You Don't Need A Traditional Start Menu

I keep seeing users adding third party “traditional” Start menus to their Windows 8 OS. They’re buggy, old fashioned and counter-productive in my opinion. Now, I know how this sounds and please don’t think I’m getting on my high-horse and having a rant about people customising their experience exactly how they want it. In fact, quite the opposite. I advocate it. My issue however is more about moving with the times and embracing change – I love change. If you have always used the same methods to achieve a goal, then you’ve never made that process better (continual service improvement anyone?). To put it another way, if you were a salesperson and had the best product in the market then you have the advantage – but without changing that product and making it better from time-to-time, your competitors will soon catch you up then before you know it, you’re behind! The same is true for using the latest and most intuitive mechanisms to boost the efficiency of your work and, quite frankly, make you life a little simpler. But as ever (and I thank Microsoft for this) there is always more than one way to “skin the cat”. So as an example (and to highlight my point) I will present four quick and easy ways in which you can jump to the Control Panel in your nice shiny and snappy Windows 8 OS without needing your traditional old-fashioned Start Menu.
For the traditionalists

  • Drop your cursor to the lower-left of the screen (so the Start box appears, or just open the applications bar)

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  • Now right-click and select the Control Panel from the context menu

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For the desktop workers

  • Navigate to Computer (from the left container) and simply click Open Control Panel

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From the Start

  • Go to the Start app (Windows key, select Start from the Charms bar or select Start from the apps bar)
  • Begin typing “Control Panel” and select it from the search list. How much you type depends on how many other Apps you have with the words “Control” and “Panel” in them

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And finally, for the Charmers

  • Swipe from the right (or Windows + C) to load your Charms bar, then select Settings (the little cog)

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  • Now simply select Control Panel from the Settings list

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