I don’t like that interface, either, Jill - - If you Right-click on each tile and then choose “Unpin from Start” then you can eventually take the Start menu back to only the application list.
PS. Win10 is worth upgrading to (from Win7) - - and it’s