Remove Start Button From Windows 8.1 Taskbar Using StartIsGone

Start button on the taskbar is one of the first things that you notice after upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. Unlike Windows 7, Vista or XP, the Start button on Windows 8.1 taskbar takes you to the Start screen, the Start menu replacement introduced with Windows 8 operating system.

While users who prefer to use the mouse to switch to the Start screen might find this little button useful and it also enhances the look of taskbar and desktop, users who use Windows logo key on the keyboard to see the Start screen might want to hide or remove the Start button to accommodate more icons on the taskbar.

As you should know by now, Windows 8.1 doesn’t include any options to hide the Start button and one has to use third-party tools to remove the Start button.

When it comes to removing the Start button from Windows 8.1 taskbar, you have a couple of tools to choose from. About two weeks ago, we covered about a free tool named Metro Remove to hide the Start button. The problem with Metro Remove is that it leaves out some blank space in the place of the Start button.

For those users who are looking for a full working software to remove the Start button, here is a perfect tool to remove the Start button from Windows 8.1 taskbar.

WinAero has just released a new software called StartIsGone to remove the Start button from Windows 8.1 taskbar and make Windows 8.1 taskbar look like Windows 8 taskbar. Download, extract the zip file, and run the utility to remove the default Start button from the taskbar and get some additional space on your taskbar.

Another good thing is that you can quickly restore the Start button by quitting StartIsGone program. In other words, as long as the StartIsGone is running in the background, Start button won’t appear on the taskbar and the moment you end StartIsGone, Start button appears. To end StartIsGone, right-click on the StartIsGone icon in the system tray and then click Exit option.

Also note that by default StartIsGone doesn’t load with Windows 8.1. If you prefer to start this program with Windows and don’t want to manually launch it after every restart, you can right-click on StartIsGone icon in the system tray and then click Run at Start-up option.

StartIsGone is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 8.1 RTM. The download file of StartIsGone includes two folders titled x86 and x64. Depending on your Windows 8.1 system type, run the executable located in either x86 or x64 folder.

Download StartIsGone