How to bring back the Start menu and button to Windows 8. With Windows 1. 0 seemingly just around the corner, Microsoft plans to fix one of its most egregious mistakes with Windows 8 the missing Start menu. By now you may know the story, as the company has gradually backtracked throughout various updates since the OS launched in late 2. And Windows 1. 0 will bring the real thing back, albeit in an enhanced fashion that doesnt depend on fiddly per user shortcuts and extra folders. The thing is, unless youre willing to experiment with Windows 1. Windows Xp Pro Sp3 Original Ibm Oem Full Iso' title='Windows Xp Pro Sp3 Original Ibm Oem Full Iso' />Windows 7 or earlier If youre running a version of Windows prior to Windows 8, youll want to download and install Microsoft Security Essentials MSE. Technical Preview, the new version wont help you yet. For several years now, every Windows desktop and laptop sold in a store comes with Windows 8. While Windows 8. 1 Update somewhat improves the situation, its still no Windows 7 when it comes to ease of use. Heres the problem, in a nutshell Lets say youve just installed Windows 8. Windows 8 PC. After poking around for a bit youve finally found your way to the desktop. In the bottom left corner, youll see what looks like the Start button, but when you click it, youll be rewarded with a hideous new Start screen, not the Start menu that you know and love from Windows 7 and Vista. For some reason, despite the aforementioned series of updates over the last two years that are meant to make Windows 8 more user friendly for mouse and keyboard users, Microsoft is still forcing us to use the Metro interface instead of a real Start menu. InformationWeek. com News, analysis and research for business technology professionals, plus peertopeer knowledge sharing. Engage with our community. For some towns this astronomical occurrence will be immensely profitable. As Brooke Jung, the fulltime eclipse marketing and events consultant in Hopkinsville. UpdateStar is compatible with Windows platforms. UpdateStar has been tested to meet all of the technical requirements to be compatible with Windows 10, 8. Windows 8. Some of the programs and features that were part of the previous versions of Windows did not make it to Windows XP. CD Player, DVD Player, and Imaging for Windows are. SecurityStudy. Just between you and me, Ive heard that one could obtain copies of Windows 7, including builds newer than the public betas, from some notsosanctioned sources. Of. Cal Henderson is the cofounder and CTO of Slack, the leading workplace messaging platform, which Hendersons team invented while trying to build an online game. The good news is, despite Microsofts best efforts to ensure that the Start button and menu remain banished from its new OS, there are a bunch of third party Windows 8 Start menu replacement apps that you can download today. Really, it goes to show how devoted the existing user base is. Microsoft completely stripped out the underlying Start menu code to quash potential Luddite revolutionaries, and yet now there are dozens of Start menu and Start button replacements some of which are even superior to Microsofts own Windows 7 Start menu. If youre running Windows 8. Start menu back, take a look at our list of the best, least expensive, and most authentic Windows 8 Start menu replacements. Windows 8 Start button and menu replacements. Start Menu Reviver 2. Start Menu Reviver 2 is a touch screen friendly option one of the few that is, considering most people want the original Start menu back because theyre used to a keyboard and mouse. In this case, the new version is nicer, with plenty of sizing options and the ability to create shortcuts for documents, music, video, websites, and other tasks. It also embraces the Windows 8 tile design, without completely taking over the UI the way Windows 8 Metro does. It now includes scrolling tiles and a Windows 7 like mode as well. Download Start Menu River 2 freeVi. Start. Vi. Start is one of the most customizable Start menu restorers for Windows 8, and lets you choose from a variety of skins. Vi. Start includes a blurred, translucent menu that integrated well with Windows 8, as well as a Windows 7 like Start Menu skin that we imagine some people will want to head straight for. It also speeds up program launches thanks to built in indexing, and advertises a faster than Windows 7 search option for your local PC. Download Vi. Start freeStart. Is. Back. If you want a Windows 8 Start menu replacement that looks exactly like Windows 7, Start. Is. Back is for you. You get the same Start button orb icon, the same Start menu search box, the same jump lists, and for better or worse even the same Aero transparency. As you can see in the screenshot above, Start. Is. Back even detects if your system needs to restart to apply some patches it really is just like the Windows 7 Start menu. Where Start. Is. Back diverges from the Windows 7 Start menu, though, is configurability You can adjust which hot corners are enabled, make your PC jump straight to the Desktop when it first boots up, and configure a key combo to show the Windows 8 Start screen WinCtrl by default. Download Start. Is. Back 3, free 3. Pokki. Where Start. Is. Back tries to replicate the Windows of yesteryear, Pokki free is very much its own beast and as much as we love the Windows 7 Start menu, we have to admit that Pokki is probably even better. It utilizes a neat pinning system that isnt unlike the home screen of your smartphone or tablet. You can also add widgets to Pokki, such as Gmail or Facebook, which display your latest email or status updates. By default, Pokki will configure your Windows 8 system to boot straight to the Desktop and there is an option that will just completely disable the hot corners, if you so desire. Remember, WinC pops open the Charms menu, if you need. Download Pokki freeNext page A few more Windows 8 Start button and menu replacements. What Security Software Do You RecommendWhat security software should I use What anti virus is the best How about a firewallAnd what about spyware Should I use one of the all in one packages that claim to do everything Is there anything else I need As you might imagine, I get questions like this all the time. As a result, I do have recommendations for security software and techniques to stay safe in various articles all over Ask LeoTo make your life a little easier, heres a short version that sums it all up. The short short version. Most home and small business users who dont want to think about it too much should simply Get a router, even if you have only one computer. This will be your primary firewall. Use Windows Defender, already installed in Windows 8, 8. Microsoft Security