Slowly getting adjusted to new start menu in Windows 8

Okay so I've been with windows 8 for over a week now. While I still refuse to use any of the dumb down metro applications, I do have to concede that the new start menus is indeed faster for me than the traditional one. (Note that I don't use a lot of software. )
The main reason is that I just do 2 clicks to open up an application. Of course to speed things up I have disabled animation inside of windows. I am now considering getting rid of the traditional start menu all together and using Start8 only as a means boot directly into Desktop.
I do use mostly desktop software and I have all metro applications uninstalled. Microsoft is really onto something with windows 8. Their only mistake was forcing things down people's throats.

 

I use Classic Shell which I've configured to bypass Metro on startup – however I still use Metro as I find checking my emails via the Tiles far quicker than any other means. Also added an App from the Windows Store (one of the few useful 'free' Apps that I've found) – which gives me access to Yahoo Mail.

Windows Store is a pain for me – I often find that when I try checking out any of the App repositories – the circular dots just go round and round – with me usually giving up and doing something else. When I come back – the option that I tried opening previously will finally display! I don't know whether others have this problem or maybe it's only me.

I don't mind Metro – my main gripe is not being able to shrink the Tiles further so that I can fit all my desktop shortcuts (as Tiles) on the main screen. I'm looking forward to this Windows Blue (8.1) update (upgrade?) which is supposed to proved extra options to resize the Tiles.

I have Windows 8 Pro installed as a VM in Virtualbox – so I don't use it full time – I guess if I was using it more often I would probably get off my rear end and modify it further, but at the moment I'm quite happy with Windows 8 (I actually started with Windows 8 Consumer Preview back in August last year)

 

I don't even bother with the metro Apps. I find them to be useless because they are 1) too large horizontally 2) oversimplified 3) full screen and 4) without ability to do multitasking.
I do like the flat icons for the metro apps. I think they match windows 8 very well but that's pretty much all that I like. For business email I use outlook 2013 and for personal I use my online gmail account.
Don't get me wrong some of these metro apps seem like a really good idea. For example xbox music and movies would be great if the prices were competitive and if there were native desktop applications for it. It wouldn't be too hard to scale down metro apps and make them usable on the desktop. Sure there is 3rd party Metromix software that allows you to do it but I found the solution not to be very elegant.
Microsoft needs to do a better job pushing its own music and movie service to the desktop. And having my windows 8 come preinstalled with a tablet applications was simply out of touch from reality. My laptop should have came preinstalled with applications designed for a laptop and not a tablet.

 

Ok, so are you saying you have Windows 8 pre-installed? (eg, new device) I guess that would be the best way to sort out the Start Menu - as you have to!
I agree with you on some of the default Tile apps – call me a stick in the mud – but I dislike having those apps on my desktop which flash and change all the time (like Finance and Bing) - too distracting.
I don't bother with music or movies as my internet connection is a 'Pay before U go' mobile broadband service and these chew up too much data. (I use Itunes and Groovedown\Grooveshark in Windows 7 for music – don't bother with movies\videos as they are too large to download!)
Anyway, good luck with it! It will be interesting to see what improvements Windows 8.1 will bring.

 

Yup!

I agree. That's why I like the current start menu. However it would be better if those apps opened in desktop instead of Metro UI. It provides more flexibility and heck this is a laptop and not a tablet!

Yup, Im really looking forward to 8.1.

 

Talk of Metro brought back something that has intrigued me for some time.

Not long after I bought my laptop several years ago – I decided to tether my Nokia phone (not a Smartphone) to the laptop so I could download apps, ringtones, etc via the laptop.
Nokia had 2 programs to do this – PC Suite and OVI Suite (now called simply Nokia Suite)
PC Suite was your typical desktop type UI – eg, File Manager, Internet, Settings, etc accessed via icons.
OVI Suite – (in appearance) - was a dead set duplicate of the now Metro! It only had 2 rows of large Tiles (Apps) to suite the smaller phone screens – and like Metro, these scrolled in from the right of screen.
I'm talking early 2011 here - OVI Suite was supposed to replace PC Suite – but users complained so bitterly that Nokia relented and still actually supports PC Suite (sounds familiar doesn't it?)

Since the release of Windows 8 – I've often wondered whether Microsoft got the idea for Metro from Nokia – or whether it was the other way round! (It does seem coincidental)

Just a bit of trivia!

 

I still feel uncomfortable using the Metro UI in W8.
I only use it when i need to run a program that i dont have in the desktop. (I dont have my desktop full of shortcuts)