Windows 8.1, on its surface does not seem to be much different than Windows 8. But that’s only at first glance – when you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that Microsoft really did listen to the complaints about Windows 8 and implemented a lot of them in Windows 8.1.
While Windows 8 didn’t have any kind of a start button – so installing a 3rd-party start button like Classic Shell made sense- in Windows 8.1 you really don’t need to install a third party start button and start menu. Why? Because you have everything you need already installed.
And all you need to do is take about 3 minutes of your time and follow our little tutorial — and you will be able to boot your Windows 8.1 computer directly to the desktop and skip the start screen altogether. You’ll also turn the Start Screen into a full screen start menu and configure it to show your desktop applications first — before the Windows Apps.
And, best of all, it’s really easy to do. Here’s how:
Navigate to the desktop and right click on the taskbar.
Select “Properties”
The “Taskbar and Navigation properties” dialog will appear.
Click the Navigation tab.
Check the following options (see image above):
- “Go to the desktop instead of Start when I sign in” – if you want to change the start screen into a faux start menu, you’ll want to enable this.
- “Always show Start on my main display when I press the Windows logo key.”
- “Show the Apps view automatically when I go to Start” – This setting changes the Start screen into a full-screen Start Menu.
- “Search everywhere instead of just my apps when I search from the Apps view” – You should enable this to provide you the best search results
- “List desktop apps first in the Apps view when it’s sorted by category” – Most of us who want a start menu need to check this setting. It will force desktop applications to appear first on the full-screen start menu and this will help you find your desktop programs faster.
- Click Apply then OK.
If you want to try it out right away, reboot your computer. You’ll boot right to the desktop. When you open the start screen, you’ll see a full-screen start menu, instead of those big tiles with Windows apps listed first. See?
I don’t have a lot of desktop apps installed, do I? I just did a Windows 8 Refresh – so I have to reinstall all my desktop apps. Oh well 
You can click the “start button” at the far left edge of the taskbar to access the new full-screen start menu.
This is a nice way to change your Windows 8.1 to a more normal Windows look and function — without installing any 3rd-party start-buttons.