Solved Classic Start Menu -- Microsoft is so out of touch

[SIW2]

Yes.

 

[Wenda]

Or you could go to the bottom left of the screen, and simply right-click. Hey, Presto, there's Control panel, and a whole lot besides.

Anyway, I used a variety of different start menu substitutes before settling on Classic Start. I used this thru the DP, CP and RP. When I installed the RTM trial, I started to actually set the Start Screen up, customised it, and began to consciously use it. It got to the stage where I was using Metro more than Classic Shell.

Now that I'm running the full retail version of 8 Pro, I deliberately left Classic Shell off the machine, and was doing fine without it.

But, I've since re-installed it, for two reasons. 1/ I like to boot straight to the desktop, and 2/ It gives a degree of consistency between
this and my other machines (Win 7, Vista, and XP).

It works just fine for me.

Wenda.

 

[Vigilante]

I agree with you that they shouldn't take away features from Windows. But I don't know why people used the Start Menu so much anyway. I never did. It was such a maze of menus within menus within menus! There's plenty of room on the Desktop to put icons for everything that you regularly use. If you do that, you rarely need the Start Menu.

I don't have a single icon on my desktop, not even the recycle bin. The desktop is reserved for wallpaper

 

[mbratch]

Or you could go to the bottom left of the screen, and simply right-click. Hey, Presto, there's Control panel, and a whole lot besides.

No Recent Items, though. And the corner activation is a little dodgy. When I'm on the desktop and I move the mouse to the extreme corner, it shows the thumbnail of the Start screen. If I move off the corner by more than about 3mm, even though the mouse is still well within the thumbnail, the thumbnail disappears and no longer active. Back to the corner. It's bad behavior. It's just not as easy to use as a start menu.

 

[Mystere]

Where in Windows 7 can I find the recent items menu? - Microsoft Community

I didn't even know that was there. In any event, you can pin the recent items to your taskbar or start menu.

Where did my Recent Items go in Windows 8? « Bennett Adelson Technical Blog

I'm not necessarily against Microsoft replacing the Start menu. I'm definitely against them replacing it with a stupid, flat, touch-based UI just because they desperately need to sell tablets.

It's touch friendly, not touch based. It works perfectly fine without touch.

 

[Dragon Drop]

Not only that but when you click on the control panel, you're presented these generalized groupings that require you to READ them all to see what might be inside them. In the old style, you click on the control panel link and a set of quick-to-recognize icons appears, sorted alphabetically. VERY easy to use, unlike the "new" way.

You can get the old style. Open Control Panel and at upper right select "View by > Icons." Then you can either
(1) Right-click its Taskbar button and select "Pin This Program to Taskbar"; or
(2) Drag the icon from the address bar to the Desktop, and then Pin to Start or copy it to anywhere else.

 

[musiclover7]

Something about Windows 8, sans start menu, even after all this time.. still just feels un-intuitive. Can I use it? Sure I can. Can I use it as well as I can without start menu? Probably for most things, now that I know how to get around and have taken the time to set up my start menu, task bar and desktop icons with what viable options. Do I still think removing the start menu was a lame decision? You betcha.

I still say, if you want to add tablet like features to Windows, then don't force them upon the desktop users that make up the bulk of your install base. It should have been added to the OS in addition to the old, not as a replacement to the old. As a desktop user, I do not like the focus shift I get clicking on the start screen. I don't want to see everything I am working on go away when I click on start. I am getting old, and I am liable to forget what I clicked on it for in the first place, sort of like the feeling one gets when they walk into a room only to forget why they went in there. As a desktop user, I don't like flipping back and forth between two different work environments...

I was at a rock concert some years back, where the band was playing like utter rubbish, but the crowd was still going crazy and cheering. I had the impression at the time, that if the band was to just come out on the stage, and vomit on the crowd, they would probably cheer like crazy and go home satisfied...

Windows kind of enjoys the same creative license. Their software is on the vast bulk of business based computers, and most small to large enterprises have a back log of apps and functions that are based in Windows. Most users, including myself are in the same boat. To migrate to something new would entail a great deal of cost, thought, time and energy. Still, mark me on this. Businesses will not be jumping on the Windows 8 bandwagon any time soon. The game is ripe for another contender, and I for one am welcoming anyone who wants to come to the fore with a viable option...

I like both android and apple, but I don't love either. I like the openness of Android, and believe that this trait alone may make the difference. All I am saying, is that the non desktop tabletesce features of Windows 8 are still lacking all the competition that is out there by a long shot, and the fact that they deliberately forced that interface on all desktop users will backfire in the end.

