For Windows 8 Users, Stardock Revives the Start Menu

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."

Re:Validity?

[Spad]

Microsoft buggered up the start menu in Windows 7 and people complained

Really? I think the Windows 7 Start Menu is a considerable improvement over XP. I'll admit I was sceptical at first, but now I find that whenever I'm stuck on an XP box I really miss it.

I'm sure I'll get used to most of Windows 8's new conventions too, but as it stands I'm still not convinced that they're all a good idea - especially this idea of having to have both Metro and Regular versions of half your programs.

Almost

[dinfinity]

A pity, looking at the screenshot, I was hoping that it would actually enable a taskbar while using the Metro interface. Instead, it just displays the start screen in a quarter of the display area - a size for which the Metro interface is ridiculous. Vistart ( http://lee-soft.com/vistart/ [lee-soft.com] - no affiliation) is a better alternative if you want the start button back.

Registry

[munozdj]

I had the urge to change the metro interface to the classic one in my copy of the Developer Preview and, after some googling (google is my friend indeed), I found that it only requires changing a certain value in windows registry. So this Stardock changes only that? Seems to be just a glorified way to set a registry value. Citation! [mstechpages.com]

Re:Validity?

[Anonymous Coward]

In 7, click start, start typing the name of your program, and you're there.
In XP, the program is lost in submenus.

Stardock: late to the game

[macraig]

I'm already using a third party FOSS replacement, Classic Start Menu [codeproject.com], in Windows 7 to replace at least one critical bit of capability that Microsoft revoked: folders in the root of the start menu. I've relied for years on being able to create and manage folders in the start menu as sub-folders to manage shortcuts. I eliminate at least one click, I can organize them by task or function, and I don't have to deal with the confusion of developers' sometimes unintuitive ways of placing their apps in Programs.

I expect the author of Classic Start Menu will shift with the tide when Windows 8 arrives and produce a new version, so I will likely just keep using it if he does and it continues to prove necessary for me. That way I eliminate even the learning curve of Stardock's rendition.

Re:Validity?

[Missing.Matter]

I can never find the program I want to run on the new start menu. As far as I'm concerned it's a disaster zone.

Why? It's just list of applications.

The Windows XP start menu with its flyout application menus didn't scale well. It just grows and grows with the more applications you add. For some people finding a particular item is a matter of scanning a list that fills your entire screen. Then you have the application folders which can be several layers deep, and require you to hover over a single item then move to the next menu, which can take a great deal of dexterity. Make one wrong move and the whole thing closes, and you have to start again.

The windows 7 start menu is much more sensible: and alphabetical list with clickable folders. It scales well, it doesn't require any dexterity to manipulate it. Just pin your most used applications and you're set. What is so difficult about that?

Re:Validity?

[Missing.Matter]

I really don't see your problem. The place to look for all applications is start>all programs, just as it was in Windows XP. The only differences are: instead of a giant list that fills your entire screen, you have a scrollable list; and instead of fly out menus you have clickable menus, a paradigm that has existed in explorer since forever. I seriously am missing the mental disconnect that makes this second scenario intractable for you.

Re:We all suffer under the whim of UI designers

[Enderandrew]

Akonadi makes a lot of sense by allowing all applications on a platform share data as a resource.

It is strigi's indexing as part of nepomuk that causes the hard drive thrashing. KDE harasses you if you try to completely disable akonadi or nepomuk, but you can disable strigi's indexing simple enough without getting harassed. It is the first thing I do in a fresh KDE environment.

Re:Validity?

[TheLink]

I put a bunch of programs in my "SendTo" folder. Text editors, hex editor, media players (more than one), windiff, windirstat.

"SendTo" is a great invention (by Microsoft?). The people who designed the original Windows 95 UI actually had a number of good ideas. SendTo being one of them.

No need to edit some config file or go through some config screens, just copy shortcuts to SendTo and voila you can now try to open files with those programs.

Note: if you're not sure where your send to folder is on Windows, click on start, then run, and type: shell:sendto and press enter. Then copy/create the various shortcuts to the programs there.