My Start Menu on Windows 8.1

[WelshBloke]

Startisback does work beautifully on win8.1.

Now just give me my damn media centre back!

 

[Mem]

Startisback does work beautifully on win8.1.

Now just give me my damn media centre back!

Windows Media Centre working fine for me on Win8.1 Pro x64 RTM

Received my WMC key free last year via their free offer(via email).

 

[glugglug]

Windows Media Centre working fine for me on Win8.1 RTM

It didn't used to require Pro for Media Center (let alone being a $10 extra).
Also, MC compatibility is much better in Win7 on many fronts:

• Extenders other than XBOX 360
• add-in compatibility (they changed the version numbers of all the .NET assemblies in the C:\Windows\ehome directory to match the build number of windows, without really adding any functionality or marking them as backwards compatible -- this means even add-ins for 8 need to be recompiled for 8.1!)
• InfiniTV PCIe network tuner bridging (this one is understandable with the whole network stack having an overhaul in Win 8, mostly for the better, and will probably be fixed with updated drivers eventually).
• Digital Cable Advisor for enabling CableCARD support is broken in 8.1. Likely due to getting rid of the Windows Experience Index score.

 

[Wolfpup]

Plus I pin all my apps to the taskbar which is what Windows is designed for.

That only makes sense for frequently used programs. It's a waste of space for anything that's not pretty much running all the time or used at least once a day.

The Start Menu provides quick access to less frequently, but still regularly used programs and files. The start screen does replicate that functionality pretty decently for programs, but not for files. As a work around, I have a folder with shortcuts to frequently used files, and I've pinned THAT where my start menu would be. Not sure how having a start menu icon that actually just launches the start screen will change that though.

Oh, and I don't like that the little area on the right of the screen that minimizes all programs is no longer visibly clickable. Obviously it clearly highlighting as a button makes sense, and in 8 there's no indication that it is, nor that the right is a launcher for the start screen.

I don't see how anyone can argue that that's "progress".

Not to bash 8 though, mostly I like it just fine, and mostly it works just like 7, and I continue to prefer Windows to any other OS.

that is a pure example of wasted space! I mean you have VLC on the taskbar? seriously? why would anyone need that? usually your video player has the association to open all video files so if you double click on a video file it will open with VLC! see the point? you are just pinning programs like that randomly to have a colorful useless taskbar! and what happens when you open so many programs? you will have no more taskbar space that it will look all crumped and probably will show you a DOWN ARROW to access more

Yeah, IMO it's not appropriate to just pin anything down there. Ditto for OS X's dock.

pinned items take up a big chunk of the taskbar and look much the same as open program... making one unnecessarily focus to determine if it is an open and running program or just a hotlink to a closed program.

In OS X that's true. It's become virtually impossible to tell if a program is running without studying it.

In Windows though I think it's much more obvious which programs are running. There's also, thankfully, an easy work around to make it MUCH easier to tell-just set the taskbar buttons setting to never combine. They're just icons when they're not running, but appear like in Vista and earlier when they are , making them easier to click, and making it super easy to tell what's running and what's not. FAR superior to OS X's "hmm, is there...kind of a tiny dot on that? Or maybe it's glare? Hmm, I'm not sure" ridiculous method lol

the quick launch bar (which does exist in windows 7) is far superior in my opinion... I locate the 20 most used programs there... taking up a minimum of screen real estate.

It was a little learning curve for me, but I do prefer the Windows 7/8 method. It's basically just combining the quick launch and task bars together. Instead of super tiny icons that never go away, you have larger versions, also on the taskbar, that then blow up full size when you launch a program.

for programs that I want easy access to but which I use less frequently... notepad, calculator, excel, games, etc... then they are located out of sight on the 1st level of the start menu.

Yep, I do the same thing, start menu in 7 and earlier for less frequently used, start screen in 8 (plus my files folder trick since you inexplicably can't pin files to the start screen).

the abortion of the start screen on a desktop or laptop situation should never be forced on anyone... and the deletion of the start menu and quick launch features in order to push use of a shitty start screen interface is yet another idea that was stillborn before it was ever conceived...

