The Start screen is one of the most talked and controversial features of Windows 8 operating system. Enough has been written about the pros and cons of Start screen. Users who have been using Windows 8 with the native Start screen for a while would agree that it’s one of the best features of Windows 8.
The best thing about the Start screen is that it’s highly customizable. You can change the background picture & color, set a custom picture as background, pin files, folders, drives and webpages for quick access, create your own tiles, open Start screen within desktop, reduce Start screen’s default size, and search everything from it.
If you belong to a the section of Windows 8 users who love the Start screen and want to customize it further, we have a nice tweak to share with you. Our friend at WinAero, has shared a cool tweak that helps you enable the hidden animation in the Start screen.
When the animation is enabled, you will see the animation when you switch from your desktop to Start screen. You can check out the following video to see the animation in action:
NOTE: We recommend you create a system restore point before editing the Registry.
Step 1: Copy the below registry code to the Notepad and save it as Animation.reg file. Make sure that you have saved it with .reg extension.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Grid] “Launcher_SessionLoginAnimation_OnShow”=dword:00000001 “Launcher_SessionLogin_IndividualTower_Offset”=dword:00001388 “Launcher_SessionLogin_Tower_Offset”=dword:00001388 “Launcher_SessionLogin_IconText_Offset”=dword:000003e8 “Launcher_SessionLogin_Icon_Offset”=dword:000003e8
Step 2: Double-click on the just created Animation.reg file, click Yes for the UAC prompt, and then click Yes again when you see “Are you sure you want to continue”.
Step 3: Finally click Ok button. You are done.
Switch to the Start screen by either pressing the Windows logo key or clicking on the Start screen preview button that appears when you move mouse cursor to the lower-left corner of the screen.
