Like to stay abreast with new technology updates & windows , but don’t like the windows 8 start menu. You are not alone, windows 8 was a good update,modernised an all – but millions of people have shown their displeasure in how the start menu was totally obliterated and not user friendly with the windows 8 release.

They are two solutions for this, either wait for windows 10 to release ( which should not be too far away) and hope they make some good changes to this or then force your windows 8 to go back to the much friendly Windows 7 start menu.

I have windows 8 on my laptop and the nutty metro start menu started to drive me crazy, enough for me to look for a solution to make life easier. Here are the two solutions that will get you faster to where you want, when you start up a windows 8 laptop.

Luckily there re programs out there that can easily make your windows 8 start menu just like windows7 and also allow you to switch back and forth between them both, if you want to change your mind.

Below i will give you a paid product (stardock) short review that does this and also a FREE version called (classic shell) that does a good job with changing the start menu.

Classic shell ( free version) – So what does classic shell do

[from thier website]

Classic Shell™ is free software that improves your productivity, enhances the usability of Windows and empowers you to use the computer the way you like it ( Like windows 7 start menu).

[imgfrom http://www.classicshell.net/]

The main features are:

Highly customizable start menu with multiple styles and skins
Quick access to recent, frequently-used, or pinned programs
Start button for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10

Toolbar and status bar for Windows Explorer

Classic Shell has been in active development for 5 years and has over 25 million downloads.[DOWNLOAD NOW] .Visit their homepage if you like the program and interested in making a donation

Note: Classic Shell works on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and their server counterparts (Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2). Both 32 and 64-bit versions are supported. The same installer works for all versions.

Start8 By Stardock (paid software $4.99)

This software is good, in that it does allow you to either go straight to the windows desktop,avoiding the windows 8 start screen. It also allows you to access the windows 8 start screen from the windows 7 style start menu you customised or created.

I use another software by star dock called fences , which i truly recommend and has been of great use to me until today in organising my windows 7 desktop icons and shortcuts ( you can check it out in their website). However this windows 8 start menu software also has many good features

Start8 Features

Adds a Windows 7-styled Start menu with Windows 8 enhancements
Boot directly to the Windows 8 desktop (no more searching for your desktop)
Windows 8 Start screen accessible from Start menu
Adds option for WinKey to show fullscreen metro desktop
Skinnable start button

Start Menu 8 is specially designed for Windows 8/8.1, as a freeware that can restore (simulate) the classic start menu of earlier version of Windows. It can be set to boot from startup, in order to skip the system default Metro start screen, thereby directly start into the traditional Windows desktop which is familiar for us.

There is the basic version that costs $4.99 and the Deluxe version that includes many other software enhancements and features for a windows desktop that is $9.99 with a recurring monthly fee. Get details and download here

System Requirements

Windows 8.1/8 or Windows Server 2012/R2

If you have been searching google with any of these queries below,

How to bring back the Start Menu in Windows 8.1 / Windows 8
Remove windows 8 start menu to windows 7
Change the Start menu to Classic view – Windows – Microsoft
Ways To Customize the Windows 8 Start Screen
Change windows 8 start menu style
How to change windows 8.1 start menu

then..these two software’s listed above will surely be able to help you in some way , let me know how this works out for you and do leave me a comment 🙂