[WalterGR]

   I don't use a Win8 machine myself, so I have never had the cause to modify one back to Win7 behavior.

You don't need to "modify it back to Win7 behavior." Dismiss the Windows 8 'start screen' then don't use Metro apps. Magic.

    But the Win8 machines I have had to use seem to 
    push you back into Metro no matter how often you
    try to Win-D out of it, e.g. like the Network
    Settings example I got down-voted for below.

You're doing something to cause the behavior you don't like.

Were this any other platform, the advice on HN would be: 1. Figure out what you're doing to cause the behavior you don't like. 2. Stop doing it.

[zaroth]

> You're doing something to cause the behavior you don't like

You mean, like clicking the Start button? Clicking the 'Start' button in Win8 brings up a metro-style screen which annoys me every time I see it. You can pin as many programs on the taskbar as possible, but if you want to run a one-off program, the only alternative is Win-R and knowing the name of the executable. Can you get back the standard Win7 start menu? Possibly, but like I said, I don't use Win8 enough to bother trying to modify it back to Win7.