Those who like it. Great! I am glad you do. I still have yet to meet anyone in person who shares your opinion, and I talk to a lot of people who use computers..

 

[musiclover7]

I have to agree with the original poster, that Microsoft has shown they are quite out of touch with this latest windows installment.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
once Touch screens get more developed and "Mainstream" we might actually see some Windows 7 Users complaining about how slow the classic start menu is when using a touch screen.

I hated touch screens at first -- but they are quite OK once you get used to them - Use Touch on the laptop.

I don't use Touch on my nice large external LCD monitor but in combination with the laptop the W8 system does have plenty of advantages -- what would be a HUGE improvement though would be to make the tiles much more customisable and easier to "Group" and when installing a classical Windows application for it not to generate literally 100's of tiles for every .dll / .exe etc in the install setup.

Most of the complaints will definitely go away in time. Those that can't or won't can always stick with W7 or Linux.

W7 is actually better in a lot of work environments where unless you are really lucky your boss is unlikely to give you a touch screen laptop AND a nice 60 inch monitor.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[TonyB]

I love windows 8 it took me 5 min to learn it and find everything i don't miss the start menu as everything is there. It's like child's play to me. But of course i built my first computer when i was 7 and played with dos and and all sorts of programs. when i saw win 8 i loved it right of the bat.

 

[musiclover7]

Hi there
once Touch screens get more developed and "Mainstream" we might actually see some Windows 7 Users complaining about how slow the classic start menu is when using a touch screen.

I hated touch screens at first -- but they are quite OK once you get used to them - Use Touch on the laptop.

I don't use Touch on my nice large external LCD monitor but in combination with the laptop the W8 system does have plenty of advantages -- what would be a HUGE improvement though would be to make the tiles much more customisable and easier to "Group" and when installing a classical Windows application for it not to generate literally 100's of tiles for every .dll / .exe etc in the install setup.

Most of the complaints will definitely go away in time. Those that can't or won't can always stick with W7 or Linux.

W7 is actually better in a lot of work environments where unless you are really lucky your boss is unlikely to give you a touch screen laptop AND a nice 60 inch monitor.

Cheers
jimbo

I agree that with touch I might feel completely different about the OS. Most of us do not yet have touch yet though, by far, so for us it would have been nice had they at least kept the old way inside the OS as an option. I also am very much in agreement with you about the thousand little applets that get loaded on the start screen every time you install a program. Very annoying. The start screen in a nutshell, is a pain in the arse to maintain, because most apps still install shortcuts based on the old start menu format. I finally took the time to organize it, and it is still not nearly as intuitive as the old start menu imo. I might feel different if I had a touch screen computer, but I don't, and neither do most pc users these days.

 

[Coke Robot]

Meh, once you use it for over a year, there are no complaints.

 

[Ray8]

One year, five years, it's still a flawed design.

 

[Coke Robot]

In five years when touch enabled PCs are a larger part of the whole OS share, what can be superficially skewered as a "flawed design" will be a necessity.

 

[Ray8]

In five years when touch enabled PCs are a larger part of the whole OS share, what can be superficially skewered as a "flawed design" will be a necessity.

For the life of me, I cannot see how one can use touch on a desktop PC, unless you hunch over like some drivers hunch over the steering wheel of their cars. However, the flawed design that I'm talking about is still about the apps and how they display, or don't display.

 

[jimbo45]

In five years when touch enabled PCs are a larger part of the whole OS share, what can be superficially skewered as a "flawed design" will be a necessity.

For the life of me, I cannot see how one can use touch on a desktop PC, unless you hunch over like some drivers hunch over the steering wheel of their cars. However, the flawed design that I'm talking about is still about the apps and how they display, or don't display.

Hi there
Touch is extremely useful on a desktop when you have TWO monitors -- it's not very useful on say the Large monitor but on a 2nd monitor - especially if laid down FLAT on your desk like using a paper notepad it's incredibly useful with pen like devices too. This is where a removable tablet like device will come into its own when hooked up with a 2nd monitor.

On a large monitor unless you are demoing something on a large monitor and using something like a long plastic stick then I agree with you.

There's certainly a place for touch in more sorts of situations than you would imagine. -- Once you start using it you will wonder how you ever managed without it. (Rather like SSD's --until you've installed one of these you really don't know what you are missing).

Even some classical apps can benefit -- I use now Touch from the small laptop monitor to often drag windows to the main screen (use the EXTEND facility). It's often much quicker and easier than messing about with the mouse.

