84 replies to this topic 7 votes

[flexkeyboard]

It was going to be sooner or later that someone is going to bring back the native Windows start menu. Fortunately it's sooner. Tihiy over at msfn forum has released StartIsBack beta 0.

It not yet clear what method he was able to do to get the start menu back. But it's not likely to be made public because Tihiy is probably looking to offer the final version at a fee. The beta 0 is set to expire on the 25th October ( just in time to make a profit from Windows 8's release hahahah )

Anyway here are some screenshots I made:

The customize menu that used to be in the taskbar property setting is wrapped in an isolated dialog box. Everything from the native start menu is there as you can see the correct right-click menu on the computer item. Even the old trick Shift+Ctrl+Right click shows the hidden "Exit Explorer" menu item.




You can get to that isolated dialog by right click on the start button and choose its setting.




The Modern UI tab allow to you to disable the hot corners. The bottom-left hot corner is disabled by default permanently.




Other goodies include straight booting into the desktop without any automated keystroke hacks. It literally boots to the desktop from a cold boot-up.
Well, what are you waiting for metrohaters =D, go grab the beta 0 over at http://www.msfn.org/...-start-is-back/

The only thing left for someone to do is to bring back Aero Glass as you can see it is absent. Only time...=D

edited: quick note, after running the registry hack, just logout and log back in. No need for a reboot.

[Javik]

I'll gladly pay him for a license to this, I just hope whatever hack he's used isn't blocked by Microsoft with a patch.

[InsaneNutter]

Looks nice, however at the moment the creator states:

Quote

it won't withstand Windows Updates (although it seems to withstand GA update), because some things are deliberately hard-coded.

With that in mind i think Start8 appears to be the way to go at the moment, and you can still use Metro Apps if you wish (Can you with this, not had time to test). Great to see various solutions out there though, ill be interested to see how this develops

[RandPC]

It'll need to be able to handle Windows Updates to be viable IMO, there are already too many competing start menu replacements without any such issues and some of them offer more customizability then the native start menu. Not going to be worth the hassle relative to other options if it can't.

That said Aero Glass is now the only thing holding me back from adopting Win8, I really really hate the look of Win8. It's just horrific. All my other issues have been resolved to the point where Win8's benefits would be enough to sway me.

[Tihiy]

PLEASE DON'T TELL CASUAL USERS ABOUT BETA VERSIONS. I ASKED EVERYONE - PLEASE DON'T LINK TO BETA 0
IT IS REALLY NOT MEANT FOR PUBLIC TESTING

but i'm glad it works...

[Javik]

RandPC, on 11 October 2012 - 06:27, said:

It'll need to be able to handle Windows Updates to be viable IMO, there are already too many competing start menu replacements without any such issues and some of them offer more customizability then the native start menu. Not going to be worth the hassle relative to other options if it can't.

That said Aero Glass is now the only thing holding me back from adopting Win8, I really really hate the look of Win8. It's just horrific. All my other issues have been resolved to the point where Win8's benefits would be enough to sway me.

It's a little easier on the eye if you copy the visual theme over from the RP, if you simply rename /windows/resources/themes/aero to something else, then place the same folder (aero) from the RP in then perform a reboot, you get a much nicer feel. It's still not glass but it's less ugly.

[FloatingFatMan]

Why does the settings dialog look almost exactly like the one for Classic Start Menu?

[Tihiy]

FloatingFatMan, on 11 October 2012 - 06:44, said:

Why does the settings dialog look almost exactly like the one for Classic Start Menu?

Dunno, it just came so and it irritates me too. It's temporary design, it'll change.

[FaiKee]

RandPC, on 11 October 2012 - 06:27, said:

It'll need to be able to handle Windows Updates to be viable IMO, there are already too many competing start menu replacements without any such issues and some of them offer more customizability then the native start menu. Not going to be worth the hassle relative to other options if it can't.

That said Aero Glass is now the only thing holding me back from adopting Win8, I really really hate the look of Win8. It's just horrific. All my other issues have been resolved to the point where Win8's benefits would be enough to sway me.

About this aero-glass thing, there's a (quite interesting) story: Sometime ago I started a thread about a MS China guy who succeeded to put back the source codes and got aero-glass back on win8RTM, unfortunately the story seemed to end there, no further news from this guy.

A while ago, a MDL guy posted about his little project to get aero-glass back:。



And then, the next day he claimed that he got a DMCA from MS:



The funny thing is, we learn from Neowin News that some of these DMCA notices are just a joke; of course, we don't know if the DMCA for this MDL guy is real business, or just a victim of another joke.

And we also don't know if this MS China guy also got a DMCA, or if he got a warning from his office, he disappeared, and nobody knows what had happened.

[Javik]

They won't usually send DMCA takedown notices until there's actual evidence of a violation. I don't buy it.

[FaiKee]

Javik, on 11 October 2012 - 06:51, said:

They won't usually send DMCA takedown notices until there's actual evidence of a violation. I don't buy it.

http://www.neowin.ne...e-us-government

[Sergey "hb860"]

hehe, C++ ActiveX!
Tihiy, nice idea and nice work!

[flexkeyboard]

Lol, sorry Tihiy. You know mdl isn't all that casual. They actually have more traffic than neowin believe it or not, check alexa =D

Anyway, I actually doesn't miss the start menu at all. I'll donate if I ever get nostalgic.

Well, here's my first constructive feedback. There's a bug with the "number of recent program display". As you can see I set my to 13 in the above screenshot. But some time when I initiated the start menu, it gets shrunken down to the default height. Only then after I dismissed it and open it up again would it return to taller height of 13 recent program items.

It seems all random to me. Now that more apps populated the full 13 recent item, the bug doesn't happen at all...so I guess it's a non-critical.

[fuxa]

Rejoice!! Looks a bit Windows Me to me.

Incidentally, anything on this menu, anything, can be found by typing the first few letters from the start screen, or can just pinned to it. Enjoy that menu though.

[+jamieakers]

Chicane-UK, on 11 October 2012 - 07:39, said:

I really wish Microsoft had given the option for power users to change a setting so you could reinstate the start menu and drop the start screen... I just really don't like it

We get it - you don't like the start screen. How about making a comment on the thread which is regarding the efforts of an MSFN forum member to make a Start Menu for Windows 8??

I think he's done a great job and for those users that prefer the convenience of the Start Menu it is a brilliant effort. It looks and appears to behave in exactly the same way as users are used to.