Hi,
Under Windows 8.1, you can boot your machine to desktop (look and feel like Windows 7) from there you can pin all your frequently applications to the Taskbar like Windows 7, you can right click (sorry not click) the Start menu .... You can try the following setup first then play around with it:
- Right click the Taskbar,
- Click Properties,
- Click Navigation tab
- Tick (as mine) items 1,2,4,5,6
- Click Ok
- Reboot
After that, you can start to pin your apps to the Taskbar and/or move apps to the desktop (create short cuts).
Regards.