How to get rid of Metro in Windows 8.1

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Here is the article:

Step 1: Uninstall unwanted apps.

Your focus is on desktop apps. You have no desire to use any of the 20-plus built-in Metro apps and no plans to download any from the Windows Store. To reduce the chance that you will inadvertently launch one of the built-in apps, uninstall as many as you can. Windows 8.1 allows you to uninstall all of those apps in one operation; that’s a big improvement over Windows 8, which made you uninstall each app separately.

01-uninstall-apps-317x461.jpg


Step 2: Adjust the look of the Start screen.

Windows 8.1 includes an option that allows the Start screen to share the same background as the desktop. Personally, I find that setting somewhat distracting, so I leave it off. Instead, I recommend removing the pattern and adjusting the background color to something neutral. This dialog box isn’t in PC Settings, where you might expect it. Instead, you have to go to the Start screen, click the Settings charm, and then click Personalize.

02-customize-start-background-265x381.jpg


Step 3: Tweak the Start screen settings to suit your preferences.

Right-click any empty space on the taskbar and click Properties. That opens up the familiar-looking Taskbar And Navigation Properties dialog box, with a Navigation tab that’s new to Windows 8.1. Options here allow you to bypass the Start screen at sign-in, show the All Apps screen when you click or tap Start, and disable the two hot corners at the top of the screen.

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Step 4: Arrange the Apps screen.

You’ll probably want to avoid the Start screen completely, but you can’t avoid an occasional visit to the Apps view. It replaces the All Programs menu with a full-screen list, organized into groups. You have several sorting and grouping options in Windows 8.1 that aren’t available in Windows 8.

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Step 5: Pin your favorite desktop programs to the taskbar.

This is actually one thing Windows 8.1 does better than Windows 7. From the Apps view you can select as many desktop programs as you want and then click Pin to Taskbar from the command bar at the bottom of the screen.

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Step 6: Set your default apps.

This is a step a lot of people overlook. By default, Windows 8 sets several common file types to open with Metro-style apps. Windows 8.1 follows in that tradition. You can use the awkward and confusing Default Programs option in the desktop Control Panel. But it’s much, much easier to use the new Defaults option, which you’ll find in PC Settings under Search & Apps.

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Don’t forget to change your default browser here. If you use Chrome or Firefox, the desktop version of your preferred browser becomes the default. If you use Internet Explorer, be sure to visit the Internet Options dialog box using the desktop interface. On the Programs tab, under Opening Internet Explorer, choose Always In Internet Explorer On The Desktop, and also check the box beneath that setting.
 
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Wait it necessary to quote the entire post? :rolleyes:

DPI: thanks for posting a guide!
 
Please edit your post MrsOldMX not to quote DPI's entire post, damn it.

Thanks for the guide.
 
Here is the article:

Step 1: Uninstall unwanted apps.

Your focus is on desktop apps. You have no desire to use any of the 20-plus built-in Metro apps and no plans to download any from the Windows Store. To reduce the chance that you will inadvertently launch one of the built-in apps, uninstall as many as you can. Windows 8.1 allows you to uninstall all of those apps in one operation; that’s a big improvement over Windows 8, which made you uninstall each app separately.

01-uninstall-apps-317x461.jpg


Step 2: Adjust the look of the Start screen.

Windows 8.1 includes an option that allows the Start screen to share the same background as the desktop. Personally, I find that setting somewhat distracting, so I leave it off. Instead, I recommend removing the pattern and adjusting the background color to something neutral. This dialog box isn’t in PC Settings, where you might expect it. Instead, you have to go to the Start screen, click the Settings charm, and then click Personalize.

02-customize-start-background-265x381.jpg


Step 3: Tweak the Start screen settings to suit your preferences.

Right-click any empty space on the taskbar and click Properties. That opens up the familiar-looking Taskbar And Navigation Properties dialog box, with a Navigation tab that’s new to Windows 8.1. Options here allow you to bypass the Start screen at sign-in, show the All Apps screen when you click or tap Start, and disable the two hot corners at the top of the screen.

