Win 8 Start Menu Discussion

I have to chuckle when I see someone say things like this. The "proper" Start menu in Win 10 is very similar to the Start screen in Win 8.x but instead of being full screen, it is resizable and defaults to a smaller size.

Someone that says they spent a long time looking for something in Win 8.x obviously never learned to use the Search function. If you're on the Start screen, simply start typing what you're looking for. If on the desktop, press Win+S and start typing. Can't find Control Panel? Start typing in the search box. On my Win 8.1 computer, by the time I've typed in the letters co, it's already found it. The search function in Win 8.1 works really well, unfortunately, MS made the search function in Win 10 much less useful plus they added Cortana which, IMO, just gets in the way.

For those that absolutely have to have a Start menu, you could always install a 3rd party Start menu such as Classic Shell. The Start menu in Classic Shell is a lot closer to Win 7's Start menu than the Start menu in Win 10.

 

While you are correct you forget that adding a 3rd party Start menu increases the startup time enormously in Windows 8.1 , defeating one of the only good features of Windows 8, simply because that makes the OS boot to large equal start screens one being the "Metro Desktop" and the other being the "Desktop" so having the combined Start Menu in Windows 10 will greatly reduce startup time once again.

 

I personally don't use a 3rd party Start menu or the Start screen so don't really care either way but I know lots of people are happy using Classic Shell. I can't see how the Start menu in Win 10 would load any faster than the Start screen in Win 8 or loading Classic Shell in either (believe it or not, there are people that prefer Classic Shell over the Win 10 Start menu). I can't imagine Classic Shell would add more than a fraction of a second to the OS boot time.

 

Then you would be completely wrong and here is why. We all should know that when Windows boots up, until every last icon and every last entry in the desktop is fully in and ready to go, you cannot do anything. When you use the Classic Start Menu to build yourself a full desktop you then have to have two full desktops because the Start or Metro Desktop is already built in Windows 8, completely up with everything in them ready to go before you can do anything so in effect you double the boot time. Now if you went and unloaded the Metro or Start screen by deleting everything from it then the loss would not be that great.

 

Have you ever timed it? I did this afternoon after reading your post. Without Classic Shell installed, the boot time on my Win 8.1 laptop was 24 seconds. After I installed Classic Shell, 20 seconds. I can't explain why it was faster with Classic Shell, that doesn't make sense either but it didn't increase boot time enormously as you claim.

I have no idea what you are referring to when you say "you then have to have two full desktops". There's only 1 desktop with or without a 3rd party menu. Do you have any actual experience with any of the 3rd party Start menus?

 

Hey Guys. Each of you post your opinions and respect each other's opinions.
Let us decide who is right and who is wrong.
This confrontational posting really pisses me off.

 

I thought we were expressing our opinions.

On second thought, this is a technical forum, we should deal in facts not opinions (that's my opinion).

 

You aren't listening there strollin. Let me try again. Simply installing Classic Start would not make the least bit of difference and I was not suggesting it would but if you install and then select "boot to desktop" and you proceed to setup a normal desktop with System icons and browser icons as well as various Ms Office icons if you use them etc that begins to then populate the desktop you have created a second desktop. If you do not know what that means go into your metro or Start screen and that is one desktop. Whnile you are there click on "desktop" and that shows you the second one.

Of course I have timed it and I seriously doubt unless you have very little on the desktop that you boot either one in 20 seconds, especially if you do not know what a desktop is. Interesting that I made you laugh talking about a "proper" start menu simply meaning it has Programs and System Tools. However I was trying to understand why my Windows 7 custom build booted faster than my Dell All-in-one with almost the same hardware (Dell had a 3rd Gen Intel with 8 Gb memory and the other Gen 4 Intel with 16 Gb ram and programs. The Dell with Win8.1 was taking 45 seconds and the desktop with Win 7 about 18 seconds. Then I realized that the All-in-one had two fully built up desktops so I went to the "Start" desktop and deleted almost everything since I never use it and sure enough that unit cut back to about a close 25 seconds. I should add at that time the Win 7 had an Ssd drive and the Dell a regular 7200 Rpm Sata 3.0 hard drive. Since that time I added an Ssd drive to the All-in-One and it now boots up in about 12 seconds.

 

I'm not gonna argue with you about it but we need to agree to disagree since you and I don't agree as to what a desktop is. IMO, the Start screen is NOT a desktop regardless of how much you seem to wish make it one.

 

The Start Screen and Desktop are two different entities that perform different functions.
Call the start screen what you like. Does it really matter??
I normally boot straight to the Desktop. I toggle between the two if required.

Any further questions, Dave just ask.

 

We certainly can agree to disagree:
"The desktop is the primary user interface of a computer. When you boot up your computer, the desktop is displayed once the startup process is ..."
Sure sounds like the "Start" screen to me.
http://techterms.com/definition/desktop

 

If the Start screen is a desktop then the Start menu is also a desktop since, for most Windows users, the Start menu IS the interface. The Start screen in Win 8.x is simply a full screen menu.

 

I have read definitions of the word desktop in 12 different places and it simply means a place where you end up after boot. Now you can choose "the desktop" from the "Start" screen because like the "Start" screen it is also a place you can end up in booting that offers more choices of where to go. The bootup though does not end up in a menu by definition but its a moot point and lets just let it go.

 

Ok, so you had to make an additional reply so I have to make another to keep our replies even at 7 each.

From your link to the definition of a desktop: "The desktop is visible on both Windows and Macintosh computers as long as an application or window is not filling up the entire screen." The Start screen is simply an application filling the entire screen.

OK, I'm done now.

 

I wasn't going to reply and say I told ya so, but I just had to!

• 

 

You told me so? I don't think so, you said it was a desktop.

At any rate, you started out by claiming that adding a 3rd party Start menu increased boot time enormously defeating one of Win 8's only good features, which it doesn't. You then switched to claiming that populating 2 desktops is what the issue is. In your claim, if you choose to boot directly to desktop then it causes 2 desktops to need to be populated. I hate to tell you this but whether you boot to the desktop or the Start screen (hmm... if it's a desktop, I wonder why MS calls it the Start screen?), the desktop still gets populated.

Again, we've both had an equal number of replies so if you want to end this, don't reply, otherwise I'll need to reply to keep things even.

BTW, allheart55, how does a tutorial on the Start screen prove or disprove whether the Start screen is a full screen application or not?

 

Yup, that first sentence says what I've said all along, it's a full-screen menu where you can launch your programs.