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Yeah Windows 10 Start Menu is awful in part because of that. It’s like after the Windows 8 debacle Microsoft is telling us: "oh you like this Menu that much? Ok

Yeah Windows 10 Start Menu is awful in part because of that. It’s like after the Windows 8 debacle Microsoft is telling us: "oh you like this Menu that much? Ok, here is your menu..." and give us one so bad no one dare to use it anymore as a revenge. And it works. I almost never use it because it cannot find what I want. And that’s when is shows anything at all, because on my VM it’s broken 1/4 of the time (no problem with 7 & 8.1 in the same configuration).

red75prime 9y ago
> because on my VM it’s broken 1/4 of the time Have you sent bug report? There's "Feedback Hub" app for that. Sending bug report to the VM team isn't unthinkable too.
- titanix2 9y ago
  No I didn’t. It took a screenshot so I’ll do that some day.
walterbell 9y ago
Have you tried Start10, which helped to bring the menu back? It’s modelled on Win7 start menu. https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/ https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/
- petepete 9y ago
  While this is nice I shouldn't need to install extra software for such basic functionality. Was Windows 7's start menu really so bad? On personal machines, whatever, but games ads shouldn't be forcefully appearing on a tool I want to use for work.
- titanix2 9y ago
  No I didn’t. I used Classic Shell in some test VM and it did the job well but as petepete said it it should be a builtin feature.
  - walterbell 9y ago
    Windows 10 and Windows 7 are almost two different products. Microsoft will soon require opt-in to sideload apps, which is the beginning of the end for the Win32 ecosystem of Windows 7. For those who want control of their computing experience, the options are to switch operating systems, or buy 3rd-party products to modify Windows. Even those may disappear, once non-store apps are blocked.
    - BenjiWiebe 9y ago
      If non-store apps get blocked and if it takes more than an opt-in to unblock them, that will be the end of Windows. Enterprise software is far from being Windows Metro ready. Really really far from it. We rely on some software that hasn't been updated since Windows 98 era. It works fine, we can't find a good replacement for it, and we'd be really upset if we had to quit using it arbitrarily...
      - walterbell 9y ago
        Nothing official yet, possibly a fee for Windows 10 Pro, https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/3/16968024/microsoft-windows-10-s-mode-editions-features https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/3/16968024/microsoft-windows... "Microsoft is planning a new “S Mode” for Windows 10 Home, Enterprise, and Pro. This S Mode will essentially lock down any copy of Windows 10 so it can only run apps from the Microsoft Store, and does exactly what the dedicated Windows 10 S operating system was built to do ... Microsoft is reportedly planning to allow Windows 10 Home users to disable the S Mode free of charge, but Windows 10 Pro customers with S Mode enabled on their device will be forced to pay $49 to get access to a full version of Windows 10 Pro."
    - titanix2 9y ago
      I already switched years ago to Mac. Even Apple didn’t make such a bold/foolish move as forbidding 3rd party app to run. If Windows takes this road no problem for me, erasing my bootcamp partition* and installing Win 7/8.1 would take a few hours and problem solved. But that would be a real problem for non technical people doing real work with their PC. * which can be booted in VirtualBox from OS which is the way I use it most of the time.
paulie_a 9y ago
I always found that weird, they basically begrudgingly added the menu back
contextfree 9y ago
the start menu on Windows 8/10 (and Windows Phone) was originally designed under the expectation that most users would create their own personalized tile layouts as a means of self-expression. Start menu team always wanted and lobbied for some or all of the tile area to be initially blank with a "drag apps here to personalize your tile grid" message, so that users would understand how they're "supposed" to use it, but they kept getting overruled by other teams wanting to use it as a way to promote their stuff. :(
- titanix2 9y ago
  I found tiles a great ideas on Phone (I owned some WP and developed apps for it) but always hated it on desktop. The ever moving parts were making difficult to find information by catching the user attention. Also the 2D layout also posed a problem to scan entries, especially as most were cut after a few characters. That was a pain to found the good Visual Studio command prompt for example. And now some of the Win8 area remains such as wierd black squared background behind software icon.
- WorldMaker 9y ago
  It is a shame every time you see someone whose live tiles are just the Windows defaults with no customization and unsurprising their complaints about how hard it is to find apps they commonly use. (Or worse, still use the desktop as app launcher when it's so much easier/nicer to switch the Start menu to full screen by default and have more useful layouts and live tiles.)

