Disappointed in Start 11 ...

from Stardock Forums

First, kudos to Stardock on a job well done with Start 10.  I don't know how I could've dealt with Windows 10's horrible native start menu without Start 10.  Thank you.  Second, because of how happy I was with Start 10, I immediately bought a license for Start 11 when version 1.0 was available.  I didn't think to check reviews or anything.  I just went and bought it, because I trusted Stardock.  I was taken aback when I saw how many issues there were with Start 11 (e.g., no mid-button scrolling in the menus, improperly configured menus with weird spacing relative to the taskbar depending on which style was picked, and so on and on).  I dutifully reported these issues in the Start 11 thread.  I downloaded the beta version of the update released after version 1.0.  The same problems persisted.  Nothing was fixed.  I have since installed StartIsBack++ as a temporary replacement (because I cannot stand Window 10's default start menu).  I sincerely hope Stardock gets its act together with the next version of Start 11.  I'm still a bit surprised the team chose to release a version with as many issues as there have been.  A "1.0" release implies stability and a bug-free experience.  Thank you.

start menu products
6,036 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top


I have since installed StartIsBack++ as a temporary replacement (because I cannot stand Window 10's default start menu). 
End of quote

From that I presume you are on Windows 10....and you were happy with Start 10 ...so that's where you should stay.

Start 11 is in response to Windows 11 which is a different OS...;)

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

The number of bug reports about S11 is very low but with millions of different configurations and the way people use products things can quite possibly have been missed.

Sorry I did not see your original post and the bugs don't seem to have been created in the bug tracker.  Apologies for this.

Having located your original post I can give you some answers:

1) With your mouse issue on all apps I notice you say scroll button on your mouse, not scroll wheel?  What type of mouse is this as the list supports touch pad scrolling, wheel mouse scrolling and touch screen scrolling as well as arrows on the keyboard.  But if you have a button on your mouse perhaps for up and down that would potentially point towards a very unique implementation of scrolling perhaps by sending page up/down?  So far we have no other reports of this so I will await your response on mouse type so see if we can track down the root cause further.

2) The highlighting thing sounds like it is a colour scheme issue.  So the active mouseover colour is basically the same as the colour of the background of the menu.  Have you set a custom colour for Start11?

3) We are aware there is a potentially 1 pixel gap under the Win7/Modern menus when set to not be offset from the taskbar.  This is being addressed.  If the gap is larger than this then it will be the option in Start11 to offset the menu from the taskbar being turned on under Visual Effects.

4) Animations should be just fine as of the 1.01 update.  1.0 had a problem on some computers where the timers were not running smoothly and causing frame drops, but this was resolved in 1.01.  I am pleased to say the feedback on this from those who reported the issue has been positive and the problem appears resolved.  It wasn't a problem on all computers.

Jafo : Start11 is intended to replace Start10 on Windows 10 too.  It offers a great deal of new functionality to those on Windows 10.  That said I agree if you hit an issue with S11 then rolling back to S10 if you already owned it makes sense.

CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Jafo: Start 11 is for Windows 10, too.  I see you're from Stardock.  I'm a bit surprised you're telling me to stay with Start 10.

 

Neil: Thanks for replying.  To clarify: Yes, I meant the scroll wheel.  Scroll wheels also are clickable, too, so that's why I called it a "button," too, but yes.  Scroll wheel.  (Thanks for asking.)  Scrolling does not work in the Windows 11 style menu when in the apps list.  I have to manually drag down the indicator on the right to go up or down.  Hope this helps.  And as for the highlighting issue, I am not using any custom colors.  I have to add that this issue is present for some of the menus (e.g., the Windows 11 one), and not so for others (e.g., the Windows 7 style menu - that one is fine as far as highlighting goes).  Lastly, I did notice a big improvement with the menu animation in the beta version.  That one is fixed, for sure.  I hope you're able to fix the alignment of the menus.  That was a bug that made me go, "What the ... ?"

 

Jafo and Neil: Thanks again.  Hope Start 11 is fixed ASAP.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Omnimaxus, reply 3

Jafo: Start 11 is for Windows 10, too.  I see you're from Stardock.  I'm a bit surprised you're telling me to stay with Start 10.

