RESTORE THE CLASSIC START MENU
The Start menu is arguably the most important feature in Windows, but it’s also the one that Microsoft likes to tamper with most. This infamously led to the company scrapping the traditional menu in Windows 8 in favour of a tile-based ‘Start screen’ – a decision it backtracked on in Windows 8.1. For many of us, the Start menu achieved perfection in Windows 7, and Windows 10’s attempt to combine that version’s list-based design with the ‘Metro’ tiles of Windows 8 has never quite satisfied.
Windows 11 presents an even bigger shock, by moving the Start button from its usual home in the bottom-left corner of your screen to near the centre of the taskbar, and replacing the menu with a grid of ‘pinned’ apps. Clicking the ‘All apps’ option in the top-right corner opens a more familiar Start menu list, but this still requires an extra click to access your programs.
Thankfully, there are several thirdparty tools that let you replace the Start menu in Windows 10 and 11 with a ‘classic’ design. Here are our three favourite new and updated programs.
Open-shell
Free from www.snipca.com/40131
Unlike similar tools that let you tweak your Start menu, Open-shell is open source and free to use. Formerly called Classic Shell, it lacks some of the features of paid-for alternatives (see the next two programs), but is great for getting a traditional Start menu in Windows 10 and 11.
When you install Open-shell in Windows 10, it will automatically change your Start menu to a classic, compact list, which gives you easy access to your programs, recent items, Windows settings, shutdown options and more. However, you don’t need to stick with the default blue design: right-click the Start button and choose Settings to view Open-shell’s customisation options. These include a choice of skins
(themes such as Metallic, Midnight and Windows Aero) and Start menu styles (including Windows 7 – see screenshot below left).
In Windows 11, Open-shell doesn’t replace the new Start option but lets you open a classic Start menu from its ‘proper’ place in the bottom-left corner of your desktop. To unlock this feature, click the Start Menu Style tab in the program’s Settings, select ‘Replace Start button’ and choose your preferred button design. You can then launch your menu by clicking Open-shell’s Start button (as our screenshot shows) or pressing the Windows key, and just ignore Windows 11’s Start icon.
Startallback
£4.99 from www.startallback.com Startallback is more sophisticated than Open-shell, and specifically designed to work with Windows 11 – its Windows 10 version is called Startisback (get it from www.startisback.com). Both of its editions require you to buy a £4.99 licence after a 30-day free trial, though you can upgrade from Startisback to Startallback for £1.50.
Unlike Open-shell, the program replaces both the Windows 11 Start menu and the taskbar with classic designs, and moves taskbar icons to the left of your screen, so that the Start button appears in its usual position. Although Startallback applies a Windows 7-style layout to your Start menu, including a search box, you can choose its ‘Proper 11’ theme (see screenshot above) to retain the rounded corners and colour scheme of the new operating system. We also like that you can customise the Start button to show the logo of your preferred Windows version (we’ve kept it as Windows 11 in our screenshot).
In Windows 10, Startisback provides an even closer recreation of the Windows 7 experience, so is worth a look if you still miss the old OS – and have a fiver to spare.
Start11
£5.99 from www.snipca.com/40134 Stardock’s Start11 costs a quid more than Startallback, but has the advantage of working with both Windows 10 and 11 – you may be able to upgrade from the previous version (Start10) for a discounted price. It offers a 30-day free trial, but annoyingly you need to provide and verify your email address to activate this.
When you launch the program, you can choose between Windows 7, 10 and Modern Start menu styles, and compact and grid layouts. Our favourite is the Windows 7 theme (see screenshot below left), because it includes a search box in the menu. Start11 also lets you decide the size and position of the taskbar, and whether its icons – including the Start button – are centred or aligned left. If you opt for the latter, you can use a custom design for the button, though strangely not the Windows logo.