Windows 11 users may have noticed that recent updates have introduced a ton of garbage to the Start menu which cannot be disabled or removed. Finally giving up on it, I looked around to for tools to replace it altogether, but found people had posted problems with them with Opus installed as well. In the end I settled for StartAllBack, and have been using it now for a few weeks without any issues. A lifetime licence is dead cheap too so, if like me, you've had enough of the Windows start menu, it's a good deal, IMO. https://startallback.com/
(I am a long-time Opus user, in no way affiliated with StartAllBack)
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Not everyone is so protective when it comes to Windows. I don’t think Windows 10 & 11 are doing such a bad job. Enough tuning options, and yes sometimes you have to remove some of the things one person calls garbage and another one just loves, or doesn’t care about. I wouldn’t switch my Windows Start menu, giving money for anything like StarAllBack because I see no significant added value. It’s really not like ditching Windows Explorer for Directory Opus.
But I do understand some people want to keep “classic” - I have that with old cars. They don’t make beautiful cars anymore, I used to say. And “Who decided that our roads should be full of these ugly bricks on wheels” is almost a catchphrase in my circle of friends.
By the way: here is an article about using a floating Opus toolbar as a replacement for the Windows Start menu:
You’re certainly not the only one having issues with Windows Start menu.
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It's not the look I'm after, and I am not part of the anti-Microsoft brigade (though I must say they seem to be doing their best of late to push me that way!) but I don't like unnecessary clutter. The last Windows 25H2 update (on Windows 11 Pro, at any rate) introduced a bunch of extra "stuff" onto the Start menu, and there's no way to disable or remove it. I spent an hour with Copilot trying various things, and in the end Copilot admitted that actually these new "features" are hard-coded in and can't be removed. If they could be, I'd be happy to stick with it, but...
I did see that toolbar replacement method... I'm sure it's god but was more work than I was swilling to put in!
Yeah, the latest Windows 11 start menu is a complete disaster. The taskbar and start menu keep getting worse and worse in recent years.
Now most of the space is taken up by a categories list that seems to be copying iOS, except it has no idea how to categorise most applications, and Microsoft have provided no way for users or developers to do so themselves. Typical.
Or you can switch it to one of the other view modes, which are all completely useless and also waste a huge amount on empty space. Also typical.
All anyone wants is the start menu and taskbar from Windows 10 to come back. None of the stuff they've added in 11 has been good, and they've removed a lot of things people found essential in the past. They're doing a terrible job lately.
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There are open source alternatives:
All these Windows customization tools rely on extensive Windows hacking, which causes collateral damage. For example, the aforementioned open-source alternatives have 300+ issues. Some third-party SW starts crashing, there are strange UI glitches, new Windows updates break things, and so on.
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^^^ PolarGoose just mentioned the primary reason why I don’t use those hacks.
It’s kind of a “philosophy of reason” : either use Windows or don’t. If you hate it: don’t. If you use it: don’t hack around too much.
Also: Microsoft ultimately listens to mass complaints. It may take a while, but they usually do.
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There's no need for it to be such a binary choice. As I've said, I'm not anti-Windows, and I can't hate on MS too much as I've earned a decent living from s/w they give away for free (in particular Visual Studio and the .NET framework) - other than the Window licence itself - so I've done alright out of them. But that doesn't mean I'm obliged to put up with the kind of nonsense they've introduced in the latest Start Menu updates. It's just horrible.
I looked at the open source alternatives too, and was put off by the number of "issues". All I can say is that, so far at least, StartAlBack works, and I am glad to be rid of the ghastly W11 25H2 STart menu.
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@gm_phil Don’t take it personal. I was making a general statement (probably also influence by another thread I was reading here, from a Macintosh guy who wrote ten times “M$” (instead of MS) in his post. People are free to make any choices that suit them, I’m accusing no one and you’re right that it’s not a binary choice (I also use unix or linux for certain stuff - e.g. hacking Kindle ;). But generally, the idea of messing around with Windows is indeed tricky, as PolarGoose says - and I’ve experienced this in the past, when trying out some hacks. It is only appropriate to warn against it, because one can end up with an instable Windows machine.