03-navigation-dialog-box-414x492.jpg


Step 4: Arrange the Apps screen.

You’ll probably want to avoid the Start screen completely, but you can’t avoid an occasional visit to the Apps view. It replaces the All Programs menu with a full-screen list, organized into groups. You have several sorting and grouping options in Windows 8.1 that aren’t available in Windows 8.

04-arrange-all-apps-352x221.jpg


Step 5: Pin your favorite desktop programs to the taskbar.

This is actually one thing Windows 8.1 does better than Windows 7. From the Apps view you can select as many desktop programs as you want and then click Pin to Taskbar from the command bar at the bottom of the screen.

05-pin-shortcuts-to-taskbar-469x215.jpg


Step 6: Set your default apps.

This is a step a lot of people overlook. By default, Windows 8 sets several common file types to open with Metro-style apps. Windows 8.1 follows in that tradition. You can use the awkward and confusing Default Programs option in the desktop Control Panel. But it’s much, much easier to use the new Defaults option, which you’ll find in PC Settings under Search & Apps.

06-default-apps-440x387.jpg


Don’t forget to change your default browser here. If you use Chrome or Firefox, the desktop version of your preferred browser becomes the default. If you use Internet Explorer, be sure to visit the Internet Options dialog box using the desktop interface. On the Programs tab, under Opening Internet Explorer, choose Always In Internet Explorer On The Desktop, and also check the box beneath that setting.


The uninstall of apps takes to long just simply run powershell as administrator

Get-AppxPackage –AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage

Get-AppxProvisionedPackage –online | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage –online

Done. Makes decrapyfing OEM PC's much easier.
 
Like the Zdnet article demonstrates if you have Apps sorted by category and then force desktop apps to display first there should only be a handful of Modern apps on a new system that can all be uninstalled simultaneously in no time. The ability to sort apps by name, category, date installed and most used I've found to be very useful.
 
Like the Zdnet article demonstrates if you have Apps sorted by category and then force desktop apps to display first there should only be a handful of Modern apps on a new system that can all be uninstalled simultaneously in no time. The ability to sort apps by name, category, date installed and most used I've found to be very useful.

How about just uninstall the crap and then you don't need to sort shit.
 
I'm just reiterating what this ZDNet article was explaining about uninstalling Modern apps and expounding on it. The screenshot in the article in the uninstalling apps section shows the App Screen sorted by category. When sorted by category the Apps Screen puts all Modern apps at the beginning and all desktop apps at the end or vice versa if the "List desktop apps first in the Apps view when it's sorted by category" option is checked in the Navigation tab of the Taskbar and Navigation properties dialog. Again, on a new system it should take very little time to simultaneously uninstall all Modern apps on a system in the category view.

Being able to sort the Apps Screen like this is one of my favorite additions in 8.1. In addition to the category view the date installed and most used views are useful for managing apps, both desktop and Modern.
 
I'm just reiterating what this ZDNet article was explaining about uninstalling Modern apps and expounding on it. The screenshot in the article in the uninstalling apps section shows the App Screen sorted by category. When sorted by category the Apps Screen puts all Modern apps at the beginning and all desktop apps at the end or vice versa if the "List desktop apps first in the Apps view when it's sorted by category" option is checked in the Navigation tab of the Taskbar and Navigation properties dialog. Again, on a new system it should take very little time to simultaneously uninstall all Modern apps on a system in the category view.

Being able to sort the Apps Screen like this is one of my favorite additions in 8.1. In addition to the category view the date installed and most used views are useful for managing apps, both desktop and Modern.

But the start menu organized it for you. Does that mean 8 is less efficient since it can't alphabetically list programs?
 
Sure, who would ever want to be able to quickly locate and remove never or rarely used programs to clean up a system or easily find recently installed programs?
 
Sure, who would ever want to be able to quickly locate and remove never or rarely used programs to clean up a system or easily find recently installed programs?

The search bar in the start menu? Then right click "open file location" if you need its exact location?

