windows 8 start menu

have a question! a friend of mine purchased a laptop with win 8 pre installed, my question is how can I get the win 7 start menu on win 8, I did locate it once using ( advance system care ) somehow-- and it worked fine for about a month than one of his co workers attempted to install Apple quick time and sort of screwed the computer up, thus supposedly he ?? went to system restore and set the system to a earlier date ( which I don't know ) but anyway start menu is gone and he installed a generic one which I haven't seen yet but he says it's a shell of some sort

 

Classic Shell? http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/classic_shell.html and a readup about it: http://askleo.com/classic_shell_regain_your_start_menu_in_windows_8_and_much_more/

 

Classic Shell or Start8. A lot of people are using Stardock Software's Start8 & Modern Mix together. The later allows you to run the Metro apps, within a windowed interface.

 

If you located it using IObit Advanced SystemCare then you might have been using IObit Start Menu 8 (free)

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/start_menu_8.html

 

That's what I use. For free you won't find a better one and I have tried all of them. It can be a little slow to respond when you click on it but so are the rest of them.