Cannot Access Start Screen after Expiration of Trial period

You should be able to uninstall Start8 from the OS add / remove control panel (Programs and Features).

Which version of Start8 was installed as I am not aware of any issues with the trial expiring and not being able to access the Windows 8 menu via the windows key in recent versions.

Neil,

Thank your for responding to my post.  It was Start8 version 1.16.  When the computer locked out access to the Start Screen, I did indeed then uninstall Start8 from the Control Panel and restart the computer.  Still cannot access Start Screen.

Same problem with 1.2,  No start button and the interactive tiles start display wiped out.  To start a program, havew to go to the program files folder and open it. 

Worked fine during the trial period.  

You accessed the Windows 8 start menu during the trial?

The boot to desktop option is controlled by Start8 and the registry key it uses on 8.0 is only used by Start8 itself (as Start8 is what makes it go to the desktop not anything in the OS), so it being there after Start8 was removed would not cause any problems.

Could you check that the files for Start8 were actually removed from the machine please.  They would be in c:\program files(x86)\stardock\start8.  Is there anything left there?

Also can you check if you have anything else from Stardock listed in the control panel programs and features list please.

Uninstalled start8 and stardock central (ignore and restart -had a module running)l.  Even removed all the start8 downloads.   Windows start screen available again.  

Downloaded start8 again and clicked on the previously purchased button again,  It ends up with the successfully activated message.  Restarted and the same problem is back.  No Start8 icon in the task bar and the Windows start screen is wiped out.  Move the cursor to the lower land corner of the display and a blank start screen shows.

Guess I'll have to teach the wife how to use the start screen.

Can you mail support@stardock.com so they can collect more information please.

Something is clearly unhappy and it would be good to fix it.

Seem like no one has a solution yet, although many are experiencing the problem  Stardock really has to fix this.  They shouldn't allow this become a reason to not adopt an otherwise excellent product.

If Start8 has been removed from the machine (please check all the files in the Start8 folder are removed (if the folder even exists still) then it is doing nothing on the machine.

Could you possibly have installed another product (for example Stardock Decor8, Stardock ModernMix) at the same time and the issue is somehow linked to those?  Please check to see if they are listed in the installed programs you can uninstall.

Where else have you seen many other people with this issue?  I see two people in this thread and it seems the two of you are not reporting the same thing either.  One is after the expiry of 1.16 trial, the other is it all worked fine until upgrading from the trial to the full version.  I am aware of two other threads which were bumped by allnycyachts too but again one of them is totally different and the menu opens fine, it just doesn't open any Win8 apps.

Given the number of trials started since Start8 1.16 was released you would anticipate many orders of magnitude more reports if Start8 was directly responsible.  If you then do a google search for "Windows 8 unable to open apps" you get many results and Start8 does not seem to be in use.

For example : http://www.eightforums.com/software-apps/21010-windows-8-apps-wont-open.html

I suspect the problem is the OS corrupts the user account at some point and because you are in a trial of Start8 you don't notice the issue until Start8 expires and so you are forced to go back to using the Windows 8 start menu.  Additionally for those who encountered the problem after installing an update, it is probably a case of rebooting the machine showed up something that wasn't seen before as Windows 8 usually uses its hybrid shutdown and so doesn't actually fully reboot and start clean.  It only starts clean after a full reboot as would happen after software installation or software uninstallation.

One interesting thing to try would be to create a new user account and then log into that and see if it works.  If so it is most likely a corrupt user profile which Windows 8 seems especially prone to.

Please do contact support@stardock.com so more data can be collected as this would allow us to confirm that our software did uninstall correctly and help rule out any possible conflicts between software such as AV apps.

The problem is on a friend's machine, where I installed the trial version of Start8.  Works fine on my machine.  I'll pursue your recommendations in a few days when I visit my friend's house and have access to his computer.

Ok please let us know what happens.

I allocated time this afternoon to installing and uninstalling both trials and full versions and was unable to reproduce any problems here.  On trial expiry the start button opens the configuration screen for Start8 which shows the try/buy/unlock screen and the OS windows key continues to open the Windows 8 menu.

Neil:

Thanks for your time and suggestions but I'll just  check back once in a while for the eventual solution. 

Ed

It's the pioneer who ends up with the arrows in his rear end.

Neil,

I worked on my friend's computer today and found out that the restriction of access to the Windows 8 Start Screen was unrelated to the expiration of the Start8 trial period.  It was, as you suspected, the result of another Windows 8 configuration product that was set to disable all active corners of Windows 8.  I changed that setting and everything worked fine on his computer.

Sorry for the inconvenience and extra worked I caused you.  If the phenomenon had been on my own computer, I could have worked on it at my own pace and discovered the cause of the problem immediately.