The mouse is still best at selecting areas of text etc --use BOTH options Touch and Mouse and you'll be surprised. I was sceptical at first but it's worth trying -- remember it's not ALL or NOTHING.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Coke Robot]

In five years when touch enabled PCs are a larger part of the whole OS share, what can be superficially skewered as a "flawed design" will be a necessity.

For the life of me, I cannot see how one can use touch on a desktop PC, unless you hunch over like some drivers hunch over the steering wheel of their cars. However, the flawed design that I'm talking about is still about the apps and how they display, or don't display.

Because you're doing the touch monitor wrong. How the apps display I bet will be changing as well.

 

[Ray8]

Hi there
Touch is extremely useful on a desktop when you have TWO monitors -- it's not very useful on say the Large monitor but on a 2nd monitor - especially if laid down FLAT on your desk like using a paper notepad it's incredibly useful with pen like devices too. This is where a removable tablet like device will come into its own when hooked up with a 2nd monitor.

On a large monitor unless you are demoing something on a large monitor and using something like a long plastic stick then I agree with you.

There's certainly a place for touch in more sorts of situations than you would imagine. -- Once you start using it you will wonder how you ever managed without it. (Rather like SSD's --until you've installed one of these you really don't know what you are missing).

Even some classical apps can benefit -- I use now Touch from the small laptop monitor to often drag windows to the main screen (use the EXTEND facility). It's often much quicker and easier than messing about with the mouse.

The mouse is still best at selecting areas of text etc --use BOTH options Touch and Mouse and you'll be surprised. I was sceptical at first but it's worth trying -- remember it's not ALL or NOTHING.

Cheers
jimbo

In a dual screen situation, which I have, if I needed a touch style facility, I'd rather use a touch pad or Wacom tablet, rather than smearing my monitors with my fingers. But also, if you have a second monitor laid flat on your desk, then it has to be relatively small and designed for the purpose and you'd also then have to hunch over that to do anything.

The ergonomics, functionality and practicality of touch in a desktop environment does elude me, but that's probably because I sit back from my monitors and use them for reading, comparing data etc and copying/cutting/moving bits of data around, or doing things that require finer control than you get with a finger, like Lightroom/Photoshop. I guess it all depends on how one is set up and what one actually does with a PC.

 

[Ray8]

Because you're doing the touch monitor wrong. How the apps display I bet will be changing as well.

No, I work differently to how you might like to work, that doesn't make it wrong (except maybe in your eyes). The apps should have been more functional from the start, not half-baked icons that act as little more than links.

 

[Coke Robot]

Hi there
Touch is extremely useful on a desktop when you have TWO monitors -- it's not very useful on say the Large monitor but on a 2nd monitor - especially if laid down FLAT on your desk like using a paper notepad it's incredibly useful with pen like devices too. This is where a removable tablet like device will come into its own when hooked up with a 2nd monitor.

On a large monitor unless you are demoing something on a large monitor and using something like a long plastic stick then I agree with you.

There's certainly a place for touch in more sorts of situations than you would imagine. -- Once you start using it you will wonder how you ever managed without it. (Rather like SSD's --until you've installed one of these you really don't know what you are missing).

Even some classical apps can benefit -- I use now Touch from the small laptop monitor to often drag windows to the main screen (use the EXTEND facility). It's often much quicker and easier than messing about with the mouse.

The mouse is still best at selecting areas of text etc --use BOTH options Touch and Mouse and you'll be surprised. I was sceptical at first but it's worth trying -- remember it's not ALL or NOTHING.

Cheers
jimbo

In a dual screen situation, which I have, if I needed a touch style facility, I'd rather use a touch pad or Wacom tablet, rather than smearing my monitors with my fingers. But also, if you have a second monitor laid flat on your desk, then it has to be relatively small and designed for the purpose and you'd also then have to hunch over that to do anything.

The ergonomics, functionality and practicality of touch in a desktop environment does elude me, but that's probably because I sit back from my monitors and use them for reading, comparing data etc and copying/cutting/moving bits of data around, or doing things that require finer control than you get with a finger, like Lightroom/Photoshop. I guess it all depends on how one is set up and what one actually does with a PC.

Again, you're still doing it wrong. There is VERY little to even any existence of hunching over. No one in their professional state of mind would EVER use Photoshop and their finger. Even in the Surface Pro advert, they don't use their finger with Photoshop. Professionals in that arena use a stylus, do you finger paint your signature? I sure hope not, you use a pen.