Skip to content

Main Navigation

Puget Systems Logo
  • Solutions
    • Recommended Systems For:
    • Content Creation
      • Photo Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe Lightroom Classic
        • Adobe Photoshop
      • Video Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe After Effects
        • Adobe Premiere Pro
        • DaVinci Resolve
        • Foundry Nuke
      • 3D Design and Animation
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk 3ds Max
        • Autodesk Maya
        • Blender
        • Cinema 4D
        • Houdini
        • ZBrush
      • Real-Time Engines
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Game Development
        • Unity
        • Unreal Engine
        • Virtual Production
      • Rendering
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • OctaneRender
        • Redshift
        • V-Ray
      • Digital Audio
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Ableton Live
        • FL Studio
        • Pro Tools
    • Engineering
      • CAD
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk AutoCAD
        • Autodesk Inventor
        • Autodesk Revit
        • SOLIDWORKS
      • Photogrammetry
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • ArcGIS Pro
        • Agisoft Metashape
        • Pix4D
        • RealityCapture
    • Scientific Computing
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Data Science
      • Machine Learning / AI
      • Scientific Computing
    • More
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Compact Size
      • Live Streaming
      • NVIDIA RTX Studio
      • Quiet Operation
      • Virtual Reality
  • Products
    • Intel Core i7 & i9
      Workstations with 13th Gen Intel Core i7 & i9 processors on Z690 and Z790 chipsets
    • AMD Ryzen 7 & 9
      Workstations with AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors on B650 and X670 chipsets
    • AMD Threadripper PRO
      Workstations with AMD Threadripper PRO 5000 WX processors on the WRX80 chipset
    • Intel Xeon W
      Workstations with Intel Xeon W 3300 processors on the C621E chipset
    • Rackmount & Server
      Servers and workstations in rackmount chassis
    • Custom Computers
      Customize a desktop workstation from scratch
    • Custom Servers
      Customize a rackmount server from scratch
    • QNAP Network Attached Storage
      Check out our external storage options as an authorized reseller for QNAP
    • Recommended Third Party Peripherals
      View our list of recommended peripherals to use with your new PC
  • Publications
    • Articles
    • HPC Blog
    • Blog Posts
    • Case Studies
    • Podcasts
    • Press
  • Support
    • Contact Support
    • Support Articles
    • Warranty Details
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Press Kit
    • Testimonials
    • Careers
  • Talk to an Expert
  • My Account
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Hardware Articles
  4. /
  5. How To Make Windows 8.1 Act More Like Windows 7

How To Make Windows 8.1 Act More Like Windows 7

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Matt Bach
Always look at the date when you read an article. Some of the content in this article is most likely out of date, as it was written on October 17, 2013. For newer information, see our more recent articles.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Boot Directly to Desktop
  • About the New Start button
  • Customize the Start Screen
  • Change Default Programs
  • Conclusion

Introduction

When Windows 8 launched, there were many users who mourned the loss of the Start button, and many others who claimed that the new Start screen was much more useful than the Start button ever was. As tends to happen on the internet, this caused many heated discussions. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has (sort of) brought back the Start button in response to the many complaints.
 
 
While the Start button isn't exactly the same as the Windows 7 Start button, it has made Windows 8 more accessible to those who were reluctant to upgrade to Windows 8 due to the UI changes. With the return of the Start button, we've decided to write up the best ways to customize Windows 8.1 to make it act more like Windows 7. There are plenty of programs available to make Windows 8 and 8.1 look more like Windows 7, but in this article we are going to focus solely on settings you can change that are natively available in Windows 8.1

Boot Directly to Desktop

One of the easiest and most noticeable things you can do in Windows 8.1 to make it behave like Windows 7 is to have the system boot directly to the Desktop rather than the Start page. To do this, follow the two steps shown below:

Right-click on the Taskbar and select "Properties"

Switch to the "Navigation" tab, check the box shown and click "OK"

About the New Start button

Windows 8.1 may have brought back the Start button, but it is fundamentally different than the Start button in Windows 7. While there are programs like Classic Shell and Start8 give you third-party options for getting a Windows 7-like Start button, if you want to stick with native Windows settings you will never get the exact same functionality as the Windows 7 Start menu. We will cover a few of the ways to customize the Windows 8.1 Start button to make it more useful, but there are a few things that you simply cannot change.

One of the first things to know about the Windows 8.1 is that right-clicking the Start button is much more useful than it ever was before. Rather than just getting options for "Properties" and "Open Explorer" like you do in Windows 7, the right-click menu now gives you quick access to most of the advanced system tools. Task Manager, Control Panel, Run, Device Manager and many more are now very easy to access.

In addition, right-clicking the Start button gives you something that was severely lacking in Windows 8: a quick way to shutdown, sleep or reboot the system.

