How To Remove Start Orb From Windows 8 Developer Preview

Posted February 6, 2012 – 7:47 pm in: Windows 8 Guides

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First it was Start menu and now it’s the turn of Start button/orb. It seems Microsoft has removed the Start button from the upcoming Windows 8 Consumer Preview (build 8220), if the leaked screenshots are anything to go by.

In an attempt to make the taskbar more user-friendly and provide more space on the taskbar, Microsoft has removed the Start button from Windows 8 Beta build (Consumer Preview).

In Windows 8 Consumer Preview build, users will need to move the mouse cursor to the bottom left corner of the screen to bring up the Charms menu. In other words, only the Start button is missing and not the Charms function.

Users who have been using Windows 8 Developer Preview build may want to remove the Start button from the taskbar to give it the touch of upcoming Consumer Preview build. Follow one of the methods given below to hide the Start button from your Windows 8 Developer Preview build.

Method 1:

WARNING: This is a temporary workaround. You might end up with a black desktop (without Metro) after the next reboot.

Step 1: Open Registry Editor. To do this, press Windows + R keys to open Run dialog, type regedit.exe in the box, and then press enter key. Click Yes for the UAC prompt.

Step 2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Step 3: On the right-side of the window, create a new DWORD key and rename it as YouBettaHideYoPearl and set its value to 1 to remove the Start button. Once done, close the Registry Editor.

Step 4: Next, you need to restart Windows Explorer. Don’t use Task Manager to restart the Explorer as you may end up with a black desktop. Download Process Explorer from here, run the tool and restart the Explorer to get the Windows 8 Consumer Preview style Taskbar.

NOTE: If you end up with a black desktop after the next reboot, open Run dialog using Windows + R, type regedit.exe the box, and then hit enter key to open Registry editor. Navigate the registry key (as mentioned in Step 3) and set the value to 0.

Method 2:

Step 1: Download Start Killer application from here. Start Killer is a free software to easily hide Start button from Windows 7 and Windows 8 taskbar. It supports both x86 and x64 versions of Windows.

Step 2: Run the setup file and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation and remove the Start button. A small icon will sit in the notification area and gives you access to Start Killer settings. You can make the Start Killer to load with Windows under settings.