Essentials for earlier versions of Windows. This will be your anti virus, anti spyware, and malware scanner. Turn on Windows Update to keep your computer as up to date as possible. Turn on Windows Firewall when you travel perhaps just leave it on all the time. Thats it. Good basic protection in four steps with only one download. Basic security software Windows Defender. Windows Defender comes pre installed in recent versions of Windows. It does a fine job of detecting malware, does so without adversely impacting system performance, and does so without nagging you for renewals, upgrades, or up sells. It just does its job quietly in the background exactly what you want from your anti malware tool. The ratings game. Every so often, Windows Defender comes under fire for rating lower than other security packages in tests published online. As a result, every so often I get push back  often angry push back  that Windows Defender remains my primary recommendation. There are several reasons I stick to that position. No anti malware tool will stop all malware. Malware can and does slip by even todays highest rated packages. Highest rated changes, depending on the date, the test, and whos doing the testing. There is no single, clear, consistent winner. Regardless of how the data is presented, the differences among detection rates across most current anti malware tools is relatively small compared to other factors. There are also some very practical reasons I continue to prefer Windows Defender. Its free. Its already installed in Windows 8 and later theres nothing you have to do. In practice, it rarely impacts system performance. It integrates with Windows Update to keep itself up to date. It has no additional agenda its not going to pester you with renewals, upgrades to more powerful versions, or up sells to tools you just dont need. Its not perfect, but no security tool is. Thus my recommendation stands. Windows Defender remains a solid, free anti virus and anti spyware package with minimal system impact, and should be appropriate for almost anyone. Alternatives and additions. On the other hand, I fully recognize that Windows Defender might not be the right solution for everyone. Microsoft Office 2007 Pro Torrent'>Microsoft Office 2007 Pro Torrent. No single product is. This is where I run into some difficulty trying to make recommendations. The landscape keeps changing. Tools that were once clearly free, have on more than one occasion, moved to promoting their paid product so heavily that the free version virtually disappears. People download and install programs thinking they are truly free only to discover, instead, a free trial, or a free download if you want to keep it past a certain length of time youre required to hand over money. Some programs have become as much self promotion tools as they are anti malware tools, bombarding you with sales pitches and upgrade offers to the point of getting in the way of your work. Things keep changing. So to the extent that I mention specific tools below, caveat emptor let the buyer beware. I cant honestly predict that the tools will remain recommendation worthy. Malwarebytes Anti Malware has evolved over the years from a tool that defied categorization not really anti virus, not really anti spyware, but still catching things that other tools did not to a full featured anti malware package. Whats important is that it continues to have a very good track record of removing troublesome malware that other packages sometimes miss. Spybot Search and Destroy is one of the longest running and highly regarded anti spyware tools out there. Like Malwarebytes, it has also expanded to be a more fully featured anti malware tool. I used it for many years myself back in its anti spyware days. AVG, Avira, and Avast, or the three AVs, as I like to call them, are three other free solutions that Ive recommended over the years. Caveats with all. I need to reiterate some important points. Im referring to the FREE version of each of these tools, not the Free Trial. In several cases they are two completely different downloads. A free trial is just that a trial, typically of a more fully featured product. Quick Gold Text Psd. Unless you know otherwise, the truly FREE version of these tools would be my recommendation. Regardless of which you download, you are still likely to be faced with upgrade and up sell offers to a more fully featured version, or even an ongoing subscription. Unless or until you know you want this, always decline. Speaking of declining when installing any of these products, always choose custom installation never the default. You may well get toolbars and other unrelated software you simply dont need or want. Consider using Ninite to install these tools all are available there. Offline scanner. If your machine becomes infected with malware of some sort, theres a good chance that you wont be able to actually download anything, because the malware will prevent it. That means you wont be able to download the latest update of your anti malware tools, or perhaps be able to run them at all. When that happens, you need an offline malware scanner. An offline scanner is simply a complete anti virus and anti spyware scanning tool that you download and burn to CD or DVD, or place on a USB memory stick, using another computer. You then boot the infected machine from the media you created and run the scanner. The infected Windows doesnt run at all and the scanner can check, change, or repair more than the a normal scanner could. I recommend Windows Defender Offline for this purpose. Unfortunately, its not something you download and keep ready to use. In order to make sure youre running the most recent update of the tool and its database of malware, its important to download it when you need it. What else Firewall. For home and business use, I recommend the use of any good NAT router as a firewall. Abc Memory Verse Program Nasb. They dont have to be expensive, and are one of the simplest approaches to keeping your computer safe from network based threats. If all the computers on the local network side of the router can be trusted, theres no need for an additional software firewall. When traveling, or if you dont trust the kids computer connected to the same network as your own, I recommend turning on the built in Windows Firewall. In recent versions of Windows, its likely already on by default. Theres often no harm in leaving it on, but it can occasionally get in the way of some local machine to machine activities like sharing files and folders. I strongly recommend you back up regularly. In fact, I cant stress this enough. I hear about could be completely avoided simply by having up to date backups. Macrium Reflect and Ease.