In all seriousness, Windows 8 has been crying out for a better way to navigate between its start screen and desktop pages. We’ve got the full details on our sister site Tech Daily, but the essence is this: ‘it’s not quite the same, but it’s good enough.’ That hasn’t stopped me from being genuinely overjoyed that the Start menu is back for Microsoft’s 8.1 update. Granted, I may be a special case when it comes to being vexed by Windows 8. Once, I spent a full 10 minutes stuck on its webcam page taking an endless array of selfies as I tried to get back to the home screen. Still, this didn’t stop me getting regularly lost in the Windows 8 ‘live tile’ morass. Like a regenerated Doctor Who, you know you’re going to have to put up with it for at least three years, so you may as well get on with things as best as you can. Just abandoned in the great Recycle bin in the sky.ĭutifully, I tried to get along with the new, Start menu-less version of Windows. And then, when Microsoft callously unveiled Windows 8, it was discarded. If that’s true, I must have been head over heels in love with the old Windows Start menu.Īll that time I’d spent using it to zap up the calculator, search for my files and dip into the Control panel amounted to a decade-long romance. They say you don’t know how much you love something until it’s gone.

Are you feeling emotional about its long-awaited return? After months of confusion and anguish, Microsoft has announced the return of the Start menu in the latest version of Windows 8.

Windows 8.1 old start menu