Windows 8 is just.. bad. Period. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s go deeper and talk about why people 30+ years old are having so much trouble understanding Windows 8.
If you have been using a Windows based computer for any number of years; you have always had a start button. We like our start button – it makes it easy to find what we are looking for! The start button is the little icon at the bottom-left hand corner of your screen. When you click on the start button it, it pulls up a menu that lists all of your programs as well as links to your pictures, documents, & music. Windows 8 does not have a start button. Instead of using the traditional start menu, Microsoft announced the ‘metro style’ home screen like the image below.
Windows 8 start button app
Microsoft said they were going to “make it right” and introduce a start button back into Windows 8. Computer users everywhere got excited to hear that Windows 8 would finally be usable like a normal computer – it still wasn’t. Unfortunately it was a marketing ploy by Microsoft to get the word out and get people to download the Windows 8.1 update. The Windows 8.1 update simply added a “start button” that then leads to the metro style screen with icons everywhere. Even after the update there is no built-in start menu.
Not all is lost! There are some great developers that have added a ‘start menu’ app for Windows 8. I’m using it today – and it makes Windows 8 usable again.