Comparison of Start menu replacements for Windows 8

Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system introduced an updated Start menu known as the "Start screen", which uses a full-screen design consisting of tiles to represent applications. This replaced the Windows desktop as the primary interface of the operating system. Additionally, the on-screen Start button was replaced by a hidden button in the corner of the screen; Microsoft explained that the Start button was removed because few people used it, noting the addition of "pinning" apps to the taskbar from Windows 7.

The change was controversial among users, and a market ensued for applications which restore the visible Start button, emulate the previous Start menu design, or allow users to boot directly to the Desktop instead of the Start screen.

The following is a list of Start menu replacements for Windows 8 which have received coverage from third-party sources:

Name Developer License Skins Run Pinning Aero Sort Boot to desktop Notes BringBackRevel BringBack (beta) Review | Windows 8 Start Menu Apps Revel Software Discontinued (http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/revel_bringback8.html) Classic ShellHow to get the Start menu back in Windows 8 | Windows 8 – CNET Reviews updated 2012/12/31 Classic Shell team Classic Shell FAQ, Is Classic Shell open-source? Classic Shell Review: Softpedia Allows Modern UI related tweaksDiscontinued and forked to Open-Shell Classic Start 8Free Traditional Start Menu Style for Use with Windows® 8 Crawler, LLC Classic Windows Start Menu SourceCodeBoy (Freeware for non-commercial use only) Discontinued (last version here http://www.pypa.es/Utilidades/Software/) Ex7forW8 Tihiy Discontinued (http://tihiy.net/files/ex7forW8_1.0.zip) Finalbird Svyatoslav Yudin Favorites of Start Menu is unified with the other software parts Handy Start MenuHandy Start Menu – CNET Download.com ChemTable Software Open-Shell Fork of Classic Shell Pokki SweetLabs, Inc. Power8

Power8 Team RetroUI Pro Thinix Samsung Quick Starter Samsung Start Menu 8Pegoraro, Rob (24 November 2012), Windows 8 woes? Get Start menu sub, retrieved 10 December 2012 IObit Start Menu ReviverWINDOWS 8 START MENU APPS SHOWDOWN ReviverSoft touch screen support Start Menu X OrdinarySoft Start8 Stardock Corporation StartFinity WinAbility Software Supports automatic localization of Start menu StartIsBack Пуск Будет Удобнее modifies existing hot corners StartMenuPlus8 Winok StartW8Want To Get Back The Start Menu In Windows 8? Here's How | Mobile & Apps SODATSW SyMenu UGMFree The menu is fully portableTweaks.com Start for Windows 8 Advanced PC Media ViStart Lee-Soft Wentutu Start MenuBring the Start Menu back in Windows 8 with this app Wentutu Win8StartButton6 Things Microsoft Must Do In 2013 – Software – Windows 8 Torch Media Inc. Win8Starter Engelmann Media GmbH Xeesa 1b QuickStartXeesa 1b Xeesa Services Cloud Start Menu available

The number of skins in the table givens the number of built-in skins. If there are downloadable skins, then a "+" is appended to the number to indicate that download extensions are possible.

RetroUI, StartIsBack, Classic Shell, Start8, and Pokki are five of the more notable of these. RetroUI is offered in 33 languages, and also for Windows Server 2012, and adds a taskbar and resizable windows. StartIsBack is also localized.StartIsBack web site Classic Shell used to be free and open source (now proprietary freeware), major items are localized and installing the Language Pack from Windows Update makes all items fully localized; Classic Shell is also available for Windows 7 and Windows Server, and claims over 25 million downloads.Classic Shell The Pokki download to restore the Start menu is free; as of January 2013, it has about 1.5 million users.Yahoo! News, Jan. 16, 2013 The Pokki application platform, based on Chromium, enables desktop applications to be built—like mobile apps—using standard web languages like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It is also available for Windows XP and Windows 7.Pokki web site Pokki has raised $21.5M from investors like Google, Intel, and O'Reilly; its business model is to make a commission on software sold through its app store. Start8 has been downloaded over 5 million times.

Comparison of Start menu replacements for Windows 8

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