Here's one for the mix of 3rd party "make 8 normal again" 3rd party apps to consider.
see full reportStart8 and ModernMix -- Windows 8's last, best hope for normality on the desktop
Summary: The users are revolting — it turns out that the mainstream market doesn't get (or want to get) Windows 8's clever new way of working. It's OK though, you can just undo it...
By Matt Baxter-Reynolds for Post-PC Developments
March 12, 2013 -- 13:37 GMT (06:37 PDT)
I was expecting to get quite a lot of flack for my last piece on Windows 8: "Will 90% of people always hate Windows 8." What I actually got was some of the most positive and insightful feedback that I've ever received for one of my articles. Maybe it was Grumpy Cat's influence — hey, we can all be a bit grumpy at times, right? There appeared to be consensus between mainstream and expert users: Microsoft appears to have misjudged the level to which it can make radical changes to the world's most popular operating system.
In his piece "How to make Windows 8 see normal," my ZDNet colleague David Gewirtz had two pieces of advice: avoid Metro-style apps, and restore the Start button using a third-party tool. If you had said to me six months ago that fudging in a Start button to Windows was a good idea, I would have said you were doing it wrong and that we could no longer be friends. I'm now suggesting that the baseline cost of Windows for home and business use should be considered to be whatever price Microsoft wants to charge you, plus around $5 for something like Start8 from StarDock. (This was the utility that David had in his piece, and I'll also talk about in this piece, however there are others.)
In this article, I want mainly to talk about ModernMix. This utility is also from StarDock and it stops Metro-style apps from running full-screen and runs them in floating windows.
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In this candid moment, internet sensation Grumpy Cat is overcome with the positive emotions that are filling up inside of her as she experiences, for the first time, the wonder of running full-screen Metro-style apps as floating windows on the Old Windows desktop.
My Computers
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At a glance
W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Bo...AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz - 965 2nd r...Kingston Hyper X DDR3 1600 1.5v 16gb - Hyper ...MSI HD Radeon 5750 1gb - MSI HD Radeon 6450 o...- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Custom builds = 2
- OS
- W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
- CPU
- AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz - 965 2nd remote pc
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4-Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H remote pc
- Memory
- Kingston Hyper X DDR3 1600 1.5v 16gb - Hyper X Fury 8gb 2nd
- Graphics Card(s)
- MSI HD Radeon 5750 1gb - MSI HD Radeon 6450 on mini tower
- Sound Card
- Creative Labs X-Fi Xtreme Audio P - Realtek onooard 2nd case
- Monitor(s) Displays
- ASUS VW199T-P 19" HP 2082a Main-HP 2082a 20" remote pc
- Screen Resolution
- Asus 1440x900 - HP 1600x900
- Hard Drives
- WD Black 1TB HD per OS W7, W10, and pending W11 presently on 500gb OS Drive - Pending Triple 1TB HDs for Spanned Storage/backup volume
Single 2TB external USB enclosure, single 1TB System 7 Host/Boot drive, Pending 8TB external HD for system image b
- PSU
- Corsair 750TX - primary / Corsair CX600 - second
- Case
- Antec 900-2 - SSD compatible / NZXT Vulcan mini tower
- Cooling
- Zalman CNPS9900A
- Keyboard
- AZIO L70 Backlit Letters Gaming - ONN Cordless/USB
- Mouse
- MSI DS200 Programmable, Logitech Cordless
- Internet Speed
- 30mbps upgrade - primary hard wired - mini tower usb WiFi
- Antivirus
- GFI VIPRE Internet Security 2014 on W7 2016 beta on W10,
- Browser
- Cyberfox, WaterFox 64bit FF variants, FireFox x64, Pale Moon
- Other Info
- Accomdata fan cooled usb 2.0 PIDE/Sata II, III external enclosure.
Sambient usb/eSata PATA/Sata II, III external enclosure.
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At a glance
W7 Pro x64/W11 ProAMD Deneb 3.6ghz - 965Kingston Hyper X Fury 8gbMSI HD Radeon 6450 DVI Output- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- System Manufacturer/Model Number
- CUSTOM ASSEMBLY
- OS
- W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
- CPU
- AMD Deneb 3.6ghz - 965
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H remote pc
- Memory
- Kingston Hyper X Fury 8gb
- Graphics Card(s)
- MSI HD Radeon 6450 DVI Output
- Sound Card
- Realtek onooard Creative or Other separate PENDING
- Monitor(s) Displays
- VIZIO 32" LCD TV Separate LCD Pending
- Screen Resolution
- 1600x1080
- Hard Drives
- WD 500GB OS Host/Boot WD Green 1TB Storage/Backup
- PSU
- Corsair 600W - THERMALTAKE 600W spare case
- Case
- NZXT Vulcan mini tower
- Cooling
- Twin 120mm Top Fans - 240mm Side Cover
- Keyboard
- ONN Cordless/USB Logitech Cordless
- Mouse
- ONN USB/Cordless - Logitech Cordless
- Internet Speed
- DSL 5G
- Browser
- MS Edge, FireFox, WaterFox x64, FireFox Nightly
- Other Info
- OS Testing-Remote Access to Main TeamViewer
