Lenovo now installing old-fashioned Start menus on Windows 8 PCs

Although Microsoft is indeed bringing back a version of the Start button with its upcoming Windows 8.1 update, it’s still not bringing back the full Start menu that’s long been a staple of the Windows experience. Lenovo, however, is aiming to fix this by bringing the Start menu back on its own. Bloomberg reports that Lenovo plans to “pre-install SweetLabs’ Pokki software, which provides a replacement for the dearly departed Windows Start menu” on new Windows 8 PCs that it will start shipping in the coming weeks.

This is particularly interesting because Lenovo has been the one OEM that has done reasonably well at selling Windows PCs this year and is now the No. 1 PC vendor in the world. If Lenovo successfully uses the restored Start menu as a marketing tool for its new PCs, it might push other companies such as HP and Asus to find third-party Start menus of their own to pre-load onto their computers.

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Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.