StartAllBack
Ranked 2 of 3 Windows customization tools by recommenders
People recommend it for restoring the classic Windows 7 style Start menu and taskbar and fixing other Windows 11 annoyances. Critics say its licensing pushed some to switch to WindHawk.
People recommend it for restoring the classic Windows 7 style Start menu and taskbar and fixing other Windows 11 annoyances. Critics say its licensing pushed some to switch to WindHawk.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Makes Windows 11 much better
“it's improved the experience ten times over”
Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “Our Commitment to Windows Quality” “both lifesavers, as far as I'm concerned”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “Classic 7 is a Windows 10 LTSC mod to look 1:1 to Windows 7” “I cannot recommend StartAllBack enough.”
Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “Our Commitment to Windows Quality” - Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023)”
- Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “27-year-old Apple iBooks can connect to Wi-Fi and download official updates”
Fixes many Windows 11 issues
“I really love startallback.com which brings back the regular start menu and lots of other little fixes”
Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “State of the Windows: What is going on with Windows 11?” “after I installed StartAllBack and enabled "large icons" setting, the issue went away”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “The abysmal state of Windows 11 Taskbar icons” “StartAllBack solves my issues with the Start button and menu bar.”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “2025 was a disaster for Windows 11 as bugs and intrusive features erode trust” - Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Microsoft Will Preload Windows 11 File Explorer to Fix Bad Performance”
Restores classic Start menu
“I really love startallback.com which brings back the regular start menu and lots of other little fixes”
Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “State of the Windows: What is going on with Windows 11?” “StartAllBack solves my issues with the Start button and menu bar.”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “2025 was a disaster for Windows 11 as bugs and intrusive features erode trust” “configure Windows 11 to look and act pretty much like Windows 7”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet” Older Windows look and feel
“it also has features to restore file explorer to the more sensible Windows 7/8 versions”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Microsoft's Pivotal AI Product Is Running into Big Problems” “configure Windows 11 to look and act pretty much like Windows 7”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet” “heavily modified for WinXP look-and-feel”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Microslop Manifesto”
Other Windows customization tools people recommend
The two most recommended other Windows customization tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windhawk | 29 | 15 | 66% | 8 | — | — |
| StartAllBackThis page | 9 | 1 | 90% | 6 | — | — |
| Winaero Tweaker | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
All 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“both lifesavers, as far as I'm concerned”
“StartAllBack for Windows does almost everything your product does and costs $5 for a lifetime license”
“it's improved the experience ten times over”
“it's licensing made me move to WindHawk”
“I cannot recommend StartAllBack enough.”
“heavily modified for WinXP look-and-feel”
“it's made Windows 11 so much better”
“it also has features to restore file explorer to the more sensible Windows 7/8 versions”
“after I installed StartAllBack and enabled "large icons" setting, the issue went away”
“I really love startallback.com which brings back the regular start menu and lots of other little fixes”
“configure Windows 11 to look and act pretty much like Windows 7”
“StartAllBack solves my issues with the Start button and menu bar.”
“it's made my usage far more tolerable”
“Not fully new shell but fixes most issues.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.