How to Bring Back Windows 7 Start Button to Windows 8 Consumer Preview?
Microsoft ditched the start button orb in their next iteration Windows operating system, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, that was released last week. For those who suffered from the great loss, fortunately, there is a solution to get back the traditional Windows 7 Start menu. Thanks for Gupta from Askvg fro providing this solution:
- Download ViStart – this is a free tool to bring Windows 7 like start menu
- The setup bundled with other tools so make sure to opt in/out the installation of such tools.
- After installation, the Start orb and menu will return instantly.
- But there is an issue, the start Orb will overlap with Taskbar button.
- To fix this problem, you have to add a new blank toolbar in Taskbar.
- First create a new folder anywhere. It might be on Desktop, in C: drive or in any other drive. We have created a folder “test” in C: drive in our example.
- Now right-click on Taskbar and select “Toolbars -> New toolbar…” option.
- It’ll open browse dialog box where you’ll need to select a folder. Select the new folder which you created in 3.a. step and click on “Select Folder” button.
- It’ll immediately add the new folder toolbar in Taskbar. It’ll be added near system tray (notification area) as shown in following screenshot:
- Right-click on Taskbar and uncheck “Lock the Taskbar” option. It’ll show a placeholder to drag the folder toolbar.
- Now you need to drag-n-drop the new folder toolbar to the start of Taskbar. Simply click and hold on the folder toolbar handler, drag the handler to the start of Taskbar. It’ll put the new folder toolbar to the start of Taskbar and you’ll see a huge gap between folder toolbar and program buttons.
- Now right-click on the empty area between folder toolbar and program buttons and uncheck both “Show Text” and “Show title” options.
- Now you can drag-n-drop the program buttons handler near start Orb to remove the gap.
- Lock the Taskbar again and now start Orb will no longer overlap program buttons and you’ll get a working start ORB and start menu in Windows 8 Consumer Preview.
