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Is this the new Windows 8 or 9 Start Menu?
Neowin obtained a screenshot of what is claimed to be the new Start Menu. The new Start Menu seems a mix of the old Start Menu and Windows 8's Start Screen, the left side features pinned and commonly used programs while the right side focuses on Metro.
We do know that this is still an early build of next generation of Windows and we will have more to report on that tomorrow. So, don't get too caught up in the minor details as there will be other enhancements to the desktop before Threshold is released. One item about the image that was throwing off users previously is that is says Win 8.1 Pro in the bottom corner. We have spoken to a source close to Microsoft who says that this image appears to be legitimate, and that these builds inside of Microsoft still use this branding, so this is not a big deal.
DailyTech points out that the one key difference with the old Start Menu is the lack of a folder-based system: One major change is the lack of a folder-based system for accessing apps in the start menu. This may irk some power users, however, it seems that typically users own use one key executable per major app anyways, and generally giving them that executable faster is probably the most efficient option.
Sasquatch
Senior Member
Posts: 383
Joined: 2004-03-17
Senior Member
Posts: 383
Joined: 2004-03-17
#4875165 Posted on: 07/17/2014 07:37 AM
Something I've noticed so far, most Start Menu arguments are either about search, or trying to find a person's programs, and thus efficiency.
So I'm curious, do people really care about the 1 extra second it takes to move a mouse to the right icon? Especially with the Win8 Fullscreen Apps page. I can see every app/program I've got installed. I'm only running 1080 resolution & everything still fits. After that, everything is alphabetical order - hence, simple to find.
The Start screen is the same way, and this one you can customize all you want. Efficient as hell, IMO.
So then why the huge emphasis on search!? I've been disabling the Windows Search service since XP.
I can maybe see it for finding files, but anyone who needs to dig that deep probably already has the tech know-how to know where they're going anyway.
I'm genuinely curious to know how others use this software, as I seem to be doing it wrong.
Something I've noticed so far, most Start Menu arguments are either about search, or trying to find a person's programs, and thus efficiency.
So I'm curious, do people really care about the 1 extra second it takes to move a mouse to the right icon? Especially with the Win8 Fullscreen Apps page. I can see every app/program I've got installed. I'm only running 1080 resolution & everything still fits. After that, everything is alphabetical order - hence, simple to find.
The Start screen is the same way, and this one you can customize all you want. Efficient as hell, IMO.
So then why the huge emphasis on search!? I've been disabling the Windows Search service since XP.
I can maybe see it for finding files, but anyone who needs to dig that deep probably already has the tech know-how to know where they're going anyway.
I'm genuinely curious to know how others use this software, as I seem to be doing it wrong.
Ven0m
Senior Member
Posts: 1830
Joined: 2005-08-12
Senior Member
Posts: 1830
Joined: 2005-08-12
#4875210 Posted on: 07/17/2014 09:29 AM
Something I've noticed so far, most Start Menu arguments are either about search, or trying to find a person's programs, and thus efficiency.
So I'm curious, do people really care about the 1 extra second it takes to move a mouse to the right icon? Especially with the Win8 Fullscreen Apps page. I can see every app/program I've got installed. I'm only running 1080 resolution & everything still fits. After that, everything is alphabetical order - hence, simple to find.
The Start screen is the same way, and this one you can customize all you want. Efficient as hell, IMO.
So then why the huge emphasis on search!? I've been disabling the Windows Search service since XP.
I can maybe see it for finding files, but anyone who needs to dig that deep probably already has the tech know-how to know where they're going anyway.
I'm genuinely curious to know how others use this software, as I seem to be doing it wrong.
If something's efficient for you, there's very little need to change it. But if I can help with your curiosity:
From my experience it looks like that - I have a stationary gaming/dev rig at home, and a laptop that I use mostly for work, and also some hobby dev stuff and gaming. So there are games, dev, and admin tools, communicators, multiple browsers etc. Windows tries to maintain the pinned apps layout similar on these machines.
I pinned quite a few apps, arranged them into groups etc, but to be honest I don't click them very often. Update 1 for Windows 8.1 added a smaller tile size, so there are better arrangement possibilities. I have some live tiles for Steam etc, they look cool, but for some reason I mostly click OpenVPN and People app. The main reason may be that I'm pretty keyboard-heavy user. I have a Razer mouse @ office, but still, I avoid it when I can stick to the keyboard. Also, I have some dev tools and browsers pinned to TaskBar, so I can intuitively find a region of screen to click & activate them. I'm looking for something to help me with window management as clicking task bar and using alt-tab is inefficient with that amount of windows open.
