Windows 10: Hell Freezes Over: Users Now Want the Start Screen in...

I saw one or two other people with same argument, so this to you and them. Having a program pinned to the startmenu or taskbar requires having already pinned it there. That assumes that it is a program used often enough to make you want to pin it. Even on high resolution screens, both have limited real estate, and I think in your case especially, it would be non-sense to pin every single installed program and those built in to the task bar. If anything, I'd think that would be a waste of time. Its a moot point anyways since you can do it 8 too. And typing isn't always a good option either. As you stated, if you have a lot of software installed, you can't always remember the name of everything. I would also say typing out the name of a program requires much more effort than clicking something. Furthermore, your statement about having to scroll through tiles just proves how ignorant you are about how the start screen actual works. At least try it instead of making up "facts". If you scroll down, or click the bottom of the screen on a desktop, you get a screen with all your programs listed. No tiles, just a list. You have a multitude of options on how the list is arranged. The basic choices are by name, by date installed, by category, and by most used. With the start menu, you don't really have any easy choices. You can customize what folders programs are in, but that's time consuming. If you don't like live tiles, there is an option to go to this list when hitting the start button/windows key by default, skipping the screen with tiles entirely.

EDIT: Also, I would say having a list that takes up the entire screen, in vertical columns, makes it a lot easier to find a program than scrolling through a one column list. I never said anything about putting all programs on the task bar or the start menu (in this case, I was referring to just one program). That would indeed be rather pointless. Only the most frequently used programs need to be pinned anywhere. In win 7, I have my most frequently used programs pinned to the task bar or in the notification area. My next most frequently used programs are pinned to the start menu. The rest I can still find quickly in All Programs in the start menu. In the example of Calculator, someone was complaining about how many mouse clicks it took to get to it using the start menu. I was merely pointing out how the number of mouse clicks can be reduced. Also, some people prefer using them mouse; others prefer navigating by keyboard. That is why I presented the keyboard alternative.

I'm not making up anything. I was referring to Win 8's start screen, which I have tried and hated it for the week I had to use it, because that was what others were referring to. I've already acknowledged that Win 10 is an improvement. I've also stipulated that both start screens and start menus have their uses; which one one uses depends on the hardware one is using, what one's workflow is, and a person's personal preferrence. The fact that Win 10 has both is what makes it a major improvement over its predecessors (and I have already stated that as well).

As far as having an entire list in multiple columns taking up the entire screen goes, again, it depends on the person using it. I can read only one item at a time. Some people can read entire blocks of data at a glance. I find scrolling down a single column no more difficult than perusing multiple columns. Others may not. Also, how one scrolls is a factor. If one use the scroll wheel, depending on how fast the scroll speed is set, that can take longer than using the scroll bar, depending on how one uses the scroll bar. Grabbing and dragging on the scroll bar is much, much faster than just using the arrows on the top and bottom of the scroll bar.

 

The "All Apps" screen is different from the Start Screen.

The "All Apps" screen is like "All Programs" in the Start Menu.
The Start Screen is like the left column of the Start Menu.

Can the "All Apps" screen actually be customised though?
I couldn't change anything on it, when I was playing with the W8.1 Enterprise preview.
Specifically, I couldn't create columns like on the Start Screen. There seems to be a way to customize the Apps. I have not yet looked at the details but post 65 and following on page 7 in this thread looks promising.

 

Nobody uses every tile on the All Apps screen!
So..., categorize the ones you use often and maybe hide the rest.
You can even create your own folders!

 

*Ditto. . .Not sure what all the banning back and forth is all about. It would appear that each of you are correct in your ideas. You all have proven that we all have our own ways of setting up our OS's to suit ourselves, thus it would appear that Microsoft is accomplishing just what it wants to do. . .make the OS adjustable to the individual user.

 

*Ditto. . .Not sure what all the banning back and forth is all about. It would appear that each of you are correct in your ideas. You all have proven that we all have our own ways of setting up our OS's to suit ourselves, thus it would appear that Microsoft is accomplishing just what it wants to do. . .make the OS adjustable to the individual user. Prexactly! You get it! How well M$ has accomplished that goal remains to be seen in the final release but it does look very promising. The only reason I won't upgrade (for a while, anyway) is Win 7 is presently meeting my needs and I don't upgrade anything unless the benefits outweigh cost and convenience (learning a new OS is a bit inconvenient if it isn't necessary).

