I am sure most of you have already read aplenty about Windows 8. In fact, some of you have probably already tried the developer preview, which is available for download from dev.windows.com.

Windows 8 is the most significant release of Microsoft’s venerable operating system since Windows 95. It introduces sweeping changes for both users and developers. For example, Windows 8 does away with the Start menu, and focuses on a touch-first Metro interface. However, changes always tend to be polarizing. I am sure there are some of you who prefer the old interface over Metro. Fortunately, it’s rather simple to disable the Windows 8 features that you don’t like.

As mentioned earlier, Windows 8 replaces the traditional Start menu with a full screen launcher featuring interactive tiles. However, the old Windows 7 style Start menu. is still included. Microsoft has just locked it away. To unlock it you need to make a few simple Registry modifications. Even better, you can use the Start Menu Toggle utility developed by Deviant-Art member Solo-Dev to unlock the Start menu with a single click.

If you want, you can get rid of the entire Metro interface with the help of Metro Controller application discovered by IntoWindows. This utility even allows you to disable most of the features introduced in Windows 8. However, you will probably be better off using Windows 7 rather than a crippled version of Windows 8 developer preview, if you don’t find any of the new features useful.