[JorgeA]

CharlotteTheHarlot, on 15 January 2013 - 07:47 AM, said:

Help! I've got Windows 8 and I miss my Start menu! ( Ars Technica 2013-01-14 )

Start is back! ( The Verge 2013-01-14 )

Head to head review of five Start Menu restorers: Start8, StartIsBack, Classic Shell, Pokki and RetroUI at Ars Technica. The 2nd link at The Verge is a commentary on that review.

See my reply over in the "Deepr Impressions" thread...

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

There was another review posted a month ago ...

9 Windows Start menus for Windows 8 ( InfoWorld 2012-12-12 )

This one covers: Classic Shell, Start8, StartMenu8, Power8, Pokki, StartIsBack, RetroUI, ViStart, and StartW8.

A little less in-depth compared to the previously mentioned review, and no winners are picked. Just a broad overview.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

RetroUI for Windows 8 gets updated; new menu and 'SuperSize' Start screen ( NeoWin 2013-02-04 )

An update to one of the more interesting Start Menu restorers. Worth a read and definitely watch their video. Ignore the NeoWhiners who can't stomach any customization that affects their Romper Room Tiles interface.

[sgj]

tomasz86, on 16 November 2012 - 06:09 AM, said:

One more Start Menu from Poland:

http://www.sgjps.com...StartForDesktop

This link is incorrect.

English version: http://www.sgjps.com...StartForDesktop

[Laurence]

sgj, on 22 February 2013 - 04:03 PM, said:

tomasz86, on 16 November 2012 - 06:09 AM, said:

One more Start Menu from Poland:

http://www.sgjps.com...StartForDesktop

This link is incorrect.

English version: http://www.sgjps.com...StartForDesktop

I was wondering if or when another start menu might be discovered. Good find SGJ. Did you happen across StartForDesktop or were you looking for start menu's?

regards,
Laurence

[JorgeA]

Laurence, on 23 February 2013 - 10:24 AM, said:

I was wondering if or when another start menu might be discovered. Good find SGJ. Did you happen across StartForDesktop or were you looking for start menu's?

Hey, Laurence!

I think that @sgj may actually be the creator (as opposed to the finder) of this Start Menu replacement.

Now that it's available in English, we can add it to the list. (Not that I have anything against the Polish language, of course -- Spanish is my native tongue, and I wouldn't list a Start Menu that was available only in Spanish, either. The idea is for as many people as possible to be able to use it and know what's going on with the utility.)

--JorgeA

[Laurence]

JorgeA, on 23 February 2013 - 10:49 AM, said:

Laurence, on 23 February 2013 - 10:24 AM, said:

I was wondering if or when another start menu might be discovered. Good find SGJ. Did you happen across StartForDesktop or were you looking for start menu's?

Hey, Laurence!

I think that @sgj may actually be the creator (as opposed to the finder) of this Start Menu replacement.

Now that it's available in English, we can add it to the list. (Not that I have anything against the Polish language, of course -- Spanish is my native tongue, and I wouldn't list a Start Menu that was available only in Spanish, either. The idea is for as many people as possible to be able to use it and know what's going on with the utility.)

--JorgeA

Hi JorgeA,

Whoops! My Bad.

I can only lay rightful claim to having an understanding of English. But if I could, I wouldn't mind knowing a programming language! If only I had of been taught Assembly, Basic, C and C++, etc. beginning from my earliest days - look out Microsoft.

JorgeA I hope you have been and remain well.

regards,
Laurence

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Two more reviews ...


StartisBack 2.0 Windows 8 Start menu program released ( NeoWin 2013-03-04 )

The first time ( I think ) that Tiihy's utility has been featured at NeoWin. Naturally the MetroTards are less than happy.


Stardock Start8 vs. Classic Shell ( Maximum PC 2013-03-12 )

Very thorough comparison. The comments are a hoot ( remember that MPC is the opposite of NeoWin ).

[JorgeA]

That Maximum PC comparative was generally fair, I thought, although I'll be curious to hear what @xpclient has to say about it.

Good idea to report reviews and reports of entries on our list. (Nice to see that a project launched on MSFN got featured on another big website, too.) Maybe we can start doing that (linking to reviews of Start Menu replacements) on a regular basis here.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Reports are coming in that the "legacy" code supporting Start Menu replacements has been taken out of Windows Blue:

Quote

Confirmed the leaked version of Windows blue dont support StartIsBack even Start8 dont's work Microsoft eliminates all code, change kernel and explorer is a bad news.

