New Start8 beta for Windows 8 released

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A few days after Microsoft launched the Consumer Preview build of Windows 8, developer Stardock launched the first beta of Start8, which aimed to give a version of the familiar Start menu to Windows 8 Metro owners. Today, Stardock has released a new and free beta of Start8 that adds quite a few new features.

While previous versions of the Start8 beta only put in a start button that opened up the "Modern" user interface for Windows 8, this new version has a number of new features, including:

Windows 7 style Start menu with Windows 8 enhancements
- Users can search for Windows 8-style (Metro) apps with it
- Users can pin Metro apps to it
- Full support for Jump Lists
- Unified Search
- Automatically matches color to the color of the taskbar
Start button is now skinnable
Users can boot directly to the Windows 8 desktop
Optionally disable the desktop “hot spots”.
Fast access to shut down, devices, music, documents, videos
Supports WindowFX 5.1 startmenu animations (currently in beta)
The Windows 8 Start screen becomes accessible from the Start menu
Start menu size fully configurable
Adds option for WinKey to show fullscreen Metro desktop.