Start8 1.01

Stardock Start8 lets you return the Start Button to Windows 8. Microsoft Windows 8 is shipped without the “Start” menu. Start8 brings back Windows 7-style Start menu with Windows 8 enhancements. Also you can view and launch installed applications (including Modern apps), All Programs menu. Start8 includes support for “jump lists”/recent documents for recently accessed programs (Devices, Documents, Music, Videos, Photos, Computer, and more). Pin favorite desktop and Metro apps shortcuts directly to the start menu for easy access. Start8 adds searchable Windows 8-style (Modern UI) Start menu options for Windows desktop applications, Modern applications, and documents. It allows automatically load directly to your Windows desktop on login (vs the start screen). In addition, you can also easily shutdown your PC without needing to access another menus.

Features:

Windows 7-style Start menu with Windows 8 enhancements
Pin desktop and Modern UI apps
Jump list support
Unified Search for Apps, Settings and Files
Boot directly to the Windows 8 desktop
Automatically matches the color of the taskbar
Skinnable Start button
Windows 8 Start screen accessible from the Start Menu
Optionally disable the Windows 8 desktop “hot spots”
Adds option for WinKey to show fullscreen metro desktop
Group Policy support

Control:

Configurable Start menu size
Windows 8 Start screen accessible from the Start menu
Clean, streamlined UI enhances Start8′s usability

Customization:

Optionally disable the desktop Windows 8 “hot spots”
Supports WindowFX 5.1 start menu animations (currently in beta)
Choose a custom Start button skin and color

New in the v1.01 update:

US English installs with a language pack installed now pickup the correct language rather than US English.
New option for when in a modern UI application to have the Windows key switch to the Windows desktop vs the Start8 menu or Win8 menu.
New option for when on the desktop for the Windows key to switch to the last active Modern UI application. If none are running then nothing happens.
The height of the start menu now adjusts instantly when you add lots of shortcuts on the right hand side list.
Recent Items and Favorites shortcuts now load the translation correctly.
Search now shows full results for program search on non English installs.
RTL languages like arabic now show the start menu in the correct orientation and position.
Fix for all programs text being backwards with RTL languages. Added registry key to enable bottom left corner Modern UI start menu hotcorner. This is enabled by setting AllowStartHotCorner to 1 in the usual Start8 registry keys location.
Added registry key to enable winkey + ctrl to emulate right windows key. This is enabled by setting CtrlWinKey to 1 in the usual Start8 registry keys location.
Added support for command line parameters via the search field.
Made the shutdown button menu auto show on hover on the arrow.
When hotspots are disabled the upper right hand pixel is now clickable.
Some applications did not remember their maximized window state on launch. This is now resolved.
On some machines search could show missing results at the top of the list on slow painting, fast searching machines. This is now resolved.
When the taskbar is positioned on the right hand side of the screen the start menu now correctly expands left on jump lists rather than right.
With languages where items on the right hand side are exceptionally long, additional space is now allocated to stop them truncating.
Fixed a small bug with accessing the Run and Desktop from the Win + X menu when accessed via right click.
Separator lines on the right hand side of the list were misaligned when the taskbar was not at the bottom of the screen. This is now resolved.
Drag & drop sorting of pinned shortcuts would produce the wrong order with more than 10 pinned items as well as on some quick machines. This is now resolved.
Attempting to drag icons using the right mouse button will no longer cause Start8 to wait for escape to be pressed.
Right clicking on items in the all programs tree view and adding them as a link no longer causes the tree to refresh and close open folders.
Items in the all programs tree view now pickup the native OS translation such as Editor for Notepad on German installs.
Tweaks to improve going straight to desktop after login feature.
Fixed an issue causing a crash on load due to a modern UI icon parsing issue.
Small tweak to all programs tree icon loading.