Start Menu 8 from IObit is free and legit

[klear]

http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php#none

Unlike Classic Shell and Start8, this is completely free. I also find it way more attractive than both start8 and classic shell. Has the option to boot to desktop and disable metro corners as well.

 

[c627627]

Why would you say such a thing when Classic Shell http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/files/ is the oldest, most customizable and completely free software with a history of helping us make transitions from previous Microsoft Operating Systems - not just Windows 8!?

Classic Shell author has historically been responsive to all valid suggestions we made and incorporated them into the new releases as they were developed to now include Windows 8.



What advantage does this newcomer IObit have over the tried and tested and highly customizable Classic Shell freeware which is now in its 3.6.7 version?

 

[klear]

classic shell has an ad that pops up every time you hit the start button, i was using classic shell before this, I had gotten into the habit of clicking the start button then immediately hitting escape. No ads in this software.

Classic shell is also sorta weird to use if u click the arrow next to shutdown it closes the menu, u can only hover over it, clicking the arrow next to shutdown in the start menu 8 just pops it back up, which is how windows 7 does it.

Classic shell's look and feel doesn't perfectly coincide with windows 8, whereas start menu 8 looks exactly how windows 8 looks

 

[c627627]

You said that Classic Shell is not free - it is completely free and always has been. THE Classic Shell http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/files/ has no ads. I've never seen an add in Classic Shell and I've been using it since version 1.0.

I don't follow the second point. The entire purpose of Classic Shell is to get Windows 7 Start menu exactly as it is in every way into Windows 8. If for some reason what you are saying is true, go here: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/45430/Classic-Shell
Post what you are saying and if it is true, the author himself will correct this behavior, if it can be replicated as problematic and it will be part of the next version. You'd be doing a solid for a lot of people who use Classic Shell.

Your last point is a valid one. The advantage of Classic Shell is not that it provides more than basic buttons, it's how highly customizable it is for you to get your own buttons you created or downloaded elsewhere in there. On basis on what a single default button looks like, maybe the newcomer has a prettier default button. But everything else + the ability to insert an even better custom button is with Classic Shell.

 

[GauravK]

classic shell has an ad that pops up every time you hit the start button, i was using classic shell before this, I had gotten into the habit of clicking the start button then immediately hitting escape. No ads in this software.

Classic shell is also sorta weird to use if u click the arrow next to shutdown it closes the menu, u can only hover over it, clicking the arrow next to shutdown in the start menu 8 just pops it back up, which is how windows 7 does it.

Classic shell's look and feel doesn't perfectly coincide with windows 8, whereas start menu 8 looks exactly how windows 8 looks

Hi Klear. I am the tester and UX consultant for free Classic Shell and would like to clarify some things. If you got Classic Shell from the classicshell.com site, then those people were infringing on our trademark, violating our copyrighted skins and selling our free software for $20. The correct site is classicshell.net and it absolutely most certainly has no ads.

You can either hover over the arrow next to the Shutdown button to open the submenu or hover over the Shutdown button itself to open it. Clicking the arrow once opens the submenu. If the submenu is already open, then clicking the arrow again after the submenu is open closes it. That is a feature to close the submenu (jumplists in the Windows 7 Start menu behave similarly. If you click the jumplist arrow, they close). In the latest version, we have also taken care to make sure that the submenu does not close accidentally by clicking in the next few seconds if it was opened using hover.

You're right about the look and feel but that is corrected with version 4.0 which is in beta and will be released shortly. It has the exact Windows 7 look.

If you have an issue with the usability, feel free to discuss the technical details in the official forum where you can discuss it with the developer of the software too.

 

[klear]

I did go to classicshell.net, every time I clicked the startmenu it reminded me it was the free version and I had to close that before the start menu appeared... I wonder where I goofed

 

[GauravK]

I did go to classicshell.net, every time I clicked the startmenu it reminded me it was the free version and I had to close that before the start menu appeared... I wonder where I goofed

There are definitely not any reminders, popups or ads as there is only one version - the free version. There is a new version notification notifying you that a free new version is available but you can turn it off. But I did see the behavior you mention in the one from ClassicShell.com which was a bogus site trying to sell our code and showing popups to buy it.

Anyways you could always try it again. It is free and has had 7 million downloads.

 

[klear]

I stand corrected, thanks for the info.