A couple of posters in the StartIsBack thread says that some replacements work and others don't.

Anybody care to try out all the items on our list in the leaked Windows Blue?

Thanks to @CharlotteTheHarlot for bringing this to attention in the "Deeper Impressions" thread.

--JorgeA

[Laurence]

In one of the threads of the Stardock Start8 forum, I see that "Start8 1.14 beta now available": it has "Updates for Windows® "Blue" compatibility testing"

It will be interesting to see how many of the now available Start Menu's, which presently do not work as advertised (or at all) in the build of Windows "Blue" floating around in the wild, receive updates so that they do. We now know of one. As long as they work in the officially released Windows version, that's the main thing.

regards,
Laurence

[xpclient]

Classic Shell 3.6.6 works with the leaked builds of Windows 8.1 aka 'Blue'. Get a sexy looking skin for it here: http://winaero.com/b...-classic-shell/

[pritesh123]

I have tried Start8 and Pokki. Both of them are awesome. Pokki is a much more better option to replace the start menu. There are plenty of things you can do with it. Thank you guys for providing other options. I'll check out some other software too.

[JorgeA]

Laurence, on 28 March 2013 - 10:10 AM, said:

In one of the threads of the Stardock Start8 forum, I see that "Start8 1.14 beta now available": it has "Updates for Windows® "Blue" compatibility testing"

It will be interesting to see how many of the now available Start Menu's, which presently do not work as advertised (or at all) in the build of Windows "Blue" floating around in the wild, receive updates so that they do. We now know of one. As long as they work in the officially released Windows version, that's the main thing.

Hi Laurence,

Yes, that's is the next logical step for this thread. Windows 8 will soon morph into Windows Blue, and unless we update it for Blue the list will get increasingly less useful over time.

Any volunteers out there to install Windows Blue and start trying out these Start Menu/Button alternatives? I could expand the list with a separate section specific to Windows Blue (or 8.1 or whatever they end up calling it).

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

xpclient, on 08 April 2013 - 12:53 PM, said:

Classic Shell 3.6.6 works with the leaked builds of Windows 8.1 aka 'Blue'. Get a sexy looking skin for it here: http://winaero.com/b...-classic-shell/

Excellent! I'm very happy to hear that Classic Shell works on Blue.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

pritesh123, on 12 April 2013 - 02:10 AM, said:

I have tried Start8 and Pokki. Both of them are awesome. Pokki is a much more better option to replace the start menu. There are plenty of things you can do with it. Thank you guys for providing other options. I'll check out some other software too.

Glad to be of service!

Are you trying these on Windows 8, or on Windows Blue? (Just curious.)

--JorgeA

[Island Dog]

Start8 works with any of the 8.1 builds just fine.

[bphlpt]

Here's another one to add to your list, and it's free! START MENU REVIVER

Cheers and Regards

[JorgeA]

bphlpt, on 15 May 2013 - 06:27 PM, said:

Here's another one to add to your list, and it's free! START MENU REVIVER

Cheers and Regards

Nice find! With "Blue" coming up, I didn't think anybody else would take a chance on creating a Start Menu that may turn out not to work in just a few months' time.

I'll add it to the list.

Next on tap will be to review all the existing links and fix or clean them up.

--JorgeA

This post has been edited by JorgeA: 15 May 2013 - 10:21 PM

[Laurence]

JorgeA, on 15 May 2013 - 10:21 PM, said:

Next on tap will be to review all the existing links and fix or clean them up.

--JorgeA

Hi JorgeA,

I just tried all the links and most all are still working as advertised, except for Lenovo QuickLaunch and Toshiba Desktop Assist. And perhaps those two apps might still be found on their respective sites - someplace.

Ah hah, so another start button/menu (i.e. Start Menu Reviver) joins the ranks eh. Welcome to the party. :-)

I'm not sure why. . . (scratching head and wondering to self) but I am looking forward to the release of Windows 8.1. And I say I'm not sure why, because the way I have my Win8 set up I very seldom see or use any of its new metro interface (unless I have specifically chosen to do so). Still, fixes, and worthwhile enhancements or 'renovations' will be accepted; here, all improvements are welcome, all other is not.

All the best to you JorgeA.

regards,
Laurence