StartAllBack alternative for Windows 11, with a menu bar, dock and Search
People looking for a StartAllBack alternative want more from Windows 11 than its own taskbar and Start menu. StartAllBack brings back the ones of Windows 10 and 7. Glassline gives you something new: a glass menu bar for the app in front, a dock with magnification and stacks, Launchpad for every app and Search on the Windows key, ready the moment it is installed, with no code loaded into Explorer.
What StartAllBack does
StartAllBack, by Stanislav Zinukhov, brings the classic parts of Windows back to Windows 11. On its own site it lists:
- The classic taskbar, with labels on its buttons, on the top, left or right edge of the screen, with translucency and its own icon sizes.
- The classic Start menu, in Windows 7, Windows 8 or third-party styles.
- File Explorer's Ribbon and Command Bar, a details pane at the bottom, the old search box and the classic context menus.
Its latest version, 3.9.28, came out on 12 October 2026. It downloads from startallback.com and installs with winget too.
Is StartAllBack free?
No: StartAllBack is paid after a trial, with a licence for each PC, and its terms say a new version may ask for an upgrade payment.
Glassline is free for 7 days on the Microsoft Store, with the whole app and nothing locked. After that it is one purchase for good: every update is free, new versions included.
Is StartAllBack safe, and what happens when Windows updates?
StartAllBack changes how Explorer itself works, the Windows program behind the taskbar, the Start menu and File Explorer. When Windows changes those parts, StartAllBack needs an update to match, and its changelog shows it keeping pace: version 3.8 (31 July 2024) was needed for that August's Windows updates, 3.9.15 (4 September 2025) brought support for 25H2, and 3.9.26 (21 September 2026) for 26H2.
Microsoft has written about apps of this kind twice. In February 2023, for update KB5022913, it listed StartAllBack and ExplorerPatcher as known causes of explorer.exe errors that could repeat in a loop, and advised StartAllBack users to update to version 3.5.6 or later. In July 2023, for update KB5028254, it advised uninstalling any UI customization app before installing the update.
Glassline runs as its own app, installed and updated by the Microsoft Store, and loads no code into Explorer or any other program. Quit or uninstall it and the Windows taskbar and Start menu are back exactly as they were.
What Glassline gives you instead
- The app in front, in the menu bar. A click on its name opens a panel with its windows, its own volume and the files it opened lately. The bar takes the colour of a maximized window, so the app seems to reach the top edge.
- Magnification, stacks and unread counts in the dock. Icons grow under the pointer, a dot marks what is running, folders open as stacks you can drag files out of, and a bar shows how far a download has come.
- Search on the Windows key. Apps, files and settings from one box. With Everything installed it finds any file on your drives as you type, and it can find a document by what it says even when its name says nothing. Sums, units and currencies too.
- Launchpad. Every app on one screen, page after page, in your own order and folders.
- Control Center and Today. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sound and brightness in one panel, and your calendar and notifications behind the clock.
- Three levels of glass. Recommended, Medium and Glassy, all tinted by your wallpaper.
Glassline next to StartAllBack
| Glassline | StartAllBack | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Its own app: a menu bar and a dock that take the place of the taskbar. Nothing is loaded into Explorer or other programs | Changes Explorer, so the Windows taskbar, Start menu and File Explorer work the classic way |
| Look | New: clear glass made for Windows 11, tinted by your wallpaper | Classic: Windows 7, Windows 8 or third-party styles |
| Start menu | Launchpad for every app, and Search on the Windows key | Classic Start menu with its own search |
| Taskbar | Menu bar at the top for the app in front, dock at the bottom with magnification and stacks | Classic taskbar with labels, on any edge of the screen |
| Search | Apps, files, settings, sums, units and currencies; every file at once with Everything; files by what they say | Start menu search and the old search box |
| After a Windows update | The menu bar and dock are Glassline's own, so changes inside the taskbar do not reach them | Can need an update of its own, which its developer brings out |
| Price | Free for 7 days on the Microsoft Store, then one purchase with every update free | Paid after its trial; a new version may ask for an upgrade payment |
Start11 and ExplorerPatcher
Start11, by Stardock, restyles the Windows Start menu and taskbar, with Start layouts of its own and taskbar groups.
ExplorerPatcher is a free, open-source project on GitHub that brings back the taskbar, Start menu and Alt+Tab of Windows 10. Microsoft named it alongside StartAllBack in both of its notices above.
Both change how the Windows taskbar looks and works. Glassline replaces it with a menu bar and a dock of its own, with Search, Control Center, your calendar and the weather built in.
Try it right now
The home page is a working Glassline: move over its dock, click its menu bar, open Search and Control Center. What you see there is what you get on your desktop.
Free for 7 days. No subscription, no account, no ads, and every update is free.
More comparisons
Glassline as a Windhawk alternative, Glassline as a TranslucentTB alternative, Glassline as a Seelen UI alternative, Glassline as a MyDockFinder alternative, Glassline as a Winstep Nexus alternative, and Glassline next to the other taskbar alternatives for Windows 11. For a guide to every way of changing the taskbar, read taskbar and Start menu replacement for Windows 11. To get the Windows taskbar back at any time, see Support.
StartAllBack, Start11 and ExplorerPatcher belong to their own developers and have no connection to Glassline. What this page says about them was checked against startallback.com, startisback.com, stardock.com, ExplorerPatcher's GitHub page and Microsoft's Windows release health pages on 5 November 2026.