Start8 appears to preclude loading of Windows 8 shell on new Dell laptop

Hi,

Installed Start8 on this Inspiron 7720 SE x64 machine shortly after purchasing it two months ago (came with Win8 installed). Worked fine until yesterdat. After installing the latest Microsoft Windows 8 updates on February 14, my machine would not load the Windows shell. Attempts to load it by launching explorer.exe failed. I booted into safe mode and Windows 8 loaded fine. I then disabled most optional services/software including start8 and rebooted normally. Windows 8 loaded fine. I then began testing of the disabled apps, beginning with the most useful one, Start8. Immediate gratification. With Start8 on, Windows 8 will not load, with it off it loads fine.

Please advise regarding a fix.

Thanks,

Jim