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Comparison of Start menu replacements for Windows 8

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Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system introduced an updated Start menu known as the "Start screen", which uses a full-screen design consisting of tiles to represent applications. This replaced the Windows desktop as the primary interface of the operating system. Additionally, the on-screen Start button was replaced by a hidden button in the corner of the screen; Microsoft explained that the Start button was removed because few people used it, noting the addition of "pinning" apps to the taskbar from Windows 7.[1][2]

The change was controversial among users, and a market ensued for applications which restore the visible Start button, emulate the previous Start menu design, or allow users to boot directly to the Desktop instead of the Start screen.[3]

The following is a list of Start menu replacements for Windows 8 which have received coverage from third-party sources:

Name Developer License Skins Run Pinning Aero Sort Boot to desktop Notes
BringBack[4] Revel Software Discontinued ? ? ? ? ? ? Discontinued [5] (http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/revel_bringback8.html)
Classic Shell[6][7][8][9][10] Classic Shell team MIT License[11] 10+extensible[12] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Allows Modern UI related tweaks
Discontinued and forked to Open-Shell
Classic Start 8[13] Crawler, LLC Freeware No Yes ? ? ? ?
Classic Windows Start Menu[14] SourceCodeBoy CC-BY-NC-ND (Freeware for non-commercial use only) [15] Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Discontinued (last version here http://www.pypa.es/Utilidades/Software/)
Ex7forW8[16] Tihiy Freeware ? ? ? ? ? ? Discontinued (http://tihiy.net/files/ex7forW8_1.0.zip)
Finalbird[17] Svyatoslav Yudin Freeware No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Favorites of Start Menu is unified with the other software parts
Handy Start Menu[18] ChemTable Software Freeware ? ? ? ? ? ?
Open-Shell[19] ? MIT Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Fork of Classic Shell
Pokki[6][7][9][20] SweetLabs, Inc. Freeware No ? ? ? ? Yes
Power8[6][21]

[22]

Power8 Team GNU General Public License ? ? ? ? ? ?
RetroUI Pro[6][8][23][24] Thinix Trialware ? ? ? ? ? ?
Samsung Quick Starter[25] Samsung ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Start Menu 8[6][7][9][26] IObit Trialware ? ? No ? ? Yes
Start Menu Reviver[27] ReviverSoft Freeware ? ? ? ? ? Yes touch screen support
Start Menu X[28] OrdinarySoft Freemium ? ? ? ? ? ?
Start8[6][7][29] Stardock Corporation Trialware Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
StartFinity[30] WinAbility Software Freemium ? ? ? ? ? Yes Supports automatic localization of Start menu
StartIsBack[6][7][8] Пуск Будет Удобнее Trialware 4+ Yes Yes ? ? Yes modifies existing hot corners
StartMenuPlus8[31] Winok Trialware ? ? ? ? ? ?
StartW8[32] SODATSW Freeware ? ? ? ? ? ?
SyMenu UGMFree Freeware 6 ? Yes ? Yes Yes The menu is fully portable
Tweaks.com Start for Windows 8[33] Advanced PC Media Freeware ? ? ? ? ? ?
ViStart[34] Lee-Soft Ad-supported Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes
Wentutu Start Menu[35] Wentutu ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Win8StartButton[36] Torch Media Inc. ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Win8Starter[37] Engelmann Media GmbH ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xeesa 1b QuickStart[38] Xeesa Services Freemium No ? ? ? ? ? Cloud Start Menu available

The number of skins in the table givens the number of built-in skins. If there are downloadable skins, then a "+" is appended to the number to indicate that download extensions are possible.

