Quote from: Josh on January 02, 2013, 03:14 PM

Why do you need the start menu? You can simply click the lower left corner, where the start button used to be, and you can type just as you would before. I don't know many people who navigated the menus rather than typing the entry name...At least users NOT on XP.

  I'm on XP, when I want to run an app I just hit Win-Q and then type the first couple of letters of the app I want to run, and Ta-Dah!  It's running.  It's called Slickrun.  But there are times when I want to run an app that I haven't used in a while and can't remember the name.  That's where the start menu comes in handy, or I can hit Win-Q and have Slickrun give me a list of apps...

Isn't that the same functionality that's built in now?

Quote from: Stoic Joker on January 02, 2013, 12:59 PM

I'm still trying to fathom the logic in skipping directly to a Start Button-less desktop just to have to go back to the thing you bypassed to get what you wanted. Are people really that enamored with their wallpaper?

Place shortcut to preferred desktop application(s) on Start Screen, Boot, Click/Touch, Done ... Why that so hard?

I should run down to the local tire store and pitch a fit because they have no steel banded wooden rims for my pickup...just to see if anyone there has enough sense to laugh at me.

  Guess that depends on if it's a 1929 Ford truck.... 

LOL - and in my case my start menu has over 1500 shortcuts and folders - I don't want to have to make tiles for that lot!

Also the Metro page doesn't support folders which are great for related shortcuts, quick links to blocks of documents and all sorts of things.

Quote from: Stoic Joker on January 02, 2013, 12:59 PM

I'm still trying to fathom the logic in skipping directly to a Start Button-less desktop just to have to go back to the thing you bypassed to get what you wanted. Are people really that enamored with their wallpaper?

Place shortcut to preferred desktop application(s) on Start Screen, Boot, Click/Touch, Done ... Why that so hard?

I should run down to the local tire store and pitch a fit because they have no steel banded wooden rims for my pickup...just to see if anyone there has enough sense to laugh at me.

 Guess that depends on if it's a 1929 Ford truck....  

Touché

Tinman, The start menu has acted this way since Vista....

This has all been trashed out before...

I'm not sure why people get upset about people who are upset with 8 booting into metro.
I dont use metro, why should I boot into the thing?

Why should we be offered workarounds to replace the start menu? Why not leave the desktop easily usable for those of us who do not have and do not plan to have touch screens? (And for the mouse centric.)

I'm not at all anti-8. But I really do not understand a few basic things in 8 that bug me every time I use it...

Oh yeah:
the solution I used to boot to desktop seemed a bit scary to me initially as it required re-activating the OS - it was all done automatically though. If you're using a pre-installed copy, this will help you find the key.

I followed these instructions to boot directly to desktop and it works:

http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-skip-start-screen-natively-without-using-any-third-party-tool/

http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2012/07/how-to-disable-and-bypass-windows-8-lock-screen/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57457967-75/how-to-bypass-the-windows-8-log-in-screen/

Quote from: Carol Haynes on January 08, 2013, 08:49 AM

I seem to be booting straight to the desktop using Start8 but I still have to see the silly (and completely pointless) "Lock Screen" and either log in to an email address or enter a Pin.

Does anyone know a way to by pass the Lock Screen and mandatory login so I switch on and it goes straight to the desktop?

Email Address? PIN?

Just create an "offline account" - at least that's still possible. Why on earth would you want to bypass authentication on the lockscreen, though?

Wasn't this the MAJOR ISSUE with the Windows 9x code base? Users just pressing escape and no real security being provided....

Carol: DPAPI^w - including, but not limited to, NTFS file encryption. It might not be something you use, but it does require a password-protected user account to work.

And that would actually provide some security against a burglar

I personally wouldn't use NTFS encryption either, it's "somewhat of a hassle" if you forget to export your encryption keys - also, for encryption matters, I do prefer something opensource. Might use BitLocker on a work machine, though, and I guess NTFS encryption can make sense in some corporate settings (though the few places I've seen that enforce corporate encryption use utter crap (SLOW!) like CheckPoint FDE - probably because it's enterpriiiiiiiisey and remote-managaaaaaaaable).

But again, DPAPI isn't just for NTFS encryption. Not sure how many 3rd-party applications use it (Chrome is/was one?), but it sure is a convenient API for automagic encryption/decryption of blobs of data.