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I was skeptical about the modern-UI interface in Windows 8 (and 8.1), having been a Windows 7 user for a while, but slowly got used to it.

My laptop got the upgrade to Windows 10 yesterday that I had reserved a while back; the upgrade process was fast and overall Windows 10 runs far better than Windows 8 did on my laptop.

The only thing wrong with it (in my opinion) is that the start menu has changed again:

enter image description here

It's nice to use on a desktop, but as my laptop is touch-screen, I find it somewhat annoying to use. I know that the start menu in Windows 10 is still touch-oriented, but it's still annoying as I had got used to the start screen in Windows 8.

Is it possible to change back to the start-screen that was in Windows 8?

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    Random rambling: It's never quite that the new thing is objectively worse, it's that the new thing is pretty much the same and the transition is unpleasant. And now people have to transition back...
    – user253751
    Jul 30, 2015 at 23:10
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    Wow, that's an old screenshot. Jul 31, 2015 at 0:41
  • 2
    Poor Microsoft just cant win!
    – Gusdor
    Jul 31, 2015 at 7:31

1 Answer 1

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It is possible to change back to the Windows 8 start-screen in two ways:

  1. Tablet Mode - Activates the start-screen, but makes other changes to the windows. Better oriented for tablets (Only available to those with touch-screens):

    Settings > System > Tablet Mode > Enable

enter image description here

  1. Use Start Full Screen - The 'better' way, doesn't touch the way windows are displayed, like the first option does:

    Settings > Personalization > Start > Use Start Full Screen

enter image description here

Alternatively if you just want to make the start menu larger, just drag it (source):

enter image description here

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    You can quickly enable/disable Tablet Mode via the Action Center as well. Click on the "speech bubble" icon in the bottom-right -> Tablet mode. Here's a screenshot: thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/3116/… Jul 30, 2015 at 23:15
  • I am on a non-touch-screen device and tablet mode is disabled for me. Jul 31, 2015 at 7:22
  • I think you can even just resize the start menu to fill the whole screen and it will automatocally toggle into start fullscreen mode.
    – ljrk
    Jul 31, 2015 at 8:42
  • @larkey Not on mine, it doesn't. I have Windows 10 Pro.
    – AStopher
    Jul 31, 2015 at 8:45
  • @cybermokey well, then I have remembered incorrectly from the insider previee (but I'm so sure!) or it's another bug MS has managed to create ^^
    – ljrk
    Jul 31, 2015 at 8:46

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