Fix windows 8 use start8

Must say I think I got win 8 to suit my taste, my laptop is my Guinna pig for this one.

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Mike Smit said:
I forced myself to use Win8 as it was intended.
Took getting used to - and sucked initially, but now I am happy and honestly find the regular Win7 start menu a bit clunky.
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Yup, ditto. Enjoying win8 so far. Way better than the consumer preview version.
 
Mike Smit said:
I forced myself to use Win8 as it was intended.
Took getting used to - and sucked initially, but now I am happy and honestly find the regular Win7 start menu a bit clunky.
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I've been using Windows 8 for a day and I'm already accustomed to Metro, but not having the start menu severely impairs multitasking and quickly using certain functions. Start8 allows me to use Win 8 as an improved Win 7, and Metro just compliments the experience. Metro is fun for casual use, and would be much better if there were more than like 5 good 3rd party apps for it.
 
Bryn26 said:
Except that takes more clicks. Nothing facilitates a fast work flow like the start menu.
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Suppose that is dependent on how you work. I really don't miss the Start menu as such, I didn't find it particularly user friendly in Windows 7 to begin with.
 
Maverick Jester said:
I don't miss the Start button. The universal search takes care of that.
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I agree. Press the Start button on the keyboard and start typing the name of the program you need and hit enter. It's much faster than using a start menu.
 
teraside said:
I agree. Press the Start button on the keyboard and start typing the name of the program you need and hit enter. It's much faster than using a start menu.
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Except that search is limited to apps.
 
teraside said:
I agree. Press the Start button on the keyboard and start typing the name of the program you need and hit enter. It's much faster than using a start menu.
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If you can remember what it's called, on the odd brain fart occasion I just couldn't remember. This was so much worse in Unity where they're not named in the Windows fashion.

Anyway, searching for apps by typing ... You think that's an upgrade?! What about people with disabilities!
 
With the start button I have the choice of:
1. Using a drop down menu
2. typing the app name
3. using the start screen

in order to start an app.

When I have multiple windows open I find the easiest is to use the start button rather than leaving the desktop screen, going to a start screen, scrolling all over the place to find an icon to click and then going back back to the start up screen.

But I guess I'm a stupid old fogie.
 
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teraside said:
I agree. Press the Start button on the keyboard and start typing the name of the program you need and hit enter. It's much faster than using a start menu.
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Thats nothing new, you could press the flag key and type what you looking for, for some time now: See Vista/Windows 7

Forcing people to use a method is not moving forward, and its not about thinking of the people either. Its a step backward and ignoring the very people that you want to use your OS, no matter how easy you think it is.
 
Well, I'm a happy Win8 user. I don't believe MSFT have forced anything on me. Neither do I feel ignored ... where do you get this idea from?

I suppose you're with those who resented MSFT for forcing the Start Menu on users in 1995? So many sensitive souls back then hated the Start button. In fact, many power users hated MSFT forcing a GUI on users, taking away the ability to drop back into native DOS.

The more things change the more they stay the same, it seems.

Bleh.
 
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Once you unlearn a 17 year old nav tool like Start button, you quickly discovet Win8 is actually faster to navigate.

Try mousing to various corners and edges and left-click. Do the same with right-click. Clean up Start Screen and pin only your faves.

Experiment and learn.

Use the internet to dis
 
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Arthur said:
Well, I'm a happy Win8 user. I don't believe MSFT have forced anything on me. Neither do I feel ignored ... where do you get this idea from?

I suppose you're with those who resented MSFT for forcing the Start Menu on users in 1995? So many sensitive souls back then hated the Start button. In fact, many power users hated MSFT forcing a GUI on users, taking away the ability to drop back into native DOS.

The more things change the more they stay the same, it seems.

Bleh.
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Nope, in fact I was one of those that wondered what took Microsoft so long to get there (Old OS2/*nix User)

Funny enough, that again it feels to me as if Microsoft is following others again, even if it seems like its something new for most. Unity(Ubuntu) and even Pure Gnome done away with the "Start Menu" and incorporated hot corners to bring up taskbars and whatnot but even here I have to admit, I changed it, well at least in Linux you have an option to switch to another Window Manager if the default does not do it for you.
 
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Hehe. OS/2? How I remember that!

Somewhere I still have the original diskettes with OS/2 1.0 before Presentation Manager (the GUI, for junior forumites). And then v1.1, with PM, followed by 2.0, which had Win 3.1 integrated in the IBM uversion. Then the IBM-Microsoft JDA unravelled. Win NT was really OS/2 3.0 with the Win API set rather than PM, and it became Win2K, then XP... Meanwhile, IBM stuck with PM in Warp.

Remember how people mocked MSFT for the daft idea of having to click Start to shut down the machine?

In Win8, the first week was frustrating and I missed Start. Then I decided to invest an hour learning the new system and the new clicks and shortcuts. Now Win7 feels clunky by comparison.
 
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BTW, the Android tab I'm on just won't allow me to correct the incomplete last sentence two posts up. The text box doesn't scroll. Grr.

It's meant to read "Use the internet to discover the many nifty navigation shortcuts in Win8."
 
ghoti said:
Please justify that statement. Its not making sense to me.
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Let's say I want to copy a file I've just downloaded to the downloads folder and some images in another folder across the network, touch up the images beforehand, download a large file using a not commonly used download manager, and jot down some info in a notepad file and put it in a shared location with file sharing needing enabling.

With Start8 I can open as many explorer windows (at the location I want) with two quick clicks, my entire control panel is a single click away, the start menu search covers more than just apps and is a click away etc.

If we were to throw in as many additional tasks as you want and compete for time using our separate methods it wouldn't even be a contest.

I like the Metro interface. It's cool and easy to use when casually using a PC, and I use it a lot. I just wish Microsoft retained the start button (well not really - it was easy getting it back). I currently have a start button and Metro compliments the normal Windows experience very well.
 
AlphaJohn said:
Thats nothing new, you could press the flag key and type what you looking for, for some time now: See Vista/Windows 7

Forcing people to use a method is not moving forward, and its not about thinking of the people either. Its a step backward and ignoring the very people that you want to use your OS, no matter how easy you think it is.
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Whilst you can do that with windows 8 there's three things that annoy me

1) My whole screen gets taken up instead of just a small section on the corner.
2) It includes metro app versions as preference (eg remote desktop) where start8 goes to the desktop version (metro if no desktop version found)
3) Sometimes the categorizing of apps is annoying (eg when there is only a small total), used to be a few arrow presses away.
 
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