And regarding start menu - my solution is keyboard-exclusive search. Hit Windows key, type, click Enter. Done. Windows 8 and 8.1 (in contrast to 7) prioritize apps that you use frequently, so less clicks are needed. I also tend to use space to decrease number of keystrokes needed. Eg: "win, i, e, enter" will open Internet Explorer for me, but typing "Internet" would have other suggestion that I use more frequently. For settings, I either use Win+X and click or Win+W. Sometimes for apps I use Win+Q instead of Win, when I want more results to be displayed and I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I think I opened all apps list less than 20 times since I installed Windows 8, maybe even less than 10 times. Yes, I don't use it at all as I find no need to use it. If I want to pin an app, I don't look for it in all apps list, but search, and right-click to pin. Still, there are many apps that I use on a daily basis which haven't been pinned, as I prefer using keyboard over mouse.
So here are some tips:
- When you click Windows key on your keyboard, you can witness how sluggish is the new Start Menu to appear. But you don't have to wait for it to open. If you know what keys you'll need (because you've been using them for days or months), start typing immediately after clicking Windows key. You can even confirm your choice with Enter before the Start Menu finishes the animation. I tend to have app opening before Start Menu appears pretty often.
- Use dedicated shortcuts for settings - Win+W, and Win+X. You'll save some time. I've been using search for settings for a few years now, as I had hard time finding stuff in Control Panel by clicking since Vista, and Windows 7 hasn't made it any better for me. However the search works really well, especially after you get used to it and know how to ask it. Also if you're on a desktop and hit Win+I > Enter > type, you'll be searching Control Panel. Win+X > P > type does pretty much the same.
- Space is your friend. You can search by unfinished words and separate them with spaces, eg. i-space-e-enter for Internet Explorer.
- When you get used to keyboard-exclusive Start Menu usage, you'll launch apps in a fraction of time you'd need to just move your hand to the mouse. You can't get anywhere close to that when using mouse, or Windows 7 without external launchers.
- File Search can be tricky, even with indexed SSD. By default new Windows look inside file content too when you search in Explorer or by everything search or file search (Win+F). Get used to Explorer Search commands. Click the search text box in top-right corner of Explorer window, and Search will appear in the Ribbon menu. Experiment with "advanced options", for example if you click "Other properties", it will show an option to look up by just file name (kinda obvious, but hidden option). If you click, it will add "name:" to the search text box. Other options will add some extra commands too, but you can use keyboard for that. For example when I want to look for file by name, I usually click/type Win+E, Ctrl+F, "name:file I'm looking for"; when looking inside a specific drive, I'd add Alt+D, "d:" after opening Explorer.
----
What I'm looking for in Windows 8.1U2 / Win9 is a possibility to open ModernUI apps in windows and even more refined start menu search; I'd like it to open faster, and perhaps in non-full-screen mode as an option to decrease general public hatred against it.
Something I've noticed so far, most Start Menu arguments are either about search, or trying to find a person's programs, and thus efficiency.
So I'm curious, do people really care about the 1 extra second it takes to move a mouse to the right icon? Especially with the Win8 Fullscreen Apps page. I can see every app/program I've got installed. I'm only running 1080 resolution & everything still fits. After that, everything is alphabetical order - hence, simple to find.
The Start screen is the same way, and this one you can customize all you want. Efficient as hell, IMO.
So then why the huge emphasis on search!? I've been disabling the Windows Search service since XP.
I can maybe see it for finding files, but anyone who needs to dig that deep probably already has the tech know-how to know where they're going anyway.
I'm genuinely curious to know how others use this software, as I seem to be doing it wrong.
If something's efficient for you, there's very little need to change it. But if I can help with your curiosity:
From my experience it looks like that - I have a stationary gaming/dev rig at home, and a laptop that I use mostly for work, and also some hobby dev stuff and gaming. So there are games, dev, and admin tools, communicators, multiple browsers etc. Windows tries to maintain the pinned apps layout similar on these machines.
I pinned quite a few apps, arranged them into groups etc, but to be honest I don't click them very often. Update 1 for Windows 8.1 added a smaller tile size, so there are better arrangement possibilities. I have some live tiles for Steam etc, they look cool, but for some reason I mostly click OpenVPN and People app. The main reason may be that I'm pretty keyboard-heavy user. I have a Razer mouse @ office, but still, I avoid it when I can stick to the keyboard. Also, I have some dev tools and browsers pinned to TaskBar, so I can intuitively find a region of screen to click & activate them. I'm looking for something to help me with window management as clicking task bar and using alt-tab is inefficient with that amount of windows open.