Windows 8 under the hood is better. But there is absolutely nothing better about the Windows 8 UI right now, except for maybe task manager.
 
The search bar in the start menu? Then right click "open file location" if you need its exact location?

I don't believe this has anything to do with what I'm talking about. Can you go in the Start Menu and find the last program installed or the most recently used programs or programs that you've never used at all?

Windows 8 under the hood is better. But there is absolutely nothing better about the Windows 8 UI right now, except for maybe task manager.

The ability to have the task bar on every monitor and to be able to open the Start Screen/App Screen on any monitor are considered an improvement by many.
 
Sure, who would ever want to be able to quickly locate and remove never or rarely used programs to clean up a system or easily find recently installed programs?

Apparently a lot of people disagree with you. YOU may have an easy time or find it quicker, but MANY OTHER people don't (and not all are the incompetent computer users that are afraid of change).

It's alright if people don't like something that you do. They aren't using it wrong. They are using it the way that they use it. Maybe you are using it wrong and they are right? You don't need to defend Win8 at every thread. It just derails the thread and it becomes a fight...
 
Apparently a lot of people disagree with you. YOU may have an easy time or find it quicker, but MANY OTHER people don't (and not all are the incompetent computer users that are afraid of change).

It's alright if people don't like something that you do. They aren't using it wrong. They are using it the way that they use it. Maybe you are using it wrong and they are right? You don't need to defend Win8 at every thread. It just derails the thread and it becomes a fight...

The App Screen sorting is a new feature in Windows 8.1 and there's no way to do what it does in stock versions of the classic Start Menu. So I honestly have no idea what people are taking exception to. Yes, in 8.1 it is easier to find recently installed programs or never used programs than prior versions of Windows out of the box. I've simply pointed out functionality in the OS, which is very rare in threads about Windows 8.x around here.
 
The search bar in the start menu? Then right click "open file location" if you need its exact location?

Windows 8 under the hood is better. But there is absolutely nothing better about the Windows 8 UI right now, except for maybe task manager.

You mean the very same search bar that goes *poof* when you are half way through typing something? You know, just because something else has to take focus even though I did not want that something else to do so?

In windows 8, that has never once happened. Therefore, I find that type and start a program to be far more functional than it ever was in Windows Vista or 7. In Vista and 7, I would almost always just use Win Key + R and run it from there. At least then I did not have the focus taken from me abruptly. I guess you could use the word jarring? :rolleyes: Now where have I heard that word before?
 
Does any of it really matter?

If you like Win 8 then all good, if you want a 3rd party program to make it more usable for you then still good. If you want to keep or go back to Win 7, then.... still good.

I don't use it, even with a 3rd party program. 7 works just fine for me.
I do like some stuff in 8 though.
 
Ed Bott has written a Metro removal guide for Windows 8.1 Preview.

http://www.zdnet.com/the-metro-haters-guide-to-the-windows-8-1-preview-7000018398/

Personally I'm going to wait for StartIsBack, Start8, Classicshell and others to release their Windows 8.1 compliant versions, presumably when Windows 8.1 releases officially, but the linked article should ease most of the pain if you're deadset on running the 8.1 preview.

Start8 released their 8.1 version when it came out. Search for Start8 beta.
 
Apparently a lot of people disagree with you. YOU may have an easy time or find it quicker, but MANY OTHER people don't (and not all are the incompetent computer users that are afraid of change).

It's alright if people don't like something that you do. They aren't using it wrong. They are using it the way that they use it. Maybe you are using it wrong and they are right? You don't need to defend Win8 at every thread. It just derails the thread and it becomes a fight...

Did you even read his post? Why do you even bother typing up irrelevant posts when all it would take for them to be relevant is the 5 seconds to actually read the thread? All he's saying is that improved sorting is a useful feature, which is simply in reply to Wrench00's post saying the contrary position.

You're acting like he's trying to make everybody admit that Windows 8.1 is faster and more efficient at doing what you want in all situations ever, when really all he's doing is highlighting a key piece of content from a relevant article which was posting in this very thread.