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I think StartAllBack has a similar number of issues. You can check their forum StartIsBack forum.
They just don't have an open bug tracker as the open-source alternatives do.
However, maybe because it is a commercial product, they manage to make it work, more or less.
But that doesn't mean I'm obliged to put up with the kind of nonsense they've introduced in the latest Start Menu updates. It's just horrible.
I totally agree. It is a tradeoff. You get a "better" UI, but you may reduce the OS's stability.
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As I was mentioned here: I disagree with your phrase “People are free to make any choices that suit them” I would be glad if all my programs which I use for my work could run in another OS. I´d be the first who switched to it. Surely my Start replacement with floating toolbars was an timeconsuming work. But I see 75 of my programs at once in categories. The start menu of Win11 shows 24 at once and you hve to use the goddamned fiddly scroll bar to see the other programs, uncategorized of course. Windows is a operating system where you can find things at every corner and every edge that are worth improving. If Windows was as well programmed as Directory Opus, you would find new useful functions at every corner and every edge that you marvel at and that you somehow always wanted to have, but did not know that they existed. Today I configured a new laptop for a friend. I used hours to get the same printer configuration for an office printer/scanner/fax machine (Canon C2020L) as in Win7. And do you know what his start window is? It´s the good old desktop without wallpaper, only the buttons for programs and some links to often used files. Here you can see how Microsoft programmers managed to create a user-friendly interface for their operating system. I would say this is the status of Windows 3.1. Around this time I was working with a Silicon Graphics Indy with the IRIX operating system as CAD workstation. Anyone who knows this OS will know that this had one of the most advanced GUIs at that time. Everyone thought that UNIX would be the future. It is confusing to me until today how Microsoft managed to spread itself to such an extent.
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I've been using StartAllBack since I moved to Win 11, mainly because I had gotten used to having the task bar at the top of the screen (a hangover from the Amiga maybe, heh) and am too old now to learn something new 
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I too use and like StartAllBack. Being able to move the taskbar to the top was also significant to me as well as being able to add toolbars (primarily an address bar) to the taskbar.
Yes, it's a commercial product, but the cost is insignificant.
I'm sure I could have gotten used to having the taskbar on the bottom, but I preferred not to.
And yes, I'm aware the whole thing could implode, but so far it hasn't and when/if it does I won't be happy but won't be any worse off than if I hadn't used it at all.
(I've read somewhere that Microsoft is now putting the ability to move the taskbar to the top in recent insider editions or whatever they are called).
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I ran into that with those hacks that add Aero Glass to Win10/11. I like my eye candy.
I've been hearing that Microsoft is starting to take complaints about Win11, especially the start menu, to heart. Supposedly they are going to restore an older version of the start menu. Or at least the ability to move it, as pointed out above.
As for myself, I have been using StartAllBack with no issues. I like having it on the left, which the stock start menu can't do.
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Aha, THAT'S why we don't see DOpus for Linux! Can't teach an old dog new tricks. Just kidding though, I know you have other reasons. Plus the DLL issue.
I wish ALL software was as customizable as DOpus, but would take just Windows itself.
I switched from taskbarX to startallback sometime ago. No complaints. Works well enough. There are free alternatives but I choose to focus my efforts elsewhere.
Microwin is also handy for getting rid of windows bloat.
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I don’t care where my windows taskbar is as long as it’s on the left of my screen.
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I've been using startallback and startisback++ on both win 10 and 11 for a few years. they're worth every penny!, and they're what like $3, one purchase works on both OSs. i love it, this little program is a MUST!
i use the aero style taskbar for a single reason.. on a large screen, the only way you an app is active is the small 3 pixel line at the bottom of the screen. when pixel shifting on the line gets hidden.
with start is back i know what's open
vs
otherwise.. the start menu..., i never use or see it. get a free fuzzy matching keyboard launcher like flow launcher or fluent search and they make microSLOPs "recommendations" 100% obsolete.
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