{"slug": "startallback", "name": "StartAllBack", "category": "terminal", "category_name": "Terminal and shell", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 3.315, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2025-11-23", "latest": "2026-02-05", "why": "The main tool for me is https://www.startallback.com/", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "The main tool for me is https://www.startallback.com/", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "startallback.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.startallback.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["StartAllBack"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 750429888, "item_id": 46901868, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901868", "by": "hbn", "date": "2026-02-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use StartAllBack to replace the Start menu with more or less the Windows 7 one", "excerpt": "I use StartAllBack to replace the Start menu with more or less the Windows 7 one, and it also has features to restore file explorer to the more sensible Windows 7/8 versions.", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows Start menu replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft's Pivotal AI Product Is Running into Big Problems"}, {"id": 748362850, "item_id": 46772678, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46772678", "by": "mattbee", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I really love startallback.com which brings back the regular start menu", "excerpt": "The key to having a nice time with Windows is 1) to give it loads of memory (32GB+ surely) and 2) to run a debloater script the moment you pick up a new system e.g. https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat All the rubbish from the last 20 years - ads, OneDrive, Copilot, Office upsells, Candy Crush in the start menu - it can just disappear, leaving a pretty stable system that hasn't actually changed much. Apart from th", "context": "", "use_case": "Start menu replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Windows: What is going on with Windows 11?"}, {"id": 743693904, "item_id": 46480869, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46480869", "by": "wvenable", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The main tool for me is https://www.startallback.com/", "excerpt": "If you're willing go through a little bit of trouble -- and it sounds like you are -- it's pretty easy to configure Windows 11 to look and act pretty much like Windows 7. You'd be hard pressed to tell what version of Windows I'm running if you gave it a cursory glance. The main tool for me is https://www.startallback.com/ O2O Shutup is also pretty useful https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 for disabling anything ", "context": "", "use_case": "restore Windows 7-style UI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet"}, {"id": 736389040, "item_id": 46024315, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46024315", "by": "smt88", "date": "2025-11-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check out StartAllBack. Not fully new shell but fixes most issues.", "excerpt": "Check out StartAllBack. Not fully new shell but fixes most issues.", "context": "", "use_case": "fixing Windows shell issues", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Will Preload Windows 11 File Explorer to Fix Bad Performance"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["windows start menu replacement", "start menu replacement", "restore windows 7-style ui", "fixing windows shell issues"], "compared": [{"slug": "windows-11", "name": "Windows 11", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46887564", "title": "Microsoft's Pivotal AI Product Is Running into Big Problems", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46772212", "title": "State of the Windows: What is going on with Windows 11?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46480156", "title": "Microsoft kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46023449", "title": "Microsoft Will Preload Windows 11 File Explorer to Fix Bad Performance", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 750429888, "item_id": 46901868, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901868", "by": "hbn", "date": "2026-02-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use StartAllBack to replace the Start menu with more or less the Windows 7 one", "excerpt": "I use StartAllBack to replace the Start menu with more or less the Windows 7 one, and it also has features to restore file explorer to the more sensible Windows 7/8 versions.", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows Start menu replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft's Pivotal AI Product Is Running into Big Problems"}, {"id": 748362850, "item_id": 46772678, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46772678", "by": "mattbee", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I really love startallback.com which brings back the regular start menu", "excerpt": "The key to having a nice time with Windows is 1) to give it loads of memory (32GB+ surely) and 2) to run a debloater script the moment you pick up a new system e.g. https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat All the rubbish from the last 20 years - ads, OneDrive, Copilot, Office upsells, Candy Crush in the start menu - it can just disappear, leaving a pretty stable system that hasn't actually changed much. Apart from th", "context": "", "use_case": "Start menu replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Windows: What is going on with Windows 11?"}, {"id": 743693904, "item_id": 46480869, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46480869", "by": "wvenable", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The main tool for me is https://www.startallback.com/", "excerpt": "If you're willing go through a little bit of trouble -- and it sounds like you are -- it's pretty easy to configure Windows 11 to look and act pretty much like Windows 7. You'd be hard pressed to tell what version of Windows I'm running if you gave it a cursory glance. The main tool for me is https://www.startallback.com/ O2O Shutup is also pretty useful https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 for disabling anything ", "context": "", "use_case": "restore Windows 7-style UI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet"}, {"id": 736389040, "item_id": 46024315, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46024315", "by": "smt88", "date": "2025-11-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check out StartAllBack. Not fully new shell but fixes most issues.", "excerpt": "Check out StartAllBack. Not fully new shell but fixes most issues.", "context": "", "use_case": "fixing Windows shell issues", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Will Preload Windows 11 File Explorer to Fix Bad Performance"}]}