Sometimes I feel like you guys attack everything heatless says in some sort of blind, anti-Windows 8.x rampage. I am thoroughly convinced that I could write a bot that finds heatlesssun's post and immediately responds with 'Where'd you get that koolaid', and it's contribution to this forum would be equivalent to half the things that get said about Windows 8/8.1 here. Two identical posts here would perceived and responded to in completely different ways if one of the author's was heatlesssun.
 
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It gets really weird sometimes. I expect to get called the Windows 8 cheerleader and such but now apparently that happens with simply mentioning and explaining how features work. But I guess calling something crap without knowing what it does is easier, particularly when that crap might actually do something well.
 
It gets really weird sometimes. I expect to get called the Windows 8 cheerleader and such but now apparently that happens with simply mentioning and explaining how features work. But I guess calling something crap without knowing what it does is easier, particularly when that crap might actually do something well.
Or they do know and they want to get rid of it anyways. ;)

Its all about personal choice. Nobody is right or wrong.
 
It's alright if people don't like something that you do. They aren't using it wrong. They are using it the way that they use it...

Yea that's Apple that says that lol.

if people don't like it, just don't use it simple as that. I don't mind metro on a touch screen. But my desktops are Win7/Linux/OSX (yea I have a few), and in my opinion metro just doesn't belong on there for me (yet).

People get way too worked up over how other people should/shouldn't be using windows around here (well everywhere really).:rolleyes:
 
if people don't like it, just don't use it simple as that.

I just don't understand people. If you want Windows 8 to be exactly like Windows 7, just use Windows 7. I don't understand why that's so hard for people. I can't understand why people are complaining that Windows 8 is different and how they want Microsoft to turn it back into Windows 7. If Windows 7 works so well for you people, just use that.
 
I just don't understand people. If you want Windows 8 to be exactly like Windows 7, just use Windows 7. I don't understand why that's so hard for people. I can't understand why people are complaining that Windows 8 is different and how they want Microsoft to turn it back into Windows 7. If Windows 7 works so well for you people, just use that.

Much of the controversy over Windows 8 goes beyond the UI, a lot of it about the "tabletization" of Windows in terms of things like the Windows Store and the locked down nature of Modern apps.
 
things like the Windows Store

...Nobody is making anybody use the Windows Store. If someone has a problem with that, they just shouldn't use WinRT. The Windows Store, like the AppStore, provides quality and safety control, which is important because one of the things people have been asking of Microsoft since time immortal is safer, more secure computing. Security is a significant facet of WinRT, and was one of the major motivations behind the runtime.

and the locked down nature of Modern apps.

That's called a sandbox, and we're back to the security thing. People want a safe runtime, where they know their apps aren't going to cause problems with their computer or give them a virus.

When you're not interested in those limitations, don't work exclusively from Modern apps. Again, these are not things you're stuck doing everything in, always. If someone never plans on using any of this ever, they should get buy just fine on Windows 7. But if you want an unsandboxed environment, there's Win32 for that.
 
I just don't understand people. If you want Windows 8 to be exactly like Windows 7, just use Windows 7. I don't understand why that's so hard for people. I can't understand why people are complaining that Windows 8 is different and how they want Microsoft to turn it back into Windows 7. If Windows 7 works so well for you people, just use that.

I use Windows 8 on all my Windows machines and love it (Linux KDE on the the other, and a Server 2012). Even on the desktop. That's not the problem. The problem for many is that the tablet and the desktop OS is one and the same. Is was with Windows 7, too, and people with touch screens complained. So, Microsoft entertained them and created a more touch friendly UI. But, in the process, they alienated many Windows users that are not using touch screen devices. Yes, it works just fine for many (myself included). The OS is fine. People start having problems when it comes to Metro. That's why you see so many very successful Start menu replacements. Windows 8 + Start menu replacement is better than Windows 7 for most people. If they had a unified core, but ran a touch UI on touch devices and a mouse/keyboard UI on non-touch, it'd be golden. Yes, there are ways to make it easier on Windows 8, but it takes work - work that the average user doesn't know how or doesn't want to take the time to do.

