I saw this posted on another site, looks like an interesting idea, so I decided to copy it and post it here:

This is in no way comprehensive, but if people know more, please add to the list:

Power8:
http://code.google.com/p/power8

 

StartMenu8:
http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php

Start Menu X:
http://www.startmenux.com/index.html

Classic Shell:
http://classicshell.sf.net

Spesoft Windows 8 Start Menu:
http://www.spesoft.com/free-windows-8-start-menu.aspx

Taskbar Classic Start Menu:
http://www.desktopapps.org/

ViStart:
http://lee-soft.com/vistart

BringBack 8:
http://www.revel-software.it/BringBack.aspx

Handy Start Menu:
http://www.handystartmenu.com/

Start8:
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

StartIsBack:
http://startisback.com/

Start Button 8:
http://www.startbutton8.com/index.html

Pokki:
http://www.pokki.com/windows-8-start-menu

Win8StartButton:
http://www.quadsoft.org/moredownloads.php

StartFinity:
http://www.winability.com/startfinity/

Windows 8 Start Menu:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/w8-start-menu/

Tweaks.com Start for Windows 8:
http://tweaks.com/windows/63691/tweakscom-start-for-windows-8-restore-start-button/

Start Button for Windows 8:
http://windows8startbutton.com/

8StartButton:
http://www.totalidea.com/8startbutton/index.php

StartMenuPlus8:
http://www.winok-msixray.com/

RetroUI Pro:
http://www.retroui.com/default.asp

Viva Start Menu:
http://www.vivastartmenu.com/

Win8Starter:
http://www.win8starter.com/index-en.html

Wentutu Start Menu for Windows 8:
http://www.wentutu.com/

 

StartW8:

http://www.areaguard.com/startw8

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Edited: 11/27/2012 at 11:17 AM by mlauzon

Added Win8Starter.

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Don't forget the best solution: Not using Windows 6.2.

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Crosshair IV Formula, Phenom II x4 965 w/ Corsair H60, 8 GiB OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600, XFX HD 7970 Ghz, 512GB Vertex 4, 256GB Vector, 240GB Agility 3, Creative X-Fi Titanium w/ Creative Gigaworks S750, SeaSonic X750, HP ZR2440w, Win 7 Ultimate x64

I kinda like the new startmenu. It would be nice to get rid of icons to make the whole thing take less space.

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#1: Phenom II C2 955BE @ 3.6, Antec Kuhler 920, Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5, Asus 5870/V2, ASUS Xonar D2X, 4 x 1gig OCZ2N1066SR2GK @800, Antec Truepower New 750, Arc Midi, Win8pro x64 upgrade
#2: Athlon 64 X2 4200+, AGP 1950pro, Audigy 2, Asus A8V-D, 2gig ram,  Enermax 465P, Antec900. Now on Win8pro cat 10.2

 

There is an app out there, don't remember what it's called, that will make the tiles on the *****Start Screen smaller, and laid out better.

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To Hardwood - Have you tried: Right click on item, then 'Unpin from start'

Having managed to keep the 'Classic' start menu through various builds of windows from 95 through to Vista I was forced to change when I moved to Win 7, and tbh didn't enjoy it much.

The Win 8 implementation, once you get rid of all the rubbish, is actually quite good and I haven't found a need to replace it ...................... yet!!

Need to take a break now as I'm finding it difficult to accept that I actually included the words 'Win 8' and 'good' in the same sentence and suspect subliminal messages are being sent from my PC.

Taskbar Classic Start Menu: changed the link to their new site.

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Thanks for the suggestions guys. Seems I worded that wrong.

I'd like to have a display similar to "details" in a windows explorer window where icons are eliminated completely.

When you right click the startmenu and choose all apps (at the bottom), theres a BIG freakin' list. Getting rid of the icons would help minimize it.

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#1: Phenom II C2 955BE @ 3.6, Antec Kuhler 920, Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5, Asus 5870/V2, ASUS Xonar D2X, 4 x 1gig OCZ2N1066SR2GK @800, Antec Truepower New 750, Arc Midi, Win8pro x64 upgrade
#2: Athlon 64 X2 4200+, AGP 1950pro, Audigy 2, Asus A8V-D, 2gig ram,  Enermax 465P, Antec900. Now on Win8pro cat 10.2

Added Wentutu Start Menu for Windows 8.

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Start menu may return to Windows 8

After that stubborn Ahole was removed from the picture, the Start menu is (should, maybe, quite possibly) returning.

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Crosshair IV Formula, Phenom II x4 965 w/ Corsair H60, 8 GiB OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600, XFX HD 7970 Ghz, 512GB Vertex 4, 256GB Vector, 240GB Agility 3, Creative X-Fi Titanium w/ Creative Gigaworks S750, SeaSonic X750, HP ZR2440w, Win 7 Ultimate x64

I know about that, the article in its various forms has been making the rounds of the Web.

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Added StartW8.

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I am laughing hard like a pancake with a chocolate moose on it with strawberryjelly and raging cow meat!