I think to be fair Microsoft had a hard task at trying to combine interfaces to handle both touch/ultra mobile form factors and notebooks and desktops. I'm not sure there's any perfect way to do it, and the result is a bit weirdly disjointed, but no one else has even attempted it, and I like that they HAVE attempted it (it's what I wanted from the iPad 1, instead of just giving us a giant iPod).

On notebooks/desktops the start screen functions as a semi-decent start menu, and the metro stuff is even occasionally useful. Of course the whole locking metro stuff to the windows store and locking the windows store to metro is arguably quite lame, but...

 

[WelshBloke]

Windows Media Centre working fine for me on Win8.1 Pro x64 RTM

Received my WMC key free last year via their free offer(via email).

Mine says the same but theres no Media Centre to be found in it.

 

[glugglug]

In Windows though I think it's much more obvious which programs are running. There's also, thankfully, an easy work around to make it MUCH easier to tell-just set the taskbar buttons setting to never combine.

Yep. With the default horizontal taskbar though this introduces a new issue -- launching apps moves other apps along the taskbar, ruining positional memory (meaning mental memory, not the UIs). The quick launch bar beats the pinned icons in this regard if you are going to keep the taskbar horizontal. Reorienting the taskbar vertically fixes this, so that is one of my first adjustments on any Win7/8 machine.

To me, the start screen has actually managed to one up the bad decision of making file extensions hidden by default since WinXP.

 

[ControlD]

Mine says the same but theres no Media Centre to be found in it.

Well that's the problem. You guys are spelling it wrong.

 

[Mem]

Well that's the problem. You guys are spelling it wrong.

Hehe well

"centre" is the British variant of "center", so technically, both are correct and mean the same thing.

Says it all .

 

[Mem]

Mine says the same but theres no Media Centre to be found in it.

Go to Metro use the bottom arrow and see if its listed there then right click and add to taskbar or just type "med" in search.

 

[Berryracer]

The first thing I did in Win 7 Pro or Home Premium is to uninstall WMC

Never looked into it on 8 and I don't understand what's the great demand for it maybe now because its not readily available people want it. For me, connecting to my TV via HDMI and running a movie using SVP (Smooth Video Project) @ 60 FPS gives me a whole diff. experience with real life motion, nothing ever comes close to that so I have no use for WMC. just my 2 cents worth

 

[glugglug]

The first thing I did in Win 7 Pro or Home Premium is to uninstall WMC

Never looked into it on 8 and I don't understand what's the great demand for it maybe now because its not readily available people want it. For me, connecting to my TV via HDMI and running a movie using SVP (Smooth Video Project) @ 60 FPS gives me a whole diff. experience with real life motion, nothing ever comes close to that so I have no use for WMC. just my 2 cents worth

WMC is not for playing downloaded videos/blu-rays. I mean, you CAN, but that is not what its forte, and there are plenty of better apps for this. Where it really shines is as a DVR, especially with extenders so that you have a centralized uber-DVR you can use from anywhere in the house, with a far faster and more customizable guide than anything from any cable or satelite provider, or even TiVo. There really is nothing in the same league as WMC for this purpose, and for copy-protected CableCARD support, there is nothing else that can do it at all. If you don't have TV tuner(s) to use it as a DVR, there really isn't much of a point to it.

 

[Berryracer]

WMC is not for playing downloaded videos/blu-rays. I mean, you CAN, but that is not what its forte, and there are plenty of better apps for this. Where it really shines is as a DVR, especially with extenders so that you have a centralized uber-DVR you can use from anywhere in the house, with a far faster and more customizable guide than anything from any cable or satelite provider, or even TiVo. There really is nothing in the same league as WMC for this purpose, and for copy-protected CableCARD support, there is nothing else that can do it at all. If you don't have TV tuner(s) to use it as a DVR, there really isn't much of a point to it.

thanks for the info man, that's probably why I never used it as I don't have a DVR

 

[WelshBloke]

Go to Metro use the bottom arrow and see if its listed there then right click and add to taskbar or just type "med" in search.

