Hi, I am using winstep xtreme 12.2 with windows 8.1 and classic shell 4.0.6, and I noticed a problem with the start menu button; it's too small (see picture). I like it so that whenever i need to click the start menu button, i overdrag the cursor all the way down to the bottom, left-hand corner of the screen. When I click the mouse button, i see the menu. I can't do this with my current setup. May i ask who is the culprit? is it windows, classic shell, or winstep? please halp and implement this feature.

your faithful user,

kay T

I'm not that familiar with Win8 but you can try using the Windows taskbar if one exists and it should show normally. I know they've had some updates to put back some of the things they removed in 7.

Did you see my video? I have Win7. I use the Windows taskbar because of the clock program I have installed. It cannot be used in conjunction with Winstep. I also use Classic Shell.

The reason I use Classic Shell is because I like the way XP has All Programs and configured it to do it the same way. I hate the way Microsoft changed it since Vista and Win7. It's annoying as heck to have to scroll through a myriad of programs to find what I want instead of having everything in total view.

Like I always say...if it ain't broke, don't fix it! The least MS could have done was give the user the option to leave it as it was in XP. I'm glad Classic Shell came to the rescue!

actually nothing wrong with the win 7 start menu once you turn off list recent programs and organize your programs into groups. like:

Accessories
Administrative Tools
Ease Of Access
Desktop Tweakers
Games - Game Demos
Internet
Graphics = Printers - Word
Sound - Video
Utilities

as for that start button being too small that's probably theme specific. like i said before xp is broken. it's an old horse that needs to be put down(shot in the head), and sent off to the glue factory.

@gyrocopter:
Actually, it's got to do with the theme you're using. For example, even though I'm like Windy, using Classic Shell, I just ran NextStart and selected a few themes like "Evolve" and "LightTech" that have the Start button all the way down -- LightTech also has it all the way left as well -- so you just have to either find a theme that does that for you, or tweak the one you have.


@Chucky:
allow people to have their own opinions, mate. I too think that the Vista/7 start menu is stupid and I also prefer the XP style, with the expanding "All Programmes" manifold, rather than the tiny list where you have to scroll up and down, trying to locate your target in there. But that's my personal preference, and I respect the fact that you can (and have) made the Vista-inspired Start menu work for you.
Yes, XP is a near-obsolete product, but that doesn't mean that *anything* new is also better. Some XP concepts, as far as I'm concerned, were quite good and needed only refining, not a 90° turn...

i agree that some features of xp were good, but they should of been ported to vista. just like the best of vista should of been ported to 7, and so on. with vista and 7 the idea was and is so you don't have to drill down as far to do what you want to do.

Yeah, well, Microsoft peeps aren't the brightest bunch, are they.
Actually, I've spoken to a couple (due to my former profession) and it's all down to statistics. They choose average users ONLY (power users, geeks and IT professionals are banned) and run usage studies on them. Then, they decide.
For example, the "up" button that used to be in the Windows Explorer toolbar, was binned, simply because the average user does not understand the hierarchical nature of the directory structure, so the "up" button was always unused. Same reason why taskbar toolbars were forbidden to be detachable from the taskbar; the average Joe never did it. And so on...
There are two big problems with that attitude:
1. experts (power users, geeks, IT pros etc) will always optimise their environment; "average" users will use what they see. Therefore, these "studies" are based on people that don't know that "there's an easier way". Rather than basing their studies on people who have the knowledge and aptitude to change everything, they base them on those who would use anything they served them, the way it was served.
2. once they've settled on what they want to change, they usually remove the option to change it back. No explanations necessary here... baaaaaaaaad attitude.