A More Familiar Windows 8
By Wayne Maruna

    Windows 8 was released to (some would say foisted upon) the public in October, 2012, and immediately came under criticism for the significant departure from its long established user interface. Gone was the start button/orb and the start menu. In their place was the “Modern User Interface” which consisted of a screen full of tiles.  The familiar Windows ‘desktop’ workspace was still there, though you had to click a tile or a Windows key to get to it, and then you had to circle back to the Modern UI to initiate an application.  Some have speculated that a general decline in computer sales is due in part to peoples’ reluctance to accept Windows 8.  Microsoft has announced plans to release an update, called 8.1, later in 2013 (possibly as early as August) to address some of the concerns.

    I’ve got three computers running Windows 8.  Like many folks, my initial reaction to the new operating system was unfavorable.  However, third party developers have come to the rescue with some low cost or free offerings which, at least for me, have done away with my biggest gripes, to the point where I am now quite comfortable running Windows 8, and have no qualms recommending new PCs equipped with Win8.

    What these 3rd party offerings all do is bring back to the desktop the Start Button/Orb (or a reasonable facsimile), and also reinstate the start menu to which we are accustomed. They allow you to configure your machine so that you seldom if ever have to use the Modern UI if you prefer not to. On my systems, I skip the log-in screen, bypass the Modern UI, and boot right to the desktop as I am accustomed.  Quite frankly, I can be running my machines and never know I was running anything other than an earlier version of Windows. Let’s take a look at some of these 3rd party add-ons.

    Classic Shell (www.classicshell.net) has the advantage of being totally free. It restores the start button and even gives you a choice of which version of Windows you’d like the Start Button/Orb and Start Menu to emulate:  XP, Vista, or Win7. It has several configuration options that control the look and feel of how the desktop intermingles with the “modern user interface”. The following graphic displays the menu option to choose the Windows 7 interface emulation.

Classic Shell

    If you don’t mind spending all of $5, you can go to www.stardock.com and download their Srart8 program that does pretty much what Classic Shell does.  You can actually download the program and use it free for 30 days.  If you like it, you pay the $5 for the registered copy to keep it operable.  Start8 does not give you the option of choosing to make your start menu look like XP or Vista, but it emulates Windows 7 so spot-on that it is actually my favorite of the two utilities. It has lots and lots of configuration options from which to pick and choose, so it is highly customizable. The following graphic shows what a standard Windows 8 desktop looks like with the Start8 menuing program in place.

Stardock Start8

   
    Greg Shultz, a tech writer who covers Windows for Tech Republic, wrote a lengthy article on another free utility called Start Menu Reviver.  Here is a link to the article: http://tinyurl.com/nazyz9h . Shultz took the view that while Windows 8 definitely needs a return of the start menu and start button, a new operating system deserved a freshened look and feel.  That’s what Start Menu Reviver brings to the desktop.  It recreates the start menu and start orb, but with a look that blends with the Win8 tiles. Start8, mentioned above, also provides a similar option.   Below is a sample of the Start Menu Reviver interface as taken from Greg's page:

Start Menu Reviver

The above programs are just three of many when it comes to start menu replacements for Windows 8.  Lance Whitney, writing for CNET, lists eleven such programs, including the three detailed above, in his article which you can find here:  http://tinyurl.com/cujjly7 . Whitney’s article provides snapshots of how the various programs render their start menus, so you can decide what appeals to you before downloading and trying out any of the products.  Since the three above are all either free or provide for a free trial, there’s no harm in trying one out, and if you don’t like it or want to test another, uninstall the first program and try another.  But be sure to uninstall the first program before attempting to install a different one, or you could end up with a mess.

I highly recommend Start8 or Classic Shell. Whichever you choose, I think you will find these apps can make the transition to Windows 8 much easier and get you back to a comfortable and familiar operating environment.