 

Neil: Thanks for replying.  To clarify: Yes, I meant the scroll wheel.  Scroll wheels also are clickable, too, so that's why I called it a "button," too, but yes.  Scroll wheel.  (Thanks for asking.)  Scrolling does not work in the Windows 11 style menu when in the apps list.  I have to manually drag down the indicator on the right to go up or down.  Hope this helps.  And as for the highlighting issue, I am not using any custom colors.  I have to add that this issue is present for some of the menus (e.g., the Windows 11 one), and not so for others (e.g., the Windows 7 style menu - that one is fine as far as highlighting goes).  Lastly, I did notice a big improvement with the menu animation in the beta version.  That one is fixed, for sure.  I hope you're able to fix the alignment of the menus.  That was a bug that made me go, "What the ... ?"

 

Jafo and Neil: Thanks again.  Hope Start 11 is fixed ASAP.
End of Omnimaxus's quote

What mouse do you have?

The wheel works perfectly with every mouse we have tried and should do for everything which correctly sends mouse wheel messages.  It is not impossible that some mouse manufacturer has tried to get clever however and reinvent the wheel :)

Are you able to post a screenshot of the problem with the Windows 11 menu and highlighting?  It is normal for this to have lower contrast than say the Win10 one as thats how the menu looks on Windows 11.  Dark mode is liable to be lower contrast than light mode and if you have a monitor with black crush issues (a VA panel most likely) it could be particularly hard to see.

We could probably add an option for higher contrast mode, but it is tricky because the point of the menu is to look like Windows 11.  

A screenshot would confirm if what you are seeing is that, or if there is some other issue we need to resolve.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Omnimaxus, reply 3

Jafo: Start 11 is for Windows 10, too.  I see you're from Stardock.  I'm a bit surprised you're telling me to stay with Start 10.

 
End of Omnimaxus's quote

Yes it is, but it's in response to Windows 11, as I mentioned.  If you were on Win 10 and Start 10 was running fine there would have been no real motivation to move to Start 11.

When I get an OS to a level of functionality that I like...I don't jump ship [or if I do it's on a VM - just to see what's what].  I have the same policy with drivers...particularly graphics ones.

I have Start 10 on several systems...and am yet to switch to 11 ...and likewise with the OS itself... but eventually I'll get around to it...;)

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Neil: To answer your questions: 1) I use GoFreeTech for my keyboard and mouse.  But the mouse itself uses a standard Microsoft driver.  (Version 10.0.19041.1.)  The scrolling does work in other menu styles in Start 11, too.  But not on the "All Apps" list in the Windows 11 style menu.  2) I reinstalled Start 11 to try and duplicate the highlighting issue.  I found that using hex color # 394550 for the taskbar and start menu (using Windows' color personalization scheme) results in a lack of highlighting if I go from 94% to 100% (opacity?  Sorry; I forget - I've uninstalled Start 11 and have gone back to Start 10 for now).  So, I guess, yes, I was using a "custom" color, but still.  The program ought to be able to automatically figure out a color to use for highlighting.  (But on Start 10, I can still highlight items just fine with the same hex color.)

 

Jafo: Like I said to Neil above, I've switched back to Start 10 for the time being until Start 11 is fixed more thoroughly.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

I am guessing that the demand for fixing Windows 11 taskbar is very high in regards to Start 11 to the point they needed to get the start menu stable very quickly just so they could begin work on taskbar features. StartAllBack is probably the Start 11 teams main competition and they have had taskbar fixes for a while now. Start 11's actual start menu blows their start menu away already so naturally working on the taskbar to finish them off makes the most sense.

Start 11 is a very ambitious piece of software so a lot of work has been required. Patience can be the hardest part here.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

1.01 released on the 9th is simply the 1.01 beta from a few weeks ago being promoted to release.  Nothing in it will have changed since 1.01 beta went up on 22nd November so anything reported after that will not have been taken into account.

Internal builds have tweaks for the 1 pixel offset on the bottom of the menu when not rounded mode and a workaround for certain colours causing a highlighting issue in the Modern style theme.

So far nobody else has reported a problem scrolling the Win11 all apps list and we have been unable to reproduce any problems with it.  I would be curious to know if this goes away as a problem if you disable the option to show recent documents on the Win11 menu in Start11.