Pokki on Windows 8–Reinvent The Third Party Start Menu With Slick UI

Pokki on Windows 8 has a new look and it comes with some slick UI you sure don’t want to miss. Most importantly, it’s also serving as a Windows 8 Start Menu replacement.

How To Configure Pokki in Windows 8

The installation is simple and very straight forward. Just download the installer here, and you are ready to go. By default it will have a slightly different look if you are installing it with Windows 8 vs Windows 7.

Right off the back, you will have the left sidebar that gives you the traditional Shut Down menu as well as some of other frequent accessing applications and folders.

Right click the Pokki and go to Settings …

From here you get many options depend on which version of Windows you are running. If you are in Windows 8, you will have some settings that’s specifically targeting Windows 8. For example, you can choose what to do when you press the Windows button. By default, when you press the Windows button, it will start leads you to the new Windows 8 UI. You might thought this doesn’t replace the start menu, well it does. You need to check the “Windows key opens Pokki Menu” option under Windows 8 Desktop.
 
And if you also check “Replace the bottom left hot corner with Pokki Menu” when you will see something like above. The Pokki icon transformed into a new icon, looks more integrated with the taskbar.

The search bar offers instant search, the result are pretty good. It can find most of the programs I through at it.

You also get to browse all the programs, just like the old “All Programs” menu.

You can pin any of the program or control panel settings to the favorites.

Lastly, but not least, this is what the Shut Down menu looks like.
After all, Pokki has done a great job in reinventing what the missing Start Menu would look like other than coping straight from previous version of Windows. This in a way feels more like an updated version of Windows and yet makes you think you are using Windows 8 rather than Windows 7 if you would be using any other third party Start Menu replacement tools.
In the end, the catch is Pokki is not JUST a start menu replacement tool, it’s also a platforms for “native” web applications.

Give Pokki a try today ! And you won’t be disappointed.