Windows 8 is the latest version of Windows in which Microsoft has introduced an entirely new user interface called Metro UI. Metro UI is specially designed for touchscreen monitors. It contains various tiles which you can drag around on your touchscreen, tap on them to select them or open them. Unfortunately, Microsoft has decided to remove the Start Menu from Windows 8. We had earlier written an article on how you can enable classic start menu in Windows 8. But it appears that Microsoft has disabled that method in the Customer Preview edition of Windows 8 release. But you can still use Stardock Start8 to bring back the Start Menu in Windows 8.
Stardock Start8 is a freeware tool from the experts of Windows customization – Stardock. It adds the old Start Menu button at the bottom-left corner of your screen. You can also customize it and change the button graphic from a given set to make it look like Windows XP Start Menu and more. Here are some of the features of the Stardock Start8 :
- Adds a “Start” menu to the Windows 8 taskbar
- Enables quick access and searching of your installed applications
- Adds Run… option via right-click menu
- Adds Shutdown… option via right-click menu
- Choose a custom Start button image
You can download Stardock Start8 from the Stardock website. The download is a mere 2 megabyte. After installation is finished, it immediately shows the Start Menu button in the lower-left corner of your screen. You can click on the Start Menu to open a Windows 8 style Start Menu. You can start typing to search for a program. If you right-click on the Start button then you can choose a different Start Menu picture by selecting Pick a Start Button image as shown in the picture below :
Stardock Start8 comes with many different Start button images to choose from. You can also right-click on the Start button and choose Run to open the Run dialog (you can also press Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog).
So if you have started using Windows 8 and miss the good old Start Menu, then just download Stardock Start8, install it and bring back the Start Menu. Start8 is completely free and neatly designed application. You can download it from the Stardock website at http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/.