The native Start menu is back, everyone rejoice!


Recommended Posts

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 :shifty: )

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.

6KjfB.jpg

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

OUhzE.png

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

e7KjX.png

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.

Looks nice, however at the moment the creator states:

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 (Y)

  • Like 2

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'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.

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:?

image_590.jpg

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

image_591.jpg

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.

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.

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.

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...

Amazing work, I think this is much better than Beta 0 :)

The amount of code should be fairly minimal, I'd be surprised if they saved more than 10 megabytes by removing the start menu code out. Having choice hurts nobody but I am not going to pay for this solution until I see some assurance that it won't be borked by an update.

Maybe they could make a version which patches the files in memory so it works with Windows Update instead of actually changing the files. I think that some custom themers for Windows XP used to do this instead of using a uxtheme.dll patch.

Windows 8 does have an advantage over Windows 7, is that it will have a longer support lifecycle, this is a reason that a business may wish to use a Windows 8 base if they like to extend time between major OS upgrades.

i use stardock start8 and it`s the best startmenu for 8 just paid $3.99 instead of $4.99 for it...final version will be on GA of windows 8.

I really don't see the need to pay for something like that. Even if it is cheap, it's silly to have to pay for it.

<snipped>

Edited by Calum
Snipped a quote from a removed post

Oh it's that man with his silly software again. You remember him from another thread, where he provides the software, but he does not provide the files, so it does not work. See here-http://www.neowin.ne...-for-windows-8/

I took a look at that link. And he said in his post on the other forum that the software will not be free he is going to charge for it. And he said that it won't withstand Windows updates.

So just stick with Classic Shell or Start Menu 7 they are free to use. And they work. So I have already got my start button and Windows 7 start menu on my Windows 8. With Classic shell.. Andrea Borman.

Looks nice, however at the moment the creator states:

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 (Y)

couldn't someone simply reinstall the app after an update to get it back?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • AltSendme 0.4.1 by Razvan Serea AltSendme is a minimal, cross-platform application designed for fast, secure, and private peer-to-peer file transfers. It allows users to send files or entire directories directly between devices without relying on cloud servers, accounts, or any personal information. Everything is encrypted end-to-end using modern protocols like QUIC and TLS 1.3, ensuring both strong security and low-latency performance. Transfers are verified with BLAKE3 for data integrity, and interrupted downloads automatically resume, making the experience reliable even on unstable connections. You can transfer anything—images, videos, documents, and more. Integrity checks are performed on both ends, so your files are automatically verified for correctness during both sending and receiving. AltSendme works seamlessly across local networks or long-distance links, capable of saturating multi-gigabit connections for extremely fast delivery. With built-in NAT traversal and encrypted relay fallback, it connects devices almost anywhere. The app integrates with the Sendme CLI and will soon support mobile and web platforms. Fully free and open-source, AltSendme offers a lightweight, privacy-first alternative to traditional cloud-based services, removing size limits, upload costs, and unnecessary data exposure. AltSendme 0.4.1 changelog: Release Highlights Self-hosted relays: Run your own iroh relay so transfers don't rely on public infrastructure. Includes a full deployment template in deploy/relay/ with Docker Compose for a VPS and configuration examples for production use. Fly.io support: One-click deploy template for Fly.io, including a quick-start config (fly.dev.toml) for testing without a custom domain, plus production setup with Let's Encrypt and your own hostname. Relay settings UI: New Settings → Network panel to choose how AltSendme connects: automatic public relays, custom self-hosted URLs (with optional auth token), or disabled. Test connections, verify latency, and see live relay status in the footer. Disable relays: Turn off relay servers entirely when you only need same-network transfers (e.g. LAN). Direct connections only. No relay hop required when devices can reach each other. Android graduates from beta: Android is now part of the regular release cycle alongside desktop. APKs ship with each version (universal, arm64, and armv7). Other improvements Private relay access control via shared auth token Relay fallback notifications when a custom relay is unreachable Broadcast mode toggle in sharing settings Android release build fixes (split-per-ABI APKs, universal APK preservation) UI polish: mobile safe-area insets, dropzone layout, transfer progress animation Bug fixes for minification-related serialization issues and system tray icon loading What's Changed feat(relay): add relay status functionality and settings UI (a120cdf) feat(relay): implement custom relay server configuration and verification (51276c7) feat(relay): add configuration for private relay access and enhance observability features (48fbabf) feat(relay): enhance relay URL validation, display connection status (d4fffa0) feat(relay): add RelayChangeGuard component and enhance relay-related translations (16ba514) feat(broadcast): add toggle setting for broadcast mode in sharing UI (ca6d977) fix(relay): correct QUIC discovery port, pin image, templatize fly.dev (52a2ba5) fix: More broken serialization due to minification (67491a9) fix(android): preserve true universal APK across per-ABI builds (e9f256f) fix(ui): conditional safe-area insets padding on mobile (1182f0e) refactor(transfer): CircularRing component animation fix (944572b) chore(android): drop x86 and x86_64 release APKs, keep universal+arm64+armv7 (34ada0b) Download: AltSendme 0.4.1 | ARM64 | ~9.0 MB (Open Source) Download: AltSendme for MacOS | Android Links: AltSendme Home Page | GitHub | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • You are mostly right about the ephemeral nature of it. As I mention in the article, if you dont add a second device or take a backup of your account before uninstalling it, then yes you will lose access to your account. That said, in terms of actual user experience when you sync multiple devices your message history carries across and there's also a Saved Messages chat like there is on Telegram to send messages and attachments between your installs. But yh, what you point out are correct and its not trying to emulate Messenger or Telegram.
    • OK so SearXNG is a meta search engine that you can install locally or use via a public instance. It scrapes other search engines which you choose and then sorts the results. Not as complicated as multiple relays
    • The only difference here is that you think you came up with these reasons. You didn't. These age old fearmongering lies (that were NEVER true) were funded by and the anger stoked by Putin through proxies like Farage (and later in the USA, Trump) and filtered down through the skinheads, Neonazis, etc. until it reached the uninformed, ignorant, and gullible -- never realizing they were being played for fools against their own best interests. Even now, despite all of the EVIDENCE proving that Brexit was a terrible mistake for ALL citizens of the UK and that its supporters were tricked by Putin's proxies into sabotaging their own nation, you're still here defending these well-known lies as if they were ever true. Not only are they not true. They NEVER were. So, when are you going to realize that you were lied to and actually get angry at the liars and charlatans who lied to you, instead of blaming the innocent people they lied to you about?
    • Dupe of "Microsoft further improving Windows 11 Taskbar with latest builds", published <20 minutes apart
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      224
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      150
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!