Windows 8.1 has the new Start Screen, but what if you don’t want to bother with it, and prefer seeing the list of applications installed on your computer instead? Thankfully, you can easily change this setting in the Taskbar Properties.

You can either right-click on the Taskbar and choose Properties, or you can search using Windows 8’s built-in search engine. Either one should open the right screen.

Once you have that screen open, check the option for “Show the Apps view automatically when I go to Start”.

Note: You should probably also check the option for “When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start”. Otherwise when you boot your computer, it will load up the all apps view, which is a little weird.

The option right below it, “Search everywhere instead of just my apps when I search from the Apps view” will let you turn the Start screen into more of a Start Menu if you uncheck that option.

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Lowell is the founder and CEO of How-To Geek. He’s been running the show since creating the site back in 2006. Over the last decade, Lowell has personally written more than 1000 articles which have been viewed by over 250 million people. Prior to starting How-To Geek, Lowell spent 15 years working in IT doing consulting, cybersecurity, database management, and programming work.
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