RetroUI, StartIsBack, Classic Shell, Start8, and Pokki are five of the more notable of these.[6][7] RetroUI is offered in 33 languages, and also for Windows Server 2012, and adds a taskbar and resizable windows.[39] StartIsBack is also localized.[40] Classic Shell used to be free and open source (now proprietary freeware), major items are localized and installing the Language Pack from Windows Update makes all items fully localized; Classic Shell is also available for Windows 7 and Windows Server, and claims over 25 million downloads.[41] The Pokki download to restore the Start menu is free; as of January 2013, it has about 1.5 million users.[42] The Pokki application platform, based on Chromium, enables desktop applications to be built—like mobile apps—using standard web languages like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.[43] It is also available for Windows XP and Windows 7.[44] Pokki has raised $21.5M from investors like Google, Intel, and O'Reilly;[45] its business model is to make a commission on software sold through its app store.[43][46] Start8 has been downloaded over 5 million times.[47]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Why Microsoft killed the Windows Start button". PC Pro. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  2. ^ Whitney, Lance (2012-02-06). "Microsoft removes start button in Windows 8". CNET. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  3. ^ Whitney, Lance (2011-10-12). "Microsoft reacts to gripes over Windows 8 Start screen". CNET. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  4. ^ Revel BringBack (beta) Review | Windows 8 Start Menu Apps
  5. ^ "Revel Software - About Us". Archived from the original on 2013-12-07. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "9 Windows Start menus for Windows 8". IT World. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Sebastian, Anthony (2013-02-20). "How to bring back the Start menu and button to Windows 8". Extremetech.com.
  8. ^ a b c How to get the Start menu back in Windows 8 | Windows 8 – CNET Reviews updated 2012/12/31
  9. ^ a b c "6 Start Menu Replacements for Windows 8". HowToGeek.com.
  10. ^ Spector, Lincoln (2012-09-06). "Give Windows 8 the Start menu it deserves". PCWorld. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  11. ^ Classic Shell FAQ, Is Classic Shell open-source?
  12. ^ Classic Shell Review: Softpedia
  13. ^ Free Traditional Start Menu Style for Use with Windows® 8
  14. ^ "Classic Windows Start Menu". Softpedia. SoftNews. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  15. ^ SourceCodeBoy. "SourceCodeBoy homepage". Retrieved 2015-01-09.
  16. ^ "Disable the new Windows 8 interface for good with Ex7ForW8". 11 December 2012.
  17. ^ "Finalbird - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com".
  18. ^ Handy Start Menu – CNET Download.com
  19. ^ Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu, Open-Shell, 2022-07-18, retrieved 2022-07-18
  20. ^ "Pokki Brings Back the Start Menu to Help Confused Windows 8 Users". SFGate. 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  21. ^ "What Windows 8.1 Must Be – Personal-tech – Desktop Operating Systems – BYTE". Informationweek.com. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  22. ^ "Home · AgentMC/power8 Wiki · GitHub". Mike Makarov AgentMC. 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  23. ^ Adrian Kingsley-Hughes (2012-04-18). "Make Windows 8 Look Like Windows 7". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  24. ^ Erez Zukerman. "RetroUI tries to fix Windows 8's usability woes, but only makes them worse". PCWorld.
  25. ^ Chris Smith (2012-10-16). "Samsung to return classic Start menu to Windows 8 with free app | News". TechRadar. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  26. ^ Pegoraro, Rob (24 November 2012), Windows 8 woes? Get Start menu sub, retrieved 10 December 2012
  27. ^ WINDOWS 8 START MENU APPS SHOWDOWN
  28. ^ Sandeep Yadav (2012-08-29). "Start Menu X: Get Start Menu and Button in Windows 8". TechFeb. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  29. ^ Gregg Keizer (2012-09-27). "$5 buys a Start button, Start screen bypass for Windows 8". Computerworld. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  30. ^ Preston Gralla (2012-10-12). "Windows 8 cheat sheet". COMPUTERWORLD. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  31. ^ Jon L. Jacobi. "Review: StartMenuPlus8 is just another utility to give Windows 8 a Start Menu". PCWorld. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  32. ^ Want To Get Back The Start Menu In Windows 8? Here's How | Mobile & Apps
  33. ^ "Tweaks.com Start for Windows 8". Advanced PC Media LLC. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  34. ^ Muchmore, Michael (2012-04-17). "Tip: How to Get the Start Menu Back in Windows 8". PCMag.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  35. ^ Bring the Start Menu back in Windows 8 with this app
  36. ^ 6 Things Microsoft Must Do In 2013 – Software – Windows 8
  37. ^ "Win8Starter: Startmenü gratis für Windows 8 – News – CHIP Online". Chip.de. 2011-08-27. Archived from the original on 2012-12-14. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  38. ^ Xeesa 1b Archived 2015-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
  39. ^ "RetroUI web site". Archived from the original on 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2013-04-06.
  40. ^ StartIsBack web site
  41. ^ Classic Shell
  42. ^ Yahoo! News, Jan. 16, 2013
  43. ^ a b Kincaid, Jason (30 June 2011). "OpenCandy's Pokki Brings Web Apps To The Desktop, With Style". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  44. ^ Pokki web site
  45. ^ Wauters, Robin (29 September 2011). "SweetLabs Raises $13 Million From Intel, Google And Others For Pokki App Platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  46. ^ Alex, Wilhelm (17 April 2012). "Meet Pokki: Bringing the power of mobile apps to your desktop". The Next Web. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  47. ^ Mossberg, Walter S. (2013-05-07). "Review of Start8 and Pokki: Bringing an Old Start to a New Windows - WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
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