Help! I've got Windows 8 and I miss my Start menu!
With Christmas now long behind us, one or two of you may well have been lucky enough to find a shiny new Windows 8 PC under the tree. After cleaning off the crapware, it's time to use the thing, and that means digging into the new user interface.
The Windows 8 user interface has many Windows users divided. The chief complaints are that Windows 8 has no Start button and that it has no Start menu, only the (full-screen, Metro-styled) Start screen. Secondary to these is the complaint that Windows 8 shows the Start screen immediately after logging in, rather than showing the desktop as prior versions of Windows have done. Getting to the desktop takes an extra click.
To address the unfamiliarity and (perceived) problems with the Windows 8 UI, a number of third-party applications have popped up to provide a Start menu, or some approximation thereof, and a Start button for Windows 8 users. They also pull some kind of trickery to switch directly to the desktop upon logging in.
Some of these applications are new, motivated entirely by Windows 8's supposed "shortcomings"Stardock's Start8, StartIsBack, and RetroUI all share this characteristic. Others are new versions of old apps. Classic Shell was originally a project to reinstate the Windows XP Start menu on Windows Vista and Windows 7 (among other things); it now has some Windows 8-specific functionality. Pokki is an application runtime, launcher, and marketplace; in its latest iteration it too jumps on the Start screen replacement bandwagon.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/help-ive-got-windows-8-and-i-miss-my-start-menu/
StartIsBack is their favorite
liberal N proud
(60,346 posts)I wouldn't call getting windows 8 lucky
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)Windows logo key + start typing - Search your PC
Ctrl + plus (+) or Ctrl + minus (-) - Zoom in or out of a large number of items, like apps pinned to the Start screen
Ctrl + scroll wheel - Zoom in or out of a large number of items, like apps pinned to the Start screen
Windows logo key + C - Open the charms / In an app, open the commands for the app
Windows logo key + F - Open the Search charm to search files
Windows logo key + H - Open the Share charm
Windows logo key + I - Open the Settings charm
Windows logo key + J - Switch the main app and snapped app
Windows logo key + K - Open the Devices charm
Windows logo key + O - Lock the screen orientation (portrait or landscape)
Windows logo key + Q - Open the Search charm to search apps
Windows logo key + W - Open the Search charm to search settings
Windows logo key + Z - Show the commands available in the app
Windows logo key + spacebar - Switch input language and keyboard layout
Windows logo key + Ctrl + spacebar - Change to a previously selected input
Windows logo key + Tab - Cycle through open apps (except desktop apps)
Windows logo key + Ctrl + Tab - Cycle through open apps (except desktop apps) and snap them as they are cycled
Windows logo key + Shift + Tab - Cycle through open apps (except desktop apps) in reverse order
Windows logo key + PgUp - Move the Start screen and apps to the monitor on the left (Apps in the desktop wont change monitors)
Windows logo key + PgDown - Move the Start screen and apps to the monitor on the right (Apps in the desktop wont change monitors)
Windows logo key + Shift + period (.) - Snaps an app to the left
Windows logo key + period (.) - Snaps an app to the right
Esc - Stop or exit the current task
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Then you can tape it to your monitor.
if I wanted a giant smartphone, I would not have bought a computer.
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)jrandom421
(1,005 posts)In 1995, I can remember the rant, "I've got Windows 95, and I miss my Program Manager"!
Babel_17
(5,400 posts)StartIsBack is good stuff and I like that it simply builds on the existing framework within Windows.