And regarding start menu - my solution is keyboard-exclusive search. Hit Windows key, type, click Enter. Done. Windows 8 and 8.1 (in contrast to 7) prioritize apps that you use frequently, so less clicks are needed. I also tend to use space to decrease number of keystrokes needed. Eg: "win, i, e, enter" will open Internet Explorer for me, but typing "Internet" would have other suggestion that I use more frequently. For settings, I either use Win+X and click or Win+W. Sometimes for apps I use Win+Q instead of Win, when I want more results to be displayed and I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I think I opened all apps list less than 20 times since I installed Windows 8, maybe even less than 10 times. Yes, I don't use it at all as I find no need to use it. If I want to pin an app, I don't look for it in all apps list, but search, and right-click to pin. Still, there are many apps that I use on a daily basis which haven't been pinned, as I prefer using keyboard over mouse.
So here are some tips:
- When you click Windows key on your keyboard, you can witness how sluggish is the new Start Menu to appear. But you don't have to wait for it to open. If you know what keys you'll need (because you've been using them for days or months), start typing immediately after clicking Windows key. You can even confirm your choice with Enter before the Start Menu finishes the animation. I tend to have app opening before Start Menu appears pretty often.
- Use dedicated shortcuts for settings - Win+W, and Win+X. You'll save some time. I've been using search for settings for a few years now, as I had hard time finding stuff in Control Panel by clicking since Vista, and Windows 7 hasn't made it any better for me. However the search works really well, especially after you get used to it and know how to ask it. Also if you're on a desktop and hit Win+I > Enter > type, you'll be searching Control Panel. Win+X > P > type does pretty much the same.
- Space is your friend. You can search by unfinished words and separate them with spaces, eg. i-space-e-enter for Internet Explorer.
- When you get used to keyboard-exclusive Start Menu usage, you'll launch apps in a fraction of time you'd need to just move your hand to the mouse. You can't get anywhere close to that when using mouse, or Windows 7 without external launchers.
- File Search can be tricky, even with indexed SSD. By default new Windows look inside file content too when you search in Explorer or by everything search or file search (Win+F). Get used to Explorer Search commands. Click the search text box in top-right corner of Explorer window, and Search will appear in the Ribbon menu. Experiment with "advanced options", for example if you click "Other properties", it will show an option to look up by just file name (kinda obvious, but hidden option). If you click, it will add "name:" to the search text box. Other options will add some extra commands too, but you can use keyboard for that. For example when I want to look for file by name, I usually click/type Win+E, Ctrl+F, "name:file I'm looking for"; when looking inside a specific drive, I'd add Alt+D, "d:" after opening Explorer.
----
What I'm looking for in Windows 8.1U2 / Win9 is a possibility to open ModernUI apps in windows and even more refined start menu search; I'd like it to open faster, and perhaps in non-full-screen mode as an option to decrease general public hatred against it.
Veteran
Senior Member
Posts: 12103
Joined: 2009-01-16
Senior Member
Posts: 12103
Joined: 2009-01-16
#4875253 Posted on: 07/17/2014 10:41 AM
Hey look it's Start 8.
I've been doing this since Windows 8 launch day!
I can choose to have Win 8 tiles or just leave it the classic Win 7 superbar.
This, don't know what all the fuss is about tbh.
Hey look it's Start 8.
I've been doing this since Windows 8 launch day!
I can choose to have Win 8 tiles or just leave it the classic Win 7 superbar.
This, don't know what all the fuss is about tbh.
KissSh0t
Senior Member
Posts: 11336
Joined: 2011-10-22
Senior Member
Posts: 11336
Joined: 2011-10-22
#4875262 Posted on: 07/17/2014 10:54 AM
What I don't like about Windows 8.1 is that the DVD drives are grouped together with Hard Drives.
Windows 8 Original wasn't like this... only in 8.1
Also the Folders being shown above the hard drives, which I have managed to remove via registry tweaking..
These things I absolutely despise in Windows 8.1.. horrible design choice, nonsensical design choice. you have no idea how angry these two things piss me off..
What I don't like about Windows 8.1 is that the DVD drives are grouped together with Hard Drives.
Windows 8 Original wasn't like this... only in 8.1
Also the Folders being shown above the hard drives, which I have managed to remove via registry tweaking..
These things I absolutely despise in Windows 8.1.. horrible design choice, nonsensical design choice. you have no idea how angry these two things piss me off..
Ohh look a start Menu already in Windows 8.1.. hohohohoho~~
Click here to post a comment for this news story on the message forum.
Senior Member
Posts: 6084
Joined: 2004-10-30
Hey look it's Start 8.
I've been doing this since Windows 8 launch day!
I can choose to have Win 8 tiles or just leave it the classic Win 7 superbar.