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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.

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.

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 Revel Software Discontinued ? ? ? ? ? ? Discontinued (http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/revel_bringback8.html)
Classic Shell Classic Shell team MIT License 10+extensible Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Allows Modern UI related tweaks
Discontinued and forked to Open-Shell
Classic Start 8 Crawler, LLC Freeware No Yes ? ? ? ?
Classic Windows Start Menu SourceCodeBoy CC-BY-NC-ND (Freeware for non-commercial use only) Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Discontinued (last version here http://www.pypa.es/Utilidades/Software/)
Ex7forW8 Tihiy Freeware ? ? ? ? ? ? Discontinued (http://tihiy.net/files/ex7forW8_1.0.zip)
Finalbird Svyatoslav Yudin Freeware No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Favorites of Start Menu is unified with the other software parts
Handy Start Menu ChemTable Software Freeware ? ? ? ? ? ?
Open-Shell ? MIT Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Fork of Classic Shell
Pokki SweetLabs, Inc. Freeware No ? ? ? ? Yes
Power8

Power8 Team GNU General Public License ? ? ? ? ? ?
RetroUI Pro Thinix Trialware ? ? ? ? ? ?
Samsung Quick Starter Samsung ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Start Menu 8 IObit Trialware ? ? No ? ? Yes
Start Menu Reviver ReviverSoft Freeware ? ? ? ? ? Yes touch screen support
Start Menu X OrdinarySoft Freemium ? ? ? ? ? ?
Start8 Stardock Corporation Trialware Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
StartFinity WinAbility Software Freemium ? ? ? ? ? Yes Supports automatic localization of Start menu
StartIsBack Пуск Будет Удобнее Trialware 4+ Yes Yes ? ? Yes modifies existing hot corners
StartMenuPlus8 Winok Trialware ? ? ? ? ? ?
StartW8 SODATSW Freeware ? ? ? ? ? ?
SyMenu UGMFree Freeware 6 ? Yes ? Yes Yes The menu is fully portable
Tweaks.com Start for Windows 8 Advanced PC Media Freeware ? ? ? ? ? ?
ViStart Lee-Soft Ad-supported Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes
Wentutu Start Menu Wentutu ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Win8StartButton Torch Media Inc. ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Win8Starter Engelmann Media GmbH ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xeesa 1b QuickStart 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. RetroUI is offered in 33 languages, and also for Windows Server 2012, and adds a taskbar and resizable windows. StartIsBack is also localized. 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. The Pokki download to restore the Start menu is free; as of January 2013, it has about 1.5 million users. 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. It is also available for Windows XP and Windows 7. Pokki has raised $21.5M from investors like Google, Intel, and O'Reilly; its business model is to make a commission on software sold through its app store. Start8 has been downloaded over 5 million times.

See also

References

  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. ^ "9 Windows Start menus for Windows 8". IT World. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  7. ^ Sebastian, Anthony (2013-02-20). "How to bring back the Start menu and button to Windows 8". Extremetech.com.
  8. ^ How to get the Start menu back in Windows 8 | Windows 8 – CNET Reviews updated 2012/12/31
  9. ^ "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
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  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
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  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. ^ 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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