Issue
I'm running Windows 8 Pro and this program worked great up to about last weekend. Now when I log into a user name it won't launch automatically and I'll see Windows 8 start screen with the apps instead. I don't remember changing any setting to change this.
Solution 1
Open Classic Start menu settings -> General behaviour tab (all Settings) and check if "Start Automatically For This User" is checked.
Solution 2
Open Services.msc and make sure the Classic Shell service is set to Automatic. If it is set to Manual, set it to Automatic and make sure it is started.
Solution 3
You can create a shortcut to "C:\program files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe" and put it in your startup folder.
Solution 4
If it still does not start on time, merge this to the registry (only if the above mentioned service fails to skip the Start screen) and assuming your Classic Shell is installed to C:\Program Files\:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"TaskMan"="C:\\Program Files\\Classic Shell\\ClassicStartMenu.exe"