Right-clicking the Start button gives you easy access to advanced utilities and shut down/sleep/reboot options

Customize the Start Screen

By default, clicking the Start button brings you to the Start screen (previously known as Metro). This may be useful for many users, but depending on how you want the Start button to act you may want to tweak its behavior. Note that depending on your individual preferences, you may choose not to use one or more of these options. Simply use the ones you like, and skip the ones you don't.

The first thing you must do is get to the Taskbar properties page.

Right-click on the Taskbar and select "Properties"

Once on the Taskbar properties page, you must first go to the "Navigation" Tab. From there, you can make each of the changes below.

The first bit of customization we recommend doing is to match the Start screen background to the Desktop background. This doesn't cause any real functionality improvement, but it makes the Start screen feel more like a quick popup rather than switching to a different application or screen.

Switch to the "Navigation" tab, check the box shown and click "OK" or "Apply"

The Start background now matches the Desktop Background


With the background the same for both the Desktop and Start screen, we next want to make the Start screen a bit more useful for finding any applications that are not on the Desktop or pinned to the Taskbar.

Check the box shown and click "OK" or "Apply"

The Start screen now shows all apps rather than just what was on the original Start page


This is a good start, but you may want to see applications like Chrome listed before Windows 8 apps like Finance. Luckily, there is an easy way to show applications that are likely more important to you first.

Check the box shown and click "OK" or "Apply"

Applications are now sorted with desktop apps listed first


The two Start screen checkboxes that we did not discuss are the "Show Start on the display I'm using when I press the Windows logo key" and "Search everywhere instead of just my apps when I search from the Apps view". The first option to show start in the active display simply makes the start page open on whichever screen your mouse cursor is currently on rather than your primary display. Some people will like this feature, others may not. The second option is to search everywhere rather than just apps when you start a text search (start typing) when on the start page. This means that you can just start typing anything (an application name, document name, etc.) and it should find what you are looking for. This is checked by default, but some people who only use the search feature to launch applications may want to turn it off to speed up the search times.

Change Default Programs

If you dislike having the Windows 8 Photo app starting up whenever you open an image and instead just want the normal Windows Photo Viewer (or some other program you have installed) to be used, follow the steps below.

From the Start screen, search for "Default app settings"

This screen allows you to set the default applications. If you want to get more specific, you can also choose to set default apps by either file type or protocol (links at the bottom of the screen)

Simply click on an icon and select the application you want to be used by default

Conclusion

Windows 8.1 is never going to be identical to Windows 7, and in many ways that is a good thing. But if you are not quite ready to be forced into making the jump to the Windows 8 Start screen and want to retain some of the flexibility from Windows 7, then these changes are a great starting point. There is certainty more you can do to tweak Windows 8.1 to make it behave exactly how you want though third party applications (which we actually do in our Windows 8 Makeover: Emulate Windows 7 courtesy installation), but the changes showed in this article should help bridge the usability gap between Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 without any additional software installations.

Is there something else you have done to your Windows 8 or 8.1 system to make it more useable? Let us know in the comments below.

Tags: Desktop, Start, Windows 8.1

Who is Puget Systems?

Puget Systems builds custom PCs tailored for your workflow

Extensive in-house testing
making you more productive and giving you more performance for your dollar

Reliable workstations
with fewer crashes and blue screens means more time working, less time waiting on your computer

Support that understands
your complex workflows and can get you back up and running ASAP

Proven track record
check out our customer testimonials and Reseller Ratings

Get Started

Browse Our Workstations

Fractal Design Define 7 Chassis with Puget Systems Logo

Select your workflow:

Content Creation
Engineering
Scientific Computing
More

Latest Articles

  • Guide To Removing Instapak Foam
  • Basic Guide to Identify and Remove Malware
  • Should I Upgrade My Gpu
  • Case Study with Lost Boys Interactive
  • Samsung 990 Pro Critical Firmware Update
View All

Post navigation

 AutoDesk Maya 2014 Professional GPU AccelerationGaming PC vs. Space Heater Efficiency 
Puget Systems Logo
Build Your Own PC Site Map FAQ
facebook instagram linkedin rss twitter youtube

Optimized Solutions

  • Adobe Premiere
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Solidworks
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Machine Learning

Workstations

  • Content Creation
  • Engineering
  • Scientific PCs
  • More

Support

  • Online Guides
  • Request Support
  • Remote Help

Publications

  • All News
  • Puget Blog
  • HPC Blog
  • Hardware Articles
  • Case Studies

Policies

  • Warranty & Return
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Delivery Times
  • Accessibility

About Us

  • Testimonials
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

© Copyright 2023 - Puget Systems, All Rights Reserved.