. At that time, these services were simply known as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and just plain email (or POP3 email) services. During the noughties (2000-2009) or the oo's (ooh's) some may call it, Microsoft, developed their server systems and brought us newer technologies that allowed small and medium enterprises to host their own mail and filing systems, in the form of Microsoft Servers or Microsoft Small Business Servers (SBS), running Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint services. This left many an ISP with little joy as they saw their profits from hosting, eroded by users and enterprises migrating away from their hosted services and starting up their own Microsoft server systems. So the question was, how do the hosting companies get users to come back to their hosted systems, which the

How to use your Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 Android Tablet with S Pen LTE Edition (2016) as a pseudo laptop

If you are anything like me and are a technology buff, you quite possibly have a lot of devices that are lying around that you haven't used for ages. In my case, while trawling through some of my old gear, i came across a lot of bluetooth devices that were sitting derelict in a box. Needing a mobile solution for work and play, i recently purchased a Samsung Tab A 10.1 with S Pen (2016 LTE edition). I must say, I have probably gotten more done since buying this tablet than I have for awhile. Stuff you will need to make this work 1. Bluetooth Keyboard - If you don't have one, you can get one from eBay from around $20 2. Bluetooth Mouse - again, if you don't have one - eBay from around $12 3. Bluetooth Headphones - I have an old pair of Plantronics Backbeat GO2 4. Samsung Tab A 10.1 with S Pen (2016 LTE edition) from Officeworks for about $389 or the LTE version from JBHiFi for around $599 With these three items, you can effectively transform this tablet into a ro

Microsoft Fixes 19 Year old "Six Figure Black Market" Windows Bug

Microsoft has just patched a critical bug that has been present in every version of Windows since Windows 95. Read the original full article here... Microsoft fixes 19 year old Windows bug As far as conspiracy theories go - this is another way of Microsoft 'urging' it's users to move away from the Windows XP Platform to the newer operating systems. And considering that the demise of Windows 7 is around the corner (end of life for Windows 7 is January 13th, 2015) - users will have little choice but to adopt the Windows 8 system or Windows 10. This being said, users and system administrators should be more mindful when using Windows XP, as compromising an XP system is now more likely considering the whole world and all it's hackers have been made aware of the exploit.