I see people showing all these workarounds to get things working good on a desktop. But, Windows was a desktop operating system. Those workarounds were part of the base OS install previously. You shouldn't need workarounds to get your desktop OS to work good on a desktop.

I prefer Windows 8 over any other Windows OS. Even with Metro. It's easy to develop for, easy to use, and fun. I don't use a start menu replacement (my wife does because she couldn't get used to Metro) or any of these workarounds. I help others on various forums to figure out Windows 8. That's where I see a LOT (cannot emphasize that enough - it's a TON!) of people having very minor issues with the OS, mostly the UI, that makes them so frustrated they want to take the computer back and use their old XP (or earlier) machine or switch to Mac. If an OS can make an end user so upset just by using it, it's not the right OS/UI for them. It may run their programs, but if they get pissed by the time they launch that program.... The UI has failed. I'm not talking about myself here, but the thousands of people that have reached out for help in even Microsoft's own forums (Microsoft Communities, formally Microsoft Answers), among others. Some of it is due to the 'fear of change', others are because it's so much change and it doesn't apply to their machine...
 
but ran a touch UI on touch devices and a mouse/keyboard UI on non-touch, it'd be golden.

The current UI in Windows 8 is a mouse/keyboard UI. In fact, if you're a keyboard-oriented user, everything is transparent between 7 and 8 for the most part. You could do the same action on the two different operating systems and get the same results. The only difference between 7 and 8 (apart from some new desktop/multimonitor features that 8 adds) is the start menu, and most people don't use the start menu for anything more than the indexed search anyways.
 
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The current UI in Windows 8 is a mouse/keyboard UI.

Desktop and desktop apps are. Metro is not. It was designed for touch. That's the point of Windows 8. That's why it is on so many different devices. Surface, tablets, hybrids, laptops, desktops (and to a point, the Windows Phone 8).

Same was as Windows 7 was designed for mouse/keyboard, but it worked as a touch - just not well (small icons, etc.).
 
Desktop and desktop apps are. Metro is not. It was designed for touch. That's the point of Windows 8. That's why it is on so many different devices. Surface, tablets, hybrids, laptops, desktops (and to a point, the Windows Phone 8).

Same was as Windows 7 was designed for mouse/keyboard, but it worked as a touch - just not well (small icons, etc.).

Metro was designed for both touch and keyboard and mouse and even pen input. It's up to apps as to how all of these different input methods are utilized and how well they work.
 
Metro was designed for both touch and keyboard and mouse and even pen input. It's up to apps as to how all of these different input methods are utilized and how well they work.

...And a well done, keyboard friendly Metro app is nowhere near impossible. I think people are confusing the inclusion of tablet capabilities for the exclusion of non-tablet capabilities. But even if you want to use your Windows 8 computer like a Windows 7 computer (that is, fully mouse and keyboard drive), there are no barriers. Saying the Windows 8 UI is not a mouse & keyboard UI is simply wrong, and that's objective, not subjective.
 
But, I like Metro. :confused:

Then open up a Metro app, move your mouse and observe what happens. Can you interact with the app using a mouse? If yes, then I don't see the problem here.
 
Then open up a Metro app, move your mouse and observe what happens. Can you interact with the app using a mouse? If yes, then I don't see the problem here.

Even with Metro Start Screen itself, I can do things 3x as fast with a tap of the finger and a swipe. Even if you can interact with the mouse doesn't mean it does it well. I can 'interact' with an eraser nub on a Thinkpad, but I can say it's far from efficient or even useful. That's where the problems come in.

On newer Windows 8 hardware with a trackpad with Win8 gestures, it's easier. But, it's still optimized for touch. It's designed that way. But, yes, you can use it with a mouse and keyboard. But, that was not to be the primary input. Sinofsky has some blog posts regarding that, as well.
 
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