THis used to be free softwarre a few years ago now its at the extortionate price of $22 thats £17 in my currency. The windows version now appers to be OK now (Windows 10) so why on earth do we need something thats going to screw up one's computer with this rentalware, adware, mult-bugging software.

Will not try this. Never touching any software from iObit again. It is almost impossible to clean up your pc when doing an uninstall. They spam your computer with bloat about their other products. Consider them very unreliable.

For systems windows 8.1 or earlier, use "Classic Shell" for free forever. For windows 10 or up, use "Start Menu 10". Why use something that will expire in 12 months ? also free.

I do not buy or consider any software with time limited licensing when it does not need it to function. These software firms are greedy (my opinion) and not interested in the consumers. I have been working with computers and software since the '80s and do forensics (computers) now. I have seen many companies take over software (firms) and then force (or try to) consumers to use licensing on the product(s) that will function just fine without it. "Qurb" (a spam email filter) is one of the first I met up with. It worked (and still does) just fine without licensing and could have been bought for lifetime at one reasonable price (and you owned the copy, which did have a serial number). When a well known anti-virus firm took over the company, they 'licensed' it per year and if you used their anti-virus product, it would uninstall it and provide the ability to buy a yearly license!
The only way you could use your 'lifetime' purchase was to use another anti-virus product. Some companies today have opted to still sell their products, but not update them unless you buy the update. This is another form of licensing in my view. Fortunately not all firms do this and there are plenty of alternatives (at least for now).
I am for the license when it is appropriate to the software use. VPN is a good example. The software stays pretty much the same and updates are provided to fix errors or instabilities. What your license pays for is the ability to use their servers in various locations for connections.
Or perhaps the companies like Hulu who provide service that they have to pay a fee to get and provide it to you at a cost that is far less (and more convent than you could get on your own. This has provided a way for many people to watch TV they could not ordinarily get otherwise (such as https://deutsches-fernsehen.net/

I would highly recommend the Start Menu X, which has been offered on GOTD in the past. Free version is more than adequate for most users. Paid for Pro version is even better, allowing multiple desktops, etc. Well worth the price if you need more. And, it doesn't expire. I've been using it on all my window computers for years and install it on my clients computers, as it makes it much easier to navigate than the standard Microsoft Windows interface. Here's the link: https://www.startmenux.com/index.html

More silliness from a Chinese developer seemingly intent on discrediting itself to the point that it does little business at all.

Stated by iObit on this page to be $22.95, Start Menu 8 is actually sold on its website for $7.99. Not stated on this page, nor made clear by iObit even on its website, is that $7.99 is but the cost of a 12-month rental. Even by iObit's curious standards, a small me-too app that costs money every year just to use it is as brazen as it gets.

As to why it's a me-too app, software has long been available to sort out the start menu mess inflicted by Microsoft on its long-suffering customers. The best of that software, Classic Shell, was exactly that -- a classic -- but developer Ivo Beltchev reluctantly ceased to work on it in December last year due to pressure of other commitments.

In its place has come the work of a small group of Open Source developers: Open Shell. Information can be found on github; the product itself has kindly (and exclusively) been made available by the MajorGeeks freeware site since August this year:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/classic_start.html

Free today, tomorrow and forever, regularly updated, and the topic of a long-running helpful Windows user community forum support thread here:

https://www.tenforums.com/windows-10-news/99582-classic-shell-no-longer-development-now-open-source.html

Open Shell makes a nonsense of iObit's rentalware attempt to capitalise on this particular market sector.

When I open a webpage video and prepare for full-screen playback, the following taskbar can't be hidden, no matter if I switch to win10 style or win7

Do not touch anything from iobits.

We use Classic Shell on one of our Windows 8.1 PCs. On the other one we use Start 8 which cost $4.99 a few years ago. Both work great for what we want, and they don't ever "expire".

I have used Start Menu Reviver by Reviversoft for years which was designed for Window 8 and to my surprise still worked when I upgraded to 10. I've stayed with it because mainly because it allows me to easily open specific URLs by the press of a button. I was wondering whether Openshell would allow me to do that?

Classic Shell has been abandoned but adopted by someone elsej.
It is now named 'Open Shell', basically still the same software.
An upgrade goes smoothly with no loss of data, simply restart after updating and all is good.

This is a really nice app and I heartily recommend it. It removes the requirement of going to a Start page to find your apps and works well.

Classic Shell
//////////////////////////////////////////////
** Better & 100% FREE !!!
** Open Source
URL:
http://www.classicshell.net/

......Windows 7.

I have been using this for years and find it most useful. Since I have two monitors the right one has this UI and the left has the Win 10 UI.

What does IObit want to achieve with this? There has been Classic Shell for years. FREE! Image Desktop:XP, Vista or Windows

start menu, 1 year?!
What is this, a security software which needs updates?
Classic start menu suggested instead, always freeware.