Win8 Start button options

[TheStu]

So I'm just dinking with Start8 right now; is it me or does it not implement hot corners correctly? If you actually go to the very bottom left corner of your screen, you can't bring the Start8 menu up. You have to actually be over the icon to use it, whereas the real start menu was far more forgiving since it treated that as a hot corner.

You might want to go into the settings for Start8, there is a switch in there to disable the new Win8 hot corners, and that might be what is causing your problem.

Regarding the guy railing against the evil capitalists that deign to charge for their work... Stardock is an established company that has been making software for Windows for years and years, and has you know, a staff. I don't know about all the free options out there, but I would imagine that a fair number of them are from 1-2 man shops (if they are shops at all) that just banged out the code and then put it on the web. I am not saying that Stardock's solution is better, but it is worth $5, and the fact that there are free alternatives speaks more about the devs of the alternatives than it does about Stardock. Charging for your work is not a crime, and the presence of free software does not degrade the qualities or status of paid software. I would rather see a wide variety of reasonably priced, good software, then deal with the status quo, which is 98% free crap, and 2% overpriced software.

 

[WelshBloke]

... Again they lost a customer.

Given that you wanted it for free I'm not seeing that they lost anything really.

 

[pmv]

I will NEVER buy software like this little "tweak"!!!!! It is never worth the money and the developer just is getting greedy and wants money. It should be 100% free, always. I only use freeware for system type items, the only system thing I have ever bought was true image 2012 which doesn't work with windows 8 and they won't upgrade me for free so I will move on to a free version software that replaces it and never buy from them again.

To put it simply windows should have included this in the first place and now people want to make a buck off it when they should be giving it away or when there are other free options.

Oh come on! This is just silly!

I personally agree that windows 8 should have had the start menu in the first place, but that's not the fault of these guys! They presumably put significant work into this, they are perfectly entitled to charge a fee for their efforts (and its a pretty small fee). Pay for it or not, nobody is forcing you!

Mind you, I think I've decided to go for 7 and avoid 8. For me I don't think the benefits are worth it compared to losing aero and the start menu, and I just resent having that hideiously ugly and dumbed-down Metro FrankenGUI (YMMV) present on my machine even if I won't be using it much. And I am indeed concerned that third-party start-menu fixes might stop working somewhere down the line.

 

[corkyg]

Once Start 8 is installed, you can make the classic Win 7 start the default opener. To go back and forth between Win 8's "Metro" and the Start 8 menu, just tap the Windows logo key. Very slick.

 

[olds]

Once Start 8 is installed, you can make the classic Win 7 start the default opener. To go back and forth between Win 8's "Metro" and the Start 8 menu, just tap the Windows logo key. Very slick.

I can't use Meto becasue of my resolution but I do use the Win 7 theme.

I was running Vista and wanted to upgrade. Wind 8 for $40 and Start8 for $5seemd a better solution than paying $199 for Win 7.

 

[abaez]

Here is one not on the list. Just downloaded it today and so far I really like it. It combines a start menu with some of the Windows 8 features.

https://www.pokki.com/

Tried this and really like it.

 

[olds]

Start8
Can I make metro go away altogether when moving my cursor to the right? The context menu comes up showing Search, Share, Start, etc.

 

[HeXen]

Start8
Can I make metro go away altogether when moving my cursor to the right? The context menu comes up showing Search, Share, Start, etc.

yes, under control select disable hot corners then select disable charms.

 

[ViRGE]

Start8
Can I make metro go away altogether when moving my cursor to the right? The context menu comes up showing Search, Share, Start, etc.

That's the Charms bar. If you disable the hot corners then the Charms bar shouldn't come up.

 

[SandEagle]

20% off Start8:
WK1-CWIC-UVLL-XMLD

 

[olds]

yes, under control select disable hot corners then select disable charms.

Thank you!

 

[capeconsultant]

20% off Start8:
WK1-CWIC-UVLL-XMLD

thanks. Going to buy it now!

