When you look at the list of programs on your Windows 8 start page, you may notice that desktop programs and Modern UI apps are displayed both on the page. You don’t find all of your desktop programs here, which becomes especially apparent if you have upgraded Windows 8 from Windows 7, as installed applications are carried over to the new operating system.

When you right-click on the start page and select the All Apps link on the bottom right, you will see even more desktop applications listed here. But neither page seems to have an option to add desktop programs to add.

So, how do you add a software program to the Windows 8 start page if there is no visible option to do just that?

Microsoft has added two options to pin executable files to the start page. The first becomes available when you use the search. When you are on the start page type the first few characters of the program name that you want added to the start page. When it appears, right-click it and select Pin to start from the toolbar at the bottom. This adds a tile to the start page that launches the program when you click on it.



The second option is available on the desktop. Just browse to the location of the program that you want to add to the Windows 8 start page, right-click the executable file and select the pin to start option from the context menu to do so. This adds the program as a tile to the start page as well.



Once the program has been added to the start page, you can move it around just like any other tile here. Keep in mind that desktop programs are always displayed with the standard background color which makes them less appealing than Modern UI apps which use a design of their own.

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