How To Access Windows 8 Start Screen And Apps From Classic Desktop

Start Charming is a free Windows 8 app which makes it possible to access the Windows 8 Start Screen and apps right from your desktop. While there are many apps that can help you get the classic start menu in Windows 8 such as Pokki, ViStart and StartMenu8, Start Charming makes it possible to adapt to the Metro UI by “Taming it”.

Instantly Access Apps and Search Interface From Classic Desktop

It is hard to understand why Microsoft made it so hard to access the apps and search option for end users, as one has to go to the charms bar to launch the Apps and Search interface. This can however be simplified with the help of the Start Charming app. Start Charming not only adds a Start Menu orb to Windows 8 but it also launches the Apps and Search interface in a more user friendly manner via a single click (on the classic desktop), which is something that many users have missed in Windows 8. As you can see from the below screenshot, this app adds a start menu button, as well as pins the Start Charming button, you can click on any of these to instantly bring about the Search And Apps interface. In case you would like to launch the Metro Apps (Modern Apps) on the classic desktop, see this post: Launch Windows 8 Modern Apps on Classic Desktop.

Start Charming App

Launch Charms Bar From System Tray

There is also a button added to the Windows 8 system tray that can help you instantly launch the Charms Bar. While this can also be done via Windows+C, if you are not good with shortcuts, you might find this handy. You can see the complete list of Windows 8 shortcuts here: Complete List Of Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts.

Launch Charms Bar From System Tray

How To Use Start Charming App

You can see a complete demonstration of the use of this app from our video given below. This video is also available on the WML Cloud YouTube Channel here: Access Windows 8 Start Screen And Apps From Classic Desktop.

It is worth mentioning here that Start Charming also ads a junk toolbar during installation, which makes it a bit annoying. Otherwise the app is good and free of any hiccups. Start Charming works with both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 8 operating systems, however it is primarily meant for traditional mouse and keyboard PCs and does not work with Windows 8 RT (arm processor).

Download Start Charming