Last week Microsoft released Windows 8.1, the much anticipated update to Windows 8. Ever since Windows 8 was launched in October last year it has been criticized for how dramatic a change it is from previous versions of the world’s most popular Operating System. Well Microsoft have been busy at work since October 2012 focusing on making Windows 8 better. Paul Thurrot over at WinSuperSite.com has put together a great list of changes you can that have been introduced with Windows 8.1.

To coincide with the release of Windows 8.1 we also have a new version of Start Menu Reviver available today. Start Menu Reviver version 1.0.0.1812 (A special version number for the release of Windows 8.1 on the 18th of October) has many enhancements that we have been working on based on user feedback.

Ever since the release of the first version of Start Menu Reviver we have been blown away by all of the positive comments and feedback. We have listened to all of the great feedback and have incorporated the below product enhancements into the latest version of Start Menu Reviver:

Search, usability and performance enhancements

You asked for improved search? You got it!

• Improved mouse and keyboard usability
• Improved search performance
• Searching mechanism now queries the Windows Indexing database for results
• Searching mechanism now queries core environmental and system paths
• Dynamic Search enhancement now allows you to immediately type and search when the Start Menu is invoked
• The Search box now allows for command line execution
• The Search box can now search and execute intuitively and in unison
• Search results can now be sort by type
• Search results now show additional details
• Search results have tooltips
• Search can now be stopped via [ESC] key press
• Search results are now filtered for duplicate results
• Windows 8.1 ready and backward compatible with Win 8.0 / Windows 7

Bug Fixes

No software is perfect and Start Menu Reviver is no exception (although we think it is pretty great!). The below bugs have been fixed in the latest version of Start Menu Reviver.

• App Charm button toggle state fix
• Time format alignment fix
• Windows Desktop functional hot keys fix for F3 (Search)
• Issue with SMR & Classic theme on Win7
• SMR installation issues on Windows Server 2008 have now been resolved

Settings changes

The setting screen in Start Menu Reviver was getting cramped so we have completely changed it along with adding a few new options that we know will be very popular.

• Completely redesigned setting screen (see above)
• Additional setting to “Hide Start screen corner hint” found in the bottom left corner in Windows 8
• Additional setting to “Allow the Search Box to run commands”

Miscellaneous Changes

Here are a few random usability changes we have made to the product.

• The ReviverSoft tile can now be made transparent for users who use transparent icons instead of tiles
• [Backspace] key now returns to the previous folder
• Dashboard tile can be dragged and dropped onto the Desktop creating a shortcut to the Modern Start Screen
• Start Menu doesn’t terminate on accidental ALT-F4 while it has focus

New supported languages

We released Start Menu Reviver with support for 12 different languages but apparently that wasn’t enough! Some amazing people from around the world donated their time to help translate the product into additional languages. Here are the new languages that Start Menu Reviver now supports.

• Korean
• Polish
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Greek
• Hungarian

We hope that you enjoy these enhancements and please keep the feedback coming about Start Menu Reviver. It has been a really fun product to develop and we look forward to sharing more improvements with you all in the future!