Wednesday 27 March 2013

Start Button in Windows 8


Since the launch of Windows 8 probably the most talked about feature is one that's missing - the Start button.

Since the launch there have been several third party utilities released that put the Start button and menu back on Windows 8. It looks like these will remain important as the leaked release of Windows Blue (Microsoft's next desktop operating system) doesn't have a start button either; it looks like Microsoft isn't going to listen to what it's users really want on Windows.

So here is a list all the Start buttons that I am aware of. Some of these start button utilities are free and some are paid for but all do a good job and the choice is normally a styling preference.

Here are the free utilities:
Classic Shell
Startisback
Pokki
Startw8

Here are the paid-for utilities.
Start8
RetrUI Pro

Personally, I use the Classic Shell utility - it's free, fast very easy to customise and still allows users to use the new Windows 8 interface as well. But there's nothing to stop you trying all of them out and finding which one is best for you - or of course you could just get used to the new interface.