Ron,
Check out Start8 from Stardock software. I've been hearing really great things about this software restoring a "Windows 7" desktop experience to Windows 8 and disabling of some of those touch screen only features. Only $4.99 and it has a free 30 day trial, and can be downloaded from http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/. The scuttlebut I'm hearing from my Microsoft friends is that the lack of a start menu though is likely to be short lived as it is killing sales of Windows 8.
Brian
"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy." Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It