Widget Brings Start Function Back to Windows 8

In all the years that I've set up new PCs either in my own house or for relatives, I've never run across a piece of start-up freeware from an OEM that was worth keeping.

It has always been my mission to hunt down any bit of how-to, security dashboarding, system updating or other start-up junk and delete it. In the rare cases that I didn't (or couldn't), I always regretted it. The usually poorly written and poorly thought out junkware would either accost me with non-actionable pop-up windows or slowed system performance.

However, it appears that Samsung has done something rare, possibly even unique: It's come up with a piece of OEM freeware that might actually be useful. The South Korean company announced three new all-in-one PCs for Windows 8 yesterday that aim to undo one of the most unpopular design decisions of Windows 8.

I'm referring, of course, to Microsoft's insistence on getting rid of the Start button in the re-imagined Windows 8. The eagle eyes over at Mashable noticed that Samsung inserted the S Launcher, a widget that acts like the familiar Start button.

Check out the Mashable blog entry for some screen shots.

Posted by Scott Bekker on August 29, 2012 at 11:58 AM