Windows 8.1’s new (old) Start button may not be the same thing as the old Start menu, but it does harbor a secret: It can sprout a tiny utility menu, as shown below. If you tap or click it, you just go back to TileWorld. It’s another way to open the Start screen. The Start button does not open the traditional Start menu, however. (It even appears in TileWorld if you point your mouse to that corner.) It’s there in the lower-left corner of the desktop, right where it always was. First, in Windows 8.1, the Start button (Windows button) is back. Still, much has changed in this department since Windows 8. Until then, however, enjoy these tips on living with a Start menu-less version of Windows.) (Note: The company has backpedaled a touch on this and announced that a Start menu resembling your old beloved will be coming back to Windows 8.1 in a future update. Eventually, the public stops panicking and learns to trust the new design. It points out that every time there’s a new version of Windows, there’s an instant spike in popularity of shareware programs that make it work like the previous version of Windows. Thousands of PC fans would argue that the Start menu offers a more compact, concise, customizable listing of programs and files than the tile-filled Start screen. If you’re feeling instantly lost without the old Start menu, don’t worry you’re not alone. One thing newcomers will notice missing in the latest version of Windows: the Start menu! Continued support for Windows XP was discontinued by Microsoft recently, so many PC people may now be migrating over to Windows 8.

Windows 8 program list