Microsoft’s Start menu is a big deal. It’s the first thing many people think of when they think of Windows, or even Microsoft. The simple Start menu has existed for more than 20 years now. It started off as a way to make Windows easier to use, and now it’s the center of how we interact with Windows on a daily basis.
Microsoft’s Start menu made its first appearance with Windows 95. It quickly became the go-to menu to find everything you needed from your PC, and it changed very little until the blue-and-green theme of Windows XP. The Start menu became so intertwined with the identity of Windows that users freaked out when it disappeared in Windows 8. It didn’t take long for Microsoft to reverse course: the Start menu was brought back to life with Windows 10.