Solved with 8.1, do I lose ability to use my start replacment?

I see Microsoft tried to pull a fast one by giving 8.1 users a fake start button. I use a third party app for a start button replacement called " Windows 7 explorer for Windows 8 (Ex7ForW8)"

found here Download Ex7forW8 v1.0 (freeware) - AfterDawn: Software downloads

I wanna know if installing the 8.1 will cause this to break. i know it may have to be reinstalled after the update - thats expected, but i wanna be sure it will work first because i cannot backup my whole system right now.

Has anyone tried this app with the 8.1 update?

I'm still on the fence about this update.. don't know if I want or need it but if this app won't work it will be a deal breaker.

I was using Start8 from Stardock on my laptop....before I upgraded my laptop I uninstalled Start8 and then upgraded and then reinstalled Start8 with the latest version. It's just the way I do 3rd party software.

There are other options for a 3rd party software of the start button out there, some free some not...The 2 that I know that work with windows 8 and 8.1 are Classic Shell and Start8.

Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements

Windows 8 start menu returns with Start8 from Stardock!

If the classic shell functionality wasn't broken then i doubt Ex7ForW8 will be broken also. Good to know, but I'll stick around a bit longer to see if anyone can confirm this. Thanks.

Fwiw. It isn't really a "Fake" button. It takes you to the modern screen, which MS, and several users, (including me!9, do regard as the start menu, Right clicking it shows a few other useful options.

I got 8.1 Pro & didn't lose anything.
Had to update 5 drivers & get 2 Windows Updates though.

Thanks folks..

When I said fake it was after i had seen a couple of screen shots of the button in use.. they were showing only the right click menu. I didn't know that at the time. I have since seen a video showing the functionality and in this video, the start button does not take you to the modern UI ( Metro) screen, but it does open up a menu ! Still that menu is uglycompared to my normal windows 7 start button and menu, which is what my third party app above does - it actually uses a windows 7 disk to restore the real start button.

I have spent the last two hours reading all I can about the 8.1 update and I think i'm going to skip this update - it's not for me. The only improvements they made are mostly to the metro screen and it's metro apps. With my windows 7 start button and menu, my metro screen and all of the apps get disabled permanently. Since i don't use any of those stupid apps this update would not benefit me. I prefer real full applications I can control, and i prefer to choose my apps, not be forced to use Microsoft's.

The 8.1 update does some other odd things.. it deletes some apps and some functionality as well as adding some apps.. needless apps like a sound recorder for the metro start screen - this is a separate app altogether than the sound recorder for the desktop - why have two versions of the exact same app? Because the metro app wont work on the desktop and vice versa. That's stupid. Instead of fixing the problem and making all apps work across the board , they throw crap at the problem and hope it sticks. 8.1 causes many common features to be hidden and hard to find, like the option to bypass the metro screen on startup and they hide the hibernation settings from where they were.

I could go on but the net is full of all the horrible things this update does. If you like me do not use any metro type apps and you also use a third party start menu - you might wanna think long and hard before getting this update. It could make your experience much worse or at least waste your time and resources for something you dont need and won't use.