From The Tips Box Disable Metro Features While Retaining Windows 8 Explorer Ribbon

If you’re enjoying Windows 8 but you’re not a particularly big fan of the new MetroUI and/or the Ribbon interface, this reader tip will help you disable the features you don’t want.

Angie writes in with a multi-part tip. The first part of her tip highlights a simple registry hack. The second part highlights a program that goes beyond the simple registry hack:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Look for the entry RPEEnabled, then change the DWORD value to 0. You’ll need to force restart Windows explorer or just restart Windows to see the change. Everything should look like Windows 7 with Windows 8 under the hood. Sorta like this:

We tried it out in our VirtualBox install of Windows 8 and everything looks great. It’s nice to have the Windows 7 Start Menu back but still have the Ribbon interface while using Explorer. Thanks for sharing Angie!