I will never understand people who are seeking for Windows 8/10 Start replacement. I'm wondering what problems you have with it? 'New' Start is nice and perfectly easy to use.
Classic Shell is very powerful, lots of options and free. Although I am using the default for the TP program, I find CS better than the Win 8.x Start. classicshell.net
I using classic shell with windows 8.1 but now i using windows 10 and i love the new menu start integrated no reason to replace it.
StartIsBack is the best start menu replacement if that's what you want. However Classic shell is a good free alternative but nothing is as good as start is back. Guys you keep criticizing those who want a start menu. Open your eyes if the future was one without a start menu then Microsoft would not be putting it back in Windows 10. The future is one where a start menu is there to make it easier to access programs on the fly. Please stop saying the start menu is in the past when it is so obviously in the future. If you really want a windows without a start menu then go use Windows 8. Tell me how that goes.
It does offer some improvements in TP10, compared to the 8.x versions - the built-in Metro programs, scalability. BUT - with Settings moving from Control Panel to a Metro Settings app, it can be a pain. Currently doing a full reinstall in another machine, where Metro UI apps just stopped running all together. No way to reach WindowsUpdate for a possible fix either. (since it's a Metro UI app function now)
The problem we have is the same we have with windows 8/8.1. There is NO start menu. There was one in the first few windows 10 builds and even that one had slightly reduced functionality. But I was happy with that. Then they decided to take the windows 8/8.1 start screen and scale it down to start menu size and called it the new start menu. So since it is just a smaller start screen the same problem still exists. NO real start menu. This is MS giving us the finger. Nothing else. They stitched that whole cortana and XAML start menu crap on top of the explorer shell and it is just a frankenstein mess. It is laggy because this whole mess needs to be called when you want to start something from the start menu. Whereas the old start menu was part of the explorer shell and was almost never laggy. When you don't have a fast computer and there is load on your cpu or your memory is low the new mini start screen will not open immediately. It might take half a minute for the new mini start screen to open. But that is not the only reason to hate the new thing. The old start menu and also the one in the first windows 10 builds used normal windows shortcuts (.lnk files). You could modify the items with a rightclick and add command line options for example. This new start screen mess they call start menu can't do that. It pretty much has no options. You can't even drag the tiles where you want them. Some items/files/folders can't even be dragged into the new start menu. WHAT I WANT FROM MS: Give us a way to turn the whole cortana and XAML start menu mess off if we don't want it and restore the non XAML start menu that is based on lnk files. I'd also prefer you kept the old control panel as optional. I bet the server version will also 'feature' all this new crap which is so idiotic.
Looks like MS failed to clone the iPad, but succeded to clone a bunch of users. Now we have the Apple style fanboys, used to back anyithing is pushed to them by their beloved company. For your information Classic Shell is WAY older than Win 8 and a lot of users (me included) used it in Seven and in Vista. Getting rid of the crappy square start menus is just a (very welcome) side effect of Classic Shell.
Windows 8 ---> OMG i not have power button on start. Windows 8.1 ---> OMG i not have scalability on start menù. Windows 10 ---> OMG i not (know that metro app can be unpinned) want metro app. Windows 11 ---> OMG i want Linux Intead of cry like a baby, move the a*s and use the damned feedback.
I believe that millions of downloads of Classic Shell, Startisback, Start8 and so on, is one of the highest forms of feedback ever seen.
I use Classic Shell with 8.1, myself, and have used it from the start with Win8 (pardon the pun.) I dual-boot to Win10 these days, and I'm reserving judgement on the start menu until they finish it. In 10061 they've at least made the SM so that if you remove all of the tiles its snaps back to a desired size. But, they've a long way to go to restore the functionality of previous versions of menus. It's very difficult for me to understand why this is such a challenge for Microsoft--they've got decades of experience coding functional start menus...so what's taking them so long now?
Looks like the crying babies are the MS fanboys (like you, orlaf ?) not the people who use a PCs and phones to solve a problem. If MS don't care to fix its mistakes why should we? XP works until 2019, seven is perfectly working, 8.x and 10 are easy to make usable trough a few MBs downlad. And there are Linux, Macos Android and another bunch of minor OSes. MS has to open its eyes and has to do it on its own.