Overview
The first thing you meet when beginning to explore Microsoft Windows 8, is the new immersive interface (called Metro UI). And there is a new screen that pops out every time you press the old good Start button, instead of the Start menu.
This small free utility lets you to disable the Start screen of Windows Eight and to return the Windows 7 styled Start menu. The tweaker also gives back the classic Task Manager that can show CPU utilization history per processor/core.
Do note that when the Metro UI is disabled, Windows Explorer has the revamped Ribbon interface turned off. And you can enable Windows 8’s immersive UI again, if you want to. For the changes made to take effect, you have to restart or log off your system after tweaking.
Key Features
These are the reasons for looking no further than Win Eight Metro UI Switcher — for disabling the Metro interface of MS Windows 8:
- Supports both the x86 and x64 versions of Microsoft Windows 8 (Eight).
- No administrator privileges required for tweaking.
- The app is completely standalone — no dependence on .NET framework or other runtime libraries.
- It is multilingual. For more information on how to translate the utility into your native language, see the file Lngs\English.txt located in the program folder.
- The portable version of Win Eight Metro UI Switcher is available.
- The program is true freeware!
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Screenshots
Screenshot of Win Eight Metro UI Switcher's main window
Metro Interface Is Enabled
The new Start button of Windows 8
The new Metro Start screen of Microsoft Windows 8
Screen shot of the new Task Manager of MS Windows 8
Screen shot of Windows 8's Explorer having the new Ribbon UI
Disabled Windows 8’s Metro UI
Screenshot of the Windows 7 styled Start menu on Windows 8
Screenshot of the Task Manager, when the Metro interface of Windows 8 is switched off
Screenshot of Windows 8's Explorer with the Command bar, Metro UI is disabled
Videos
The following videos demonstrate how to enable the classic Start menu on new Windows 8:
Downloads
You can download and use Win Eight Metro UI Switcher completely free of charge. We guarantee, that the program does not contain any form of adware or malware, including spyware, viruses, trojans, and backdoors.
Mirrors for the installer of Win Eight Metro UI Switcher (876 KB):
download from superutils.com
download from Softpedia
download from Betanews Fileforum
Mirrors for the portable version of Win Eight Metro UI Switcher (690 KB):
download from superutils.com
download from Softpedia
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Version History
New features marked with a plus symbol (+), and improvements with an exclamation mark (!).
1.2 (February 27, 2012)
[+] Translated into Hungarian.
1.1 (February 9, 2012)
[+] Added a translation into the German/Deutsch language.
[+] Digitally signed and time-stamped the main exe and the installer.
[!] Enhanced handling of multiple instances when the process is started elevated.
1.0 (October 15, 2011)
The first public release of Win Eight Metro UI Switcher.