red75prime 9y ago

> because on my VM it’s broken 1/4 of the time Have you sent bug report? There's "Feedback Hub" app for that. Sending bug report to the VM team isn't unthinkable too.

titanix2 9y ago
No I didn’t. It took a screenshot so I’ll do that some day.

walterbell 9y ago

Have you tried Start10, which helped to bring the menu back? It’s modelled on Win7 start menu. https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/ https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/

petepete 9y ago
While this is nice I shouldn't need to install extra software for such basic functionality. Was Windows 7's start menu really so bad? On personal machines, whatever, but games ads shouldn't be forcefully appearing on a tool I want to use for work.
titanix2 9y ago
No I didn’t. I used Classic Shell in some test VM and it did the job well but as petepete said it it should be a builtin feature.
- walterbell 9y ago
  Windows 10 and Windows 7 are almost two different products. Microsoft will soon require opt-in to sideload apps, which is the beginning of the end for the Win32 ecosystem of Windows 7. For those who want control of their computing experience, the options are to switch operating systems, or buy 3rd-party products to modify Windows. Even those may disappear, once non-store apps are blocked.
  - BenjiWiebe 9y ago
    If non-store apps get blocked and if it takes more than an opt-in to unblock them, that will be the end of Windows. Enterprise software is far from being Windows Metro ready. Really really far from it. We rely on some software that hasn't been updated since Windows 98 era. It works fine, we can't find a good replacement for it, and we'd be really upset if we had to quit using it arbitrarily...
    - walterbell 9y ago
      Nothing official yet, possibly a fee for Windows 10 Pro, https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/3/16968024/microsoft-windows-10-s-mode-editions-features https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/3/16968024/microsoft-windows... "Microsoft is planning a new “S Mode” for Windows 10 Home, Enterprise, and Pro. This S Mode will essentially lock down any copy of Windows 10 so it can only run apps from the Microsoft Store, and does exactly what the dedicated Windows 10 S operating system was built to do ... Microsoft is reportedly planning to allow Windows 10 Home users to disable the S Mode free of charge, but Windows 10 Pro customers with S Mode enabled on their device will be forced to pay $49 to get access to a full version of Windows 10 Pro."
  - titanix2 9y ago
    I already switched years ago to Mac. Even Apple didn’t make such a bold/foolish move as forbidding 3rd party app to run. If Windows takes this road no problem for me, erasing my bootcamp partition* and installing Win 7/8.1 would take a few hours and problem solved. But that would be a real problem for non technical people doing real work with their PC. * which can be booted in VirtualBox from OS which is the way I use it most of the time.

paulie_a 9y ago

I always found that weird, they basically begrudgingly added the menu back

contextfree 9y ago

the start menu on Windows 8/10 (and Windows Phone) was originally designed under the expectation that most users would create their own personalized tile layouts as a means of self-expression. Start menu team always wanted and lobbied for some or all of the tile area to be initially blank with a "drag apps here to personalize your tile grid" message, so that users would understand how they're "supposed" to use it, but they kept getting overruled by other teams wanting to use it as a way to promote their stuff. :(

titanix2 9y ago
I found tiles a great ideas on Phone (I owned some WP and developed apps for it) but always hated it on desktop. The ever moving parts were making difficult to find information by catching the user attention. Also the 2D layout also posed a problem to scan entries, especially as most were cut after a few characters. That was a pain to found the good Visual Studio command prompt for example. And now some of the Win8 area remains such as wierd black squared background behind software icon.
WorldMaker 9y ago
It is a shame every time you see someone whose live tiles are just the Windows defaults with no customization and unsurprising their complaints about how hard it is to find apps they commonly use. (Or worse, still use the desktop as app launcher when it's so much easier/nicer to switch the Start menu to full screen by default and have more useful layouts and live tiles.)