Not a secret anymore, Microsoft made the bold decision to remove completely the classic Windows Start button (orb) and Start menu in Windows 8 Consumer Preview. While many Windows users started testing this latest beta release of the operating system, they still skeptical whether the new Start Screen is good enough as full replacement and some others want the traditional Start button (orb) and Start menu back.
Not everything is lost just yet, there is an easy way to bring back these lost features in Windows 8 Consumer Preview:
Head over Lee-soft.com and download ViStart — this is a piece of free software (not from Microsoft) that will recreate the old Windows 7 Start menu and its features.
When you are in the installation process watch out and skip the installation of the toolbar — you don’t need it –.
After you’ve completed the installation, you’ll notice the Start button (or Start orb) will once again appear in the bottom-left corner, and you also should be able to use the Windows key to toggle the Start menu.
- This will not disable the Start Screen.
- To get to the Start Screen just move the mouse to the bottom-left corner of the screen and click the Start icon. Or move the mouse to the top or bottom-left of the screen to bring the Charms Bar and just simply, click the Windows 8 Metro style logo.
- In the System Tray you’ll find ViStart options to control various aspect of this software.
If you feel that is not your solution, you can also try this workaround using a new Taskbar Toolbar: How to keep both an old style Start Menu and the Start Screen in Windows 8 [Trick].
Now with ViStart there are not more excuses on testing Windows 8 Consumer Preview, it works well and you can keep both worlds.
