Comparison of Start menu replacements for Windows 8
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.[1][2]
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.[3]
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[4] | Revel Software | Discontinued | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Discontinued [5] (http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/revel_bringback8.html) |
Classic Shell[6][7][8][9][10] | Classic Shell team | MIT License[11] | 10+extensible[12] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Allows Modern UI related tweaks Discontinued and forked to Open-Shell |
Classic Start 8[13] | Crawler, LLC | Freeware | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Classic Windows Start Menu[14] | SourceCodeBoy | CC-BY-NC-ND (Freeware for non-commercial use only) [15] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Discontinued (last version here http://www.pypa.es/Utilidades/Software/) |
Ex7forW8[16] | Tihiy | Freeware | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Discontinued (http://tihiy.net/files/ex7forW8_1.0.zip) |
Finalbird[17] | Svyatoslav Yudin | Freeware | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Favorites of Start Menu is unified with the other software parts |
Handy Start Menu[18] | ChemTable Software | Freeware | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Open-Shell[19] | ? | MIT | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Fork of Classic Shell |
Pokki[6][7][9][20] | SweetLabs, Inc. | Freeware | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | |
Power8[6][21] | Power8 Team | GNU General Public License | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
RetroUI Pro[6][8][23][24] | Thinix | Trialware | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Samsung Quick Starter[25] | Samsung | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Start Menu 8[6][7][9][26] | IObit | Trialware | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | Yes | |
Start Menu Reviver[27] | ReviverSoft | Freeware | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | touch screen support |
Start Menu X[28] | OrdinarySoft | Freemium | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Start8[6][7][29] | Stardock Corporation | Trialware | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | |
StartFinity[30] | WinAbility Software | Freemium | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Supports automatic localization of Start menu |
StartIsBack[6][7][8] | Пуск Будет Удобнее | Trialware | 4+ | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | modifies existing hot corners |
StartMenuPlus8[31] | Winok | Trialware | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
StartW8[32] | SODATSW | Freeware | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
SyMenu | UGMFree | Freeware | 6 | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | The menu is fully portable |
Tweaks.com Start for Windows 8[33] | Advanced PC Media | Freeware | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
ViStart[34] | Lee-Soft | Ad-supported | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | |
Wentutu Start Menu[35] | Wentutu | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Win8StartButton[36] | Torch Media Inc. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Win8Starter[37] | Engelmann Media GmbH | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Xeesa 1b QuickStart[38] | 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.[6][7] RetroUI is offered in 33 languages, and also for Windows Server 2012, and adds a taskbar and resizable windows.[39] StartIsBack is also localized.[40] 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.[41] The Pokki download to restore the Start menu is free; as of January 2013, it has about 1.5 million users.[42] 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.[43] It is also available for Windows XP and Windows 7.[44] Pokki has raised $21.5M from investors like Google, Intel, and O'Reilly;[45] its business model is to make a commission on software sold through its app store.[43][46] Start8 has been downloaded over 5 million times.[47]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Why Microsoft killed the Windows Start button". PC Pro. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
- ^ Whitney, Lance (2012-02-06). "Microsoft removes start button in Windows 8". CNET. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
- ^ Whitney, Lance (2011-10-12). "Microsoft reacts to gripes over Windows 8 Start screen". CNET. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
- ^ Revel BringBack (beta) Review | Windows 8 Start Menu Apps
- ^ "Revel Software - About Us". Archived from the original on 2013-12-07. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
- ^ a b c d e f Sebastian, Anthony (2013-02-20). "How to bring back the Start menu and button to Windows 8". Extremetech.com.
- ^ a b c How to get the Start menu back in Windows 8 | Windows 8 – CNET Reviews updated 2012/12/31
- ^ a b c "6 Start Menu Replacements for Windows 8". HowToGeek.com.
- ^ Spector, Lincoln (2012-09-06). "Give Windows 8 the Start menu it deserves". PCWorld. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ Classic Shell FAQ, Is Classic Shell open-source?
- ^ Classic Shell Review: Softpedia
- ^ Free Traditional Start Menu Style for Use with Windows® 8
- ^ "Classic Windows Start Menu". Softpedia. SoftNews. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
- ^ SourceCodeBoy. "SourceCodeBoy homepage". Retrieved 2015-01-09.
- ^ "Disable the new Windows 8 interface for good with Ex7ForW8". 11 December 2012.
- ^ "Finalbird - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com".
- ^ Handy Start Menu – CNET Download.com
- ^ Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu, Open-Shell, 2022-07-18, retrieved 2022-07-18
- ^ "Pokki Brings Back the Start Menu to Help Confused Windows 8 Users". SFGate. 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ "What Windows 8.1 Must Be – Personal-tech – Desktop Operating Systems – BYTE". Informationweek.com. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
- ^ "Home · AgentMC/power8 Wiki · GitHub". Mike Makarov AgentMC. 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
- ^ Adrian Kingsley-Hughes (2012-04-18). "Make Windows 8 Look Like Windows 7". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ Erez Zukerman. "RetroUI tries to fix Windows 8's usability woes, but only makes them worse". PCWorld.
- ^ Chris Smith (2012-10-16). "Samsung to return classic Start menu to Windows 8 with free app | News". TechRadar. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
- ^ Pegoraro, Rob (24 November 2012), Windows 8 woes? Get Start menu sub, retrieved 10 December 2012
- ^ WINDOWS 8 START MENU APPS SHOWDOWN
- ^ Sandeep Yadav (2012-08-29). "Start Menu X: Get Start Menu and Button in Windows 8". TechFeb. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
- ^ Gregg Keizer (2012-09-27). "$5 buys a Start button, Start screen bypass for Windows 8". Computerworld. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ Preston Gralla (2012-10-12). "Windows 8 cheat sheet". COMPUTERWORLD. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
- ^ Jon L. Jacobi. "Review: StartMenuPlus8 is just another utility to give Windows 8 a Start Menu". PCWorld. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
- ^ Want To Get Back The Start Menu In Windows 8? Here's How | Mobile & Apps
- ^ "Tweaks.com Start for Windows 8". Advanced PC Media LLC. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
- ^ Muchmore, Michael (2012-04-17). "Tip: How to Get the Start Menu Back in Windows 8". PCMag.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ Bring the Start Menu back in Windows 8 with this app
- ^ 6 Things Microsoft Must Do In 2013 – Software – Windows 8
- ^ "Win8Starter: Startmenü gratis für Windows 8 – News – CHIP Online". Chip.de. 2011-08-27. Archived from the original on 2012-12-14. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
- ^ Xeesa 1b Archived 2015-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "RetroUI web site". Archived from the original on 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2013-04-06.
- ^ StartIsBack web site
- ^ Classic Shell
- ^ Yahoo! News, Jan. 16, 2013
- ^ a b Kincaid, Jason (30 June 2011). "OpenCandy's Pokki Brings Web Apps To The Desktop, With Style". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ Pokki web site
- ^ Wauters, Robin (29 September 2011). "SweetLabs Raises $13 Million From Intel, Google And Others For Pokki App Platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ Alex, Wilhelm (17 April 2012). "Meet Pokki: Bringing the power of mobile apps to your desktop". The Next Web. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ 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.