Though Microsoft has completely erased the Start menu Button in their latest version of windows i.e. Windows 8, developers around the world are here to support you. If you have upgraded to Windows 8 and missing your favorite start Button and Menu or have still not upgraded due to absence of Start menu, Digital Sensus has worked out some very effective ways to overcome the issue. We have tested five utilities as mentioned below to get your Start menu and Button back on windows 8.
Classic Shell Start Menu
Classic Shell Start Menu program is basically a clone of original start menu. It was primarily developed for offering Windows XP type start menu to Vista and 7 OS but now the same has been extended for Windows 8 too. The program offers you various themes for the start menu and even provides with an option to create one that suits your choice. Classic shell also offers other programs to customize your Windows such as Classic Explorer, Classic IE 9, Classic Copy and more. Above all, the utility is free of cost to use.
Vistart Start Menu
This is yet another awesome option to get your favorite Start Menu Back. The best part is it offers various skins for start menu, start button and task-bar to for customization to suit your style. The utility also offers ultra blur features to make the menu more transparent and it also promises to launch the program faster than original Windows start menu.
Win8 Start Button
As the name suggests, it places a start button on your desktop and when you click on it, it offers the default Windows 8 Start Menu (Metro Style) right on your desktop, the size of which can be changed to suit your convenience. It basically offers both versions together on the same place to make it more convenient. So, you don’t really get your favorite old start menu back, but it offers the convenience of start button clubbed with Metro Style start menu. The demerit of this utility is that some of the options are in German language hence may not suit larger audience.
Start8 Start Menu
This is yet another good option by Stardock. You are offered with both the type of start menu i.e. Windows 8 style start menu as well as Windows 7 style start menu as and when required. The utility also offers you to customize the start button as per your choice. This utility is not freely available. You can try it for free for 30 days post which you need to pay onetime fee of $4.99 to purchase it.
StartButton 8
Yet another option to get your Start Menu back is using StartButton 8 utility. The utility places a start button on your desktop and your primitive start menu as seen in Windows 7. You can even customize your start menu to place your favorite characters such as angry birds and more.
Based on our experience with the above mentioned programs, we recommend using Start8 start Menu by Startdock that offers the best functionalities across all the others but that comes with cost of $4.99. However, if you wish to go for a free utility, Classic shell is best amongst other however, we recommend our users to test all the utilities before making a final go head.
