People endlessly gossip, do not pay attention to whatever they say and know that Windows 8 is definitely awesome, and so is its refreshing Start Screen that many are finding hard to adapt because it does not go with the traditional outlook that have been coming from generation to generation. Despite Microsoft has put certain restraints on Start Screen customization, third-party developers have been working surprisingly hard in order to overcome them with their own apps and hacks to counter the whole picture. Lastly, we covered a Start Screen personalization tool that is termed as Start Screen Modifier that lets all Windows 8 users in order to decrease the size of Start Screen, show it within the desktop, and hotkeys can be used to instantly switch between the default and custom modes depending on whatever the case may be. The developer who is actually behind the app has recently released a vital update for Start Screen Modifier, that adds the option in order to display the Taskbar within the Start Screen, so that you are not required to switch to desktop mode in order to tinker with something that certainly requires the Task bar.
Once it is downloaded, all you are required to do is simply extract the portable EXE file anywhere on your machine and run the application when required.
The application window comprises of a small console. As mentioned earlier, the application still lets you define hotkeys for immediately switching between custom and native modes as per situation. The mega changes here, can be made under the Position drop down menu. The tool now allows you to exhibit the Start Screen at top or bottom of the desktop with a custom size in pixels. Lastly, the height value was locked at 325px but now, you can simply select the position from the menu and after that enter the height parameter in a separate console that shows up later on.
During the conduction of test process, we tried throwing in a couple of various values and all of them worked without any problem. Once you have entered your wanted value, you are required to simply press OK and after that hit Apply on the main window.
The obvious mainstay however, remains the application’s new ability to display the Taskbar right on the Start Screen. All you are required to simply select ‘Fill screen, show taskbar’ option from the position drop down menu, and then in the end click the Apply button. The Taskbar will now show up on the Start Screen just in the way it shows up on the desktop. The screenshot below exhibits how the Taskbar looks in the metro environment.
It must be noted that the Taskbar will still be imperceptible within any Modern UI app, so having Taskbar intact within Windows 8 apps still lies there as an exception. Despite considering how the modern UI apps are optimized in order to run in fullscreen mode, also the difference between the aesthetics and design philosophy of the taskbar and the Modern UI, it does make sense to keep them apart from each other.
All over, Start Menu Modifier is an exemplary application that perfectly does the job that it is supposed to do. The application is workable on Windows 8 and Windows RT. Testing was conducted on Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit.
