Author: Josh Hendrickson / Source: How-To Geek
Windows 10 can sometimes be a real mess. Between botched updates, treating its users as beta testers, and adding features we never wanted it can be tempting to downgrade. But you shouldn’t go back to Windows 8.1, and we can tell you why.
Seriously: We installed Windows 8.1 and used it for a few hours so you wouldn’t have to.
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You Give Up a Better Start Menu
It’s almost easy to forget, but Windows 8.1 didn’t have a real Start menu. Instead, it had a Start Screen. Windows 8.0 introduced the Start Screen with the hopes of ushering in an era of Windows tablets. It didn’t work well, and Microsoft capitulated, but only slightly. Windows 8.1 re-introduced the Start Button, but all it did was call up the Start Screen, which was a band-aid at best.
You can install a replacement program like Classic Shell or Start Menu 8, but that comes with its own issues. Classic Shell stopped active development, so you are opening yourself up to potential vulnerabilities. And other programs like Start Menu 8 either cost money, push extra add-ons, or both. Just look at this default install of Start Menu 8:
Clicking on any of those top four options will install programs immediately. And this is a 7-day trial, so eventually, you’ll have to pay to use the program.
With Windows 10, Microsoft finally brought back the Start Menu. Granted, it is far too cluttered and filled with ads, but that’s getting better. And more importantly, you can cut out all the tiles and get a look very close to Windows 7 if you prefer.
RELATED: How to Make the Windows 10 Start Menu Look More Like Windows 7
Full-Screen Apps Were a Pain
Another forgotten “feature” of Windows 8.1 was its push for full-screen apps. Microsoft wanted to go after the mobile market, so with the introduction of the Start Screen came full-screen apps designed for tablets that you couldn’t turn off. This was true even for apps where it wasn’t necessary—like the calculator app.
Instead of using the separate desktop view, apps are maximized and take up the entire screen. You had to learn touch or mouse gestures to get a side-by-side view, but it didn’t have near the versatility of programs run on the desktop.
Microsoft tried to help with tutorials, but that didn’t solve the underlying problem that the UI just wasn’t intuitive. The best thing to do was to optimize Windows 8.1 for desktop mode, but it still wasn’t perfect. Microsoft finally solved the problem in Windows 10 by dumping the Start Screen and putting the emphasis back on the desktop.
And while there are again…
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