 

*Ditto. . .Not sure what all the banning back and forth is all about. It would appear that each of you are correct in your ideas. You all have proven that we all have our own ways of setting up our OS's to suit ourselves, thus it would appear that Microsoft is accomplishing just what it wants to do. . .make the OS adjustable to the individual user. Prexactly! You get it! How well M$ has accomplished that goal remains to be seen in the final release but it does look very promising. The only reason I won't upgrade (for a while, anyway) is Win 7 is presently meeting my needs and I don't upgrade anything unless the benefits outweigh cost and convenience (learning a new OS is a bit inconvenient if it isn't necessary). At this point you are not upgrading, you are testing, thus you are learning ways thing can be done down the line when you decide to either upgrade or not too. . .*Wink

 

*Ditto. . .Not sure what all the banning back and forth is all about. It would appear that each of you are correct in your ideas. You all have proven that we all have our own ways of setting up our OS's to suit ourselves, thus it would appear that Microsoft is accomplishing just what it wants to do. . .make the OS adjustable to the individual user. Prexactly! You get it! How well M$ has accomplished that goal remains to be seen in the final release but it does look very promising. The only reason I won't upgrade (for a while, anyway) is Win 7 is presently meeting my needs and I don't upgrade anything unless the benefits outweigh cost and convenience (learning a new OS is a bit inconvenient if it isn't necessary). At this point you are not upgrading, you are testing, thus you are learning ways thing can be done down the line when you decide to either upgrade or not too. . .*Wink Actually, I'm not testing (way too many things on my plate) but I am watching other people's reports closely. I didn't upgrade from XP to Vista or Win 7 right away, even though I knew darned well that Win 7 was superior to XP (don't even mention Vista *Wink ) because of hardware and software incompatibility, making upgrading not cost effective (replacing printers and scanners is expensive, especially when they still have plenty of life left, and I had one piece of software that would have cost $400 to upgrade).

 

Thanks for the link. *Smile

It was an academic question, as I don't have a working W8.1 VM to try it on.

It seems that modifying "All Apps" layout it is not as straightforward as on the Start Screen.
If I'm following the comments correctly, the procedure is very similar to steps used when customising the W7 Start Menu.

 

Care to elaborate?? Hehehehehe . . . what falls out of the back of the horse and goes plopppppppp . . .

Sorry, Jeff, couldn't resist. *Redface

 

I have never heard of Rocketdock before Mike, so I looked it up. It seems to be an animated version of QuickLaunch which I've used for years. In fact, Microsoft tried to abandon QuickLaunch, but for some reason, it's still lurking inside the OS, even in Windows 10, ready to be set up.

 

Every time I get my glasses changed, Lady Fitzgerald, I have a pair for everyday wear (bifocals), a pair of readers for everyday reading (can't stand reading with the bifocals) and a pair of computer glasses (don't like looking up through the bottom of the bifocals).

Now, if we could just get monitors that are specifically for our particular vision problems, I would be very happy. *Smile

 

Every time I get my glasses changed, , I have a pair for everyday wear (bifocals), a pair of readers for everyday reading (can't stand reading with the bifocals) and a pair of computer glasses (don't like looking up through the bottom of the bifocals)... *Smile When trying to use my computer at home while wearing my trifocals, I have to angle my head up and keep switching between the middle and bottom lenses and wind up quickly getting one seriously sore neck! I use a cheap pair of drugstore readers for when working at my computer that are a compromise between my trifocal's mid-rage lenses and the reading lenses.

If I try to watch TV while laying in bed, the reading lenses in my trifocals are the only ones I can see the TV through, which does not work at all sense I need the long ranged lenses. If I push the trifocals down my nose so I can see through the correct lenses, I'm then watching TV through a couple of small windows; 'tis very annoying. So, I got another pair of el cheapo drug store readers to watch TV through.

Sounds good but I would hate to replace three very expensive monitors every time my prescription changed. Even better would monitors that were adjustable for our particular vision problems. Now, that would be sweet.

 

I'm keeping the Start Screen and will keep the Start Screen in all provisioned deployments I'll do for 10. If anyone has been toying around with the new Start Screen, it's basically a mosh of Start menu and Start Screen with bits of Windows 8 and Windows Phone together with 7's menu all in one screen. The early early concept of it is in one of the builds. Basically, All Apps is together with the rest of the Start Screen in one same view, but All Apps is more of the Windows Phone style. It's overall nicer looking I find and more versatile.

But to each their own. Some like drop down menus, some like more useful Ribbons and versatility.

 

I use the All Apps screen (sorted by Category, and culled of unwanted tiles) and Quick-Launch. I've seen the Start Screen, which I STILL dislike, about three times in total, I haven't even bothered to set it up or customise it. I don't run a 3rd-party start menu.


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