Thats the first time I've actually gone into the Metro screen in months. :biggrin:

 

[WelshBloke]

The first thing I did in Win 7 Pro or Home Premium is to uninstall WMC

Never looked into it on 8 and I don't understand what's the great demand for it maybe now because its not readily available people want it. For me, connecting to my TV via HDMI and running a movie using SVP (Smooth Video Project) @ 60 FPS gives me a whole diff. experience with real life motion, nothing ever comes close to that so I have no use for WMC. just my 2 cents worth

WMC is absolutely the best media centre software if you have some TV tuners and are using windows. (apart from MS insisting on recording in a funky format that no one else uses)

It also meshes fantastically well if you're using a WHS.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

Well, that's odd. It looks like it can't find any apps at all.

I think the MCE application is located at "C:\Windows\ehome\ehshell.exe".

As to why there's no content in Start, type "shell:start menu" and "shell:common start menu" into Run see if anything is located in either your local or global Start Menu folders.

 

[sm625]

If you want to get into your computer and you're a fast typer, for example, it's often quicker to just tap Win Key and type C: than actually find and click on the icons.

You dont even need to be a fast typer. After doing it a few times you realize you only need to type a few letters. For example to get to power options all you need to do is press Winkey p o w Enter. It's light years faster than trying to find power options buried god knows where. I dont even know where it is anymore lol. What you have to type might vary depending on what's installed. But once you know what you need to type it is very fast and efficient.

 

[Dr. Canny]

If I wanted a tablet layout, I would buy a tablet. I thoroughly enjoyed the original start menu. 'Tis the reason I haven't upgraded to 8 from 7 yet.

 

[Bateluer]

You dont even need to be a fast typer. After doing it a few times you realize you only need to type a few letters. For example to get to power options all you need to do is press Winkey p o w Enter. It's light years faster than trying to find power options buried god knows where. I dont even know where it is anymore lol. What you have to type might vary depending on what's installed. But once you know what you need to type it is very fast and efficient.

If I wanted to search for every function in my GUI OS, I'd have installed CentOS without Gnome.

 

[Bateluer]

Gotta love having the old start menu back

Using StartIsBack RC 4

My HD Wallpaper

Does that also allow the complete disabling of the Charms Bar and Start Screen?

 

[Berryracer]

Does that also allow the complete disabling of the Charms Bar and Start Screen?

yes indeed

I never see that Metro screen or charms bar when I hover over to the side r corners, you can disable all hot corners and charm bars in one setting

 

[Berryracer]

The final version of StartIsBack Plus 1.0 is now FINAL

It is fully functional for 30 days as a demo and the license only costs $2 USD and has no activation limits like Start8 from Stardock for example where if you activate a few times the license key is blacklisted

this license knows that you are installing on the same computer as it sees the hardware and computer name

http://www.startisback.com/

What's cool in StartIsBack+?
New unique features:

- Everything at once. Hold down Windows key for half a second until search icon appears in the center of the screen; release it and have instant access to all your running apps, taskbar and charms or search bar at the same time from any app you use. Its a great multitasking helper which should be very useful for both tablet and classic PCs. You don't have to learn all keyboard shortcuts, run your mouse to the screen corners or perform awkward swipes. Just hold down Windows key on keyboard or double-tap Win logo on the tablet! (off by default)


- Taskbar on Start screen. You can set StartIsBack to always display taskbar on Start screen and greatly reduce Start screen stress!
Although this function appeared in SIB 2.1, it really shines in Windows 8.1 when you set your wallpaper for Start screen.


General:
- Start menu has been rebuilt from ground up. It no longer uses code present in explorer

 

[glugglug]

As I stated you could only pin so many applications to the old start menu

I have the taskbar vertical, with small icons. That number of applications is pretty high, probably more than you can fit Metro tiles on a screen. And if I RDP in with a lower resolution where they don't all fit in one vertical column, there is a scroll bar under the task bar to get to more of them, so really there isn't a limit (although using the scroll bar is pretty annoying and at that point defeats the purpose of pinning things).

 

[Bateluer]

yes indeed

I never see that Metro screen or charms bar when I hover over to the side r corners, you can disable all hot corners and charm bars in one setting

Thanks, I'll check out the trial.

 

[ThePolarSky]

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