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For Windows 8 Users, Stardock Revives the Start Menu

Posted by timothy on from the best-place-to-end-your-session dept.

jones_supa writes "By reinventing the Start Menu in Windows 8, Microsoft has caused some resistance to the new Start Screen. For those longing for the classic way of doing things, Stardock comes to rescue. The Start8 is a piece of software which replicates the functionality of the button and menu found in previous versions of Windows. Supported is starting applications, the Run and Shutdown features, and search."

3 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. Mod parent up! by binarylarry · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Start8 screwed up my Win8 preview install.

    Vistart works better and doesn't jack your system.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  2. desktops apps do not need to be full screen by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why did MS make the build in e-mail app a full screen on in windows 8?

    I hope that they don't do this to notepad and the other windows Accessories.

  3. Re:Validity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Except when there isn't. Lets say I install a game. Where is it?

    Is it just an icon in the root of the start menu for GameName? Maybe.

    Is it in a folder under GameName? Maybe.

    Is it in a folder under Publisher\GameName? Maybe. Hell, Star Wars: The Old Republic actually goes in as EA\Bioware\Star Wars\Star Wars - The Old Republic

    Is it in the Games Explorer and not in the Start Menu programs list at all? Maybe. (This was a requirement for Games for Windows games on Vista, but most developers ignore GFW entirely these days.)

    Now throw that at an ordinary user. How is that in any way going to appear as anything more then random? It's not usable at all. It was even worse back in Vista when the start menu search ignored the Games Explorer for some idiotic reason.

    The start menu sucks in terms of actual usability, which is why most users launch stuff from the Desktop. They know what's going on there.