A lot has been said and written about the new Start screen introduced with Windows 8. While a section of PC users are satisfied with the new Start screen, most users aren’t exactly happy with the Start menu replacement. Users who don’t like the Start screen have a number of free programs to get back the old-style Start menu in the newest version of Windows.
Users who prefer to have a Windows 7-style Start menu have a number of free and paid programs to choose from. Startdock’s Start8 (paid), StartMenu8 (free), Classic Shell (free) and ViStart (free) are some of the best Start menu programs available for Windows 8.
And users who want to tweak and customize the default look of the screen also have tens of free and paid programs. One can configure the Start screen to open within the desktop, change Start screen background, reduce Start screen size, add new tiles to the Start screen, and skip directly to the desktop.
Users who like the new Start screen and need a Start menu just to launch programs can add a Start menu to Windows 8’s taskbar without the help of third-party tools. Complete the below mentioned instructions to add a small Start menu to your Windows 8 taskbar:
Step 1: Right-click on the taskbar, select Toolbars and then click New toolbar.
Step 2: In the folder path box, type the following address:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
NOTE: Replace "C" with your Windows 8 drive letter.
Step 3: Click Select button. That’s it! You’re done. Your new Start menu should now appear in the right side of the taskbar. Simply click on the double arrow icon to see all installed programs. Apps installed from Windows Store might might not appear here.
To remove this Start menu, right-click on the taskbar, click Toolbars and then click on Programs.
James says
Interesting trick. I have already used Classic Shell to give me a Windows-95 start menu but I may try this on new devices. It’s such a time-saver compared to the Metro screen or even the Windows-7 start menu. I don’t need to waste time typing part of a name to search for an installed program, I can just click “start”, “programs” and see the whole lot in one go!
Uya says
Interesting trick, but one that isn’t worth it IMO. This “Start Menu” is too damn awkward. It doesn’t feature a Search function, pinned programs, or frequent programs, which makes launching your programs much more time consuming. It’s like a regression to Windows 95. Also, I don’t think it includes all programs, as some are installed in your user folder rather than C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.
Rahul Khanna says
Thankss..man you just saved my lots of dollars from being spent on third party app
fernand says
the main thing about the start menu is that you don’t have to lose time searching for any type of task, you just type it and you are done.
so this toolbar thing is not a good solution.
GreyKnight says
Interesting… i never see that… and i almost forgot about it at last windows… You are good!
darren says
it’s my first time seeing it on this website ! fair play to ya !!
Amit says
Very old and has been posted on many websites already.