How can I revert back to the old Start menu in Windows 8 Preview?
Solution 1:
None of these is a solution for the RTM (final) version of Windows 8. They do work on the Consumer Preview and previous releases of Windows 8.
The following programs will allow you to have the Start Menu as in Windows 7:
- Classic Shell
- Start8
- ViStart
- IOBit StartMenu8
- Pokki
- Make Your Own Start Menu
I personally recommend Classic Shell. It's Open Source and it works great.
Solution 2:
Open regedit, go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
then change the value of RPEnabled from 1 to 0 - this disables metro mode, ribbon mode in explorer and the hover options in the windows button.
source: neowin
Solution 3:
There is also a Windows 8 Start menu toggle freeware that let's you coose between Metro and Win 7 UI. You can find the guide here.
Solution 4:
If you want a small Start Menu without modifiyng the appearance of other programs (e. g., not losing the ribbon on File Explorer or WordPad):
Right-click an empty space on the Task Bar and enable the Desktop toolbar in the "Toolbars" submenu.
Then clicking on the small >> button will show a menu with all your desktop shortcuts (not the shortcuts on the Metro start interface, but you can add them manually), plus useful items like yor om directory, Libraries, Computer, or Control Panel.