 

[stevech]

(as a mouse/keyboard user) How Microsoftish: sell you Win8. Then you pay even more to get it back to what you had with Win 7.

 

[zokudu]

20% off Start8:
WK1-CWIC-UVLL-XMLD

Doh, bought it ~3 hours ago.

 

[QueBert]

imho $5 is the perfect price for Start8, honestly I wouldn't have considered buying it even if it was only just $10. I see Stardock making a killing off it. I wonder how many copies they've already sold.

 

[TheStu]

imho $5 is the perfect price for Start8, honestly I wouldn't have considered buying it even if it was only just $10. I see Stardock making a killing off it. I wonder how many copies they've already sold.

Seriously, $5 and they give you a trial to find out if it works for you. At $5, it was a no-brainer and a guaranteed buy. I tried ClassicShell as well, and Start8 just feels nicer to me.

 

[ViRGE]

Seriously, $5 and they give you a trial to find out if it works for you. At $5, it was a no-brainer and a guaranteed buy. I tried ClassicShell as well, and Start8 just feels nicer to me.

Start8 is definitely a more complete and accurate recreation of Win7's start menu. Classic Shell is a very good approximation for the price, but it's clearly a skin on something that was originally intended to recreate Win2K's start menu.

 

[hasu]

I didn't care for ClassicStart from ClassicShell, because it looks and works differently from the Win7 Start Menu that I'm used to. Is there a skin to make it more authentic?

I am using ClassicShell with Windows 8. It is very similar to Windows 7 Start menu and works perfectly for that matter.

There are many other user interface changes in Windows 8 (compared to Windows 7), which are more noticeable than the start button.

 

[GnatGoSplat]

I am using ClassicShell with Windows 8. It is very similar to Windows 7 Start menu and works perfectly for that matter.

There are many other user interface changes in Windows 8 (compared to Windows 7), which are more noticeable than the start button.

True, but Start8 isn't just similar, it appears to be an exact clone so I just like it better.

 

[HeXen]

I thought Classicshell felt kinda bloated. Start8 felt more integrated, like it was there by default, but that's me. Historically, Stardock's stuff has seemed well coded, they must hire some awesome programmers to be contracted by MS to make dreamscene on Vista.

 

[Compman55]

Nobody is talking about startisback

I find it like the real win 7 menu. On stardock's version I cannot place the my computer icon on the desktop or the user name icon. Usually when I right click the sub menu is not like win 7.

 

[ViRGE]

Nobody is talking about startisback

I find it like the real win 7 menu. On stardock's version I cannot place the my computer icon on the desktop or the user name icon. Usually when I right click the sub menu is not like win 7.

The computer icon on the desktop? That's not a start menu function, that's a desktop personalization function (which is still in Win8).

 

[Steltek]

Nobody is talking about startisback

I find it like the real win 7 menu. On stardock's version I cannot place the my computer icon on the desktop or the user name icon. Usually when I right click the sub menu is not like win 7.

Right-click on the desktop, select Personalize, and then select Change desktop Icons. Same as you'd do in Windows 7.

While startisback is looking very good, I've found it to be buggy -- it isn't as stable as Start8 at this point. I have no doubt the developer will get it ironed out eventually, though.

 

[gaidin43]

It's NEVER worth the 5$ for something that should be free and will be built into windows 8 over time. NEVER buy software like this from hacks. It's free or nothing for most people.

 

[TheStu]

It's NEVER worth the 5$ for something that should be free and will be built into windows 8 over time. NEVER buy software like this from hacks. It's free or nothing for most people.

It's NEVER worth the $40 for something that should be free and will be added to Windows 7 over time.

A: You don't know that MS will add the start menu back in. I am 50/50 on it, at least in the sense that neither would surprise me

B: You're willing to pay for Windows 8 (we assume), but not backup software that was never guaranteed to work with it, or an affordable utility from a well established Windows software house. What do you feel ok paying for?