There are several things not to like about Windows 8 (yes the lack of a Start button – that argument has been beaten to death) but another complaint is the current state of its Windows App Store. The Pokki Menu app is a Start menu replacement on steroids for Windows 8. This is probably the most unique and useful Start menu replacement you’ve ever seen and never heard of. In fact, Pokki announced on its blog that it’s had 20 million downloads.
Pokki Start Menu and App Store Replacement
It includes a Start Button, Start Menu with access to what you’d expect, and also a complete app store. The store gives you access to hundreds of free apps and games that will run on your desktop. Installation is a piece of cake following the wizard.
No restart is required, and after it’s installed you’ll see the Pokki style icon where the Start menu would normally be. When you first launch it, you can favorite the apps you use most for easy access.
Once you get going, you’ll find that the Pokki start menu works like you’d expect. You’ll have access to all of your favorite apps, libraries, favorite’s, control panel, and an easy search field.
One of the coolest features is finding apps from the app store. All of the apps are free and run on your desktop. You can easily search the store, or browse through featured and popular categories.
The store is laid out a lot more slick and efficiently than the Windows 8 app store, the way it exists now anyway.
The menu is laid out very efficiently with your favorite apps, easy to access programs, search, and the features you miss from Windows 7 – Shutdown, Restart, and other easy Start button features.
Here’s an example of launching Plants Vs. Zombies from the quick launch menu it creates.
Download the Pokki Menu for Windows 8
We’ve covered other Windows 8 start menu replacements like Classic Shell and Start8 which are more traditional styles, but Pokki is a lot different in a good way. Give it a try and let us know what you think about it in the comments!
2 Comments
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Graham Long
Installed, did not like & tried to uninstall and cannot.
Brian Burgess
@Graham Long: Nice catch! I had a problem uninstalling it from Win8 as well after reading your comment.
They do have instructions on uninstalling it though. I ended up having to use the last option on the page.
http://support.pokki.com/customer/portal/articles/716971-uninstalling-pokki
Hope this helps!