Yeah, I finally did it – I made the jump to Windows 8. I probably wouldn’t have, except for the fact that it came pre-installed on my new computer, so I figured “what the hey, I’ll give it a shot”.
And honestly, it’s not a whole lot different from 7 functionality-wise; just a much more invasive Start menu – like, it takes up the whole flippin’ screen…
In fact, the only peeve I’ve got so far has to do with Google Chrome’s and its “Windows 8 Mode”. It not that it’s bad, necessarily, it’s just that it take away some creature comforts, like the menu bar…
…that, and there’s no way to get out of it once activated.
This frustrated me enough to start digging around in the Windows Registry, so if you’re uncomfortable with the following steps, please consult a professional to help you out. Otherwise, put on your gloves and prepare to be wholly underwhelmed with how easy this is.
Hit your Windows key, type in Regedit and hit Enter. The Regedit screen will pop up.
Now navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\Metro
…and change the value from a 1 to a 0 (zero).
Now, click File, then Exit to leave Regedit.
This will force Chrome to go back to its Windows 7 iteration, thus restoring your toolbar and the ability to browse from the Windows 8 desktop instead of the “metro” interface – two things I find extremely useful, and hope you do, too!
Take care out there!
~Andrew
Why not go to the menu by clicking the lines in the upper right corner right below the close X, click “Relaunch Chrome in Desktop Mode”?
oh thank you..thank you..thank you…i will neve EVER do that again…i hated it 🙁
Both suggestions are welcome. Google chrome seems to be invasive and once launched it will subject you to advertisements. Is there a way around those?
Awesome dude, works great, you saved me from hell on earth. I thought I was going to have to start from scratch re installing google
It didnt work. Help please
This didn’t help for me either. I made the mistake of clicking on the “launch in Windows 8 mode” button out of curiosity and now completely REGRET IT! The Win8 mode doesn’t work for me at all! I can’t see anything but a blank screen, no detail, no links, no way to get to the settings button within the program. Nothing but a full screen blank screen. So when I found this work-around I was very hopeful to get my Chrome back. But it doesn’t work and I can’t get to the settings within the program to change it from there. Is there another way to turn off the windows 8 mode? PLEASE HELP!
I found another way! Yeah! I opened it up again to try to try (yet again) to get it back to desktop mode. I moved my cursor all the way the chrome icon in the upper left corner and held it down, just to see what would happen, what, if any prompts may appear. I got a prompt that read “replace …” so I clicked on it. It closed chrome. I clicked to run it again and it opened in desktop mode with the notification that chrome did not shut down properly and asked if I want to restore. I x-ed out of the option from the right and it now runs in desktop mode again. I am soo happy! Vanessa, I hope this is not too late to try to help you, too!
The best way is to make another browser as your default browser. Chrome will automatically leave windows 8 automatic linkage mode.