Microsoft started to experiment with Start menu after Windows 7. They removed Start menu completely in Windows 8 and replaced it with a Start screen that was displayed full screen. After a wild protest of Windows users worldwide, Microsoft added a small Start menu in Windows 8.1 but it did not satisfy many users and they picked alternatives like Classic Start Menu. In Windows 10, they removed the Start screen that was added in Windows 8.x. But once again, Microsoft has brought back the full-screen Start screen in the newer builds of Windows 10.
Here is how you can enable the Windows 8 style Start screen in Windows 10:
- Click on the Start icon and select Settings. You can also use hotkey Win+I.
- Select Personalization and then select Start.
- Click on the flip switch next to Use Start full screen to enable the Start screen.
- Close all the windows opened and now you can tap/click on Start icon to access Start screen.
Once you have enabled Start screen in your Windows 10 PC, you will no longer be able to use the Start menu. In fact, both the Start menu and Start screen in Windows 10 are the same thing. The only difference between the two is that the Start menu is scaled to the size of small Windows 7 style start menu and the Start screen is full screen just like in Windows 8.
The Start screen shows all the tiles and you can tap or click on them to launch the respective apps or programs. But you can also switch the start screen to display a list of all the installed programs or apps. You can search these apps easily by typing the full or partial name of the app or program. If you do not want to view Start in full-screen mode, then instead of using these instructions, you can just drag the edges of the Start menu and resize it to your needs.