Well I fired my win8 computer up for the first time and I hate it. I couldn't even figure out how to shut it down until I went on the internet to find the shutdown button. Talk about counter-intuitive.
Now I know there are those of you that love it but for those of you that feel the way I do, do not fear,there is a free program out there called "Classicshell". This neat little program converts parts of win8 to look like win7 and make it easier to navigate.Welcome back start button!!

Yup, Classicshell has been used my many to ease the transition. Or you can pony up $5 and get the Start button back with Start8. Or you can wait until next year when Windows 10 will have a start button. After using it for a couple of years, I've found I don't miss the Start button at all.

I've spent 45 minutes with 4 people who hated Windows 8.1 and all 4 of them loved it after I simply showed them a few tricks. The Windows key is your friend - it switches you between the two interfaces, the desktop and the start screen. Assuming you have Windows 8.1, the power options are at the top right of the Start screen. The corners are also your friends. Put your cursor as far as you can get it in the bottom left of the screen and right click. Voila, there are most all of the options you will need, including shut down.

Looking for all your programs? Just go to the Start screen and click on the little down arrow on the bottom left... there is everything arranged alphabetically in nice neat categories.

But, do make sure you have Windows 8.1 and then the Windows 8.1 Update installed. Those updates have made life MUCH easier for those of us with desktops.

Win10 next year huh. I hope you can get an upgrade version instead of the whole thing. What happened to win9?

I use StartIsBack, which is a pay program, on my Windows 8.1 computer.
I found out about it from *** this ExtremeTech article *** which compares a few Start Menu restoring programs.

I tried both ClassicShell and StartIsBack, and liked the look of StartIsBack better, so I decided to cough up $ for it.
None of the Start Menu restoring programs cost very much, even if not free.

I know how to do searches with Windows 8/8.1's default, but it takes extra clicks and is a pain in the butt.
Also I don't like having to see Windows 8's Start Screen because it is ugly as sin and half as useful.

From what I've seen from ***screenshots***, the Windows 10 "Start menu" will not look like the one in Windows 7. Instead it will have those ugly Windows 8 kiosk buttons/abominations hanging off the side. If I get Windows 10, I will continue to use StartIsBack, and I'm sure other kiosk-haters will continue to use their Start-Menu-restorer of choice.

I agree - I don't think the purveyors of StartIsBack or Start8 will go out of business by any means!

The Metro selections on the Windows 10 Start Menu are optional, and can be completely removed - I leave a few of my more frequent apps pined to the start menu, but only just a few.

I am one of those who got win 8... was very thankful for 8.1 and Drac who showed me a few tricks. and I love win 8.1... but I changed my start up to go directly to desktop and rarely go to the other screen.