For the overwhelming majority of users, the new Metro interface in Windows 8 will likely cause some brief annoyance followed by acceptance. It is unlikely that it will become the primary method by which users interact with their computers for quite a while, but familiarity takes time. There are always people who hate change, though. Whatever other benefits Windows 8 provides, and there are quite a few improvements hiding under the fancy new interface, these users will either boycott the new OS or find a way to disable the parts they dislike.
If you fall into that category, there are a few things that you can do to make Metro as little a part of your life as possible while trying out the Windows 8 Release Preview.
Bypass Metro Startup
The easier option, and the one that I would expect Microsoft to actually create an option for in the control panel at some point (assuming they haven’t already and I’m just unable to find it), is to go straight to desktop when you boot your computer. It’s a quick fix that means you only have to see Metro when you want to do something you haven’t pre-loaded into your taskbar.
Step 1: Create your .scf script
Open Notepad and insert the following:
[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=Explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop
Save the file as NoMetro.scf (Or anything else that you want to name it so long as the extension is .scf)
Step 2: Schedule It
Pull up your Task Scheduler. You can either go through the Control Panel’s Administrative Tools or pull up Metro and search for it.
Right-click on “Task Scheduler Library” and select “Create Task”. Name the task something appropriate like “DesktopBoot”.
Open the Trigger tab and add a new trigger. Choose “At log on” for when to begin the task.
Open the Actions tab and add a new one. Browse to your recently created .scf file.
OPTIONAL: Open the Conditions tab. Make sure all conditions under the Power heading are disabled so that your computer’s power source and/or charge level will not change how you boot.
And you are done! Congrats on temporarily avoiding the Start Menu.
Completely Disable Metro (PLEASE NOTE: I HAVE NOT TESTED THIS THOROUGHLY)
If minimizing the impact of Metro is not enough, you can always try to completely disable it. To that end, there is a program floating around the net right now called FxxkMetro that will be helpful. It was posted to the Chinese PC Beta forum not long ago and will remove everything Metro from your session. Naturally this has side effects.
Most notably, you will no longer have a start menu. This can be fixed by installing another third party program that brings an approximation of the old Start menu back. You will also lose access to the charms bar and a variety of other things.
It is worth noting that you will have to run FxxkMetro each time you start a new session and as such you may want to combine this with the first method if you truly hate even seeing the new interface.
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I don’t have anything against Microsoft’s new design. In fact, I’m really getting into having the Windows 8 Release Preview as my primary OS. Half the fun of having a computer is having the ability to do whatever you want to make it your own, though, so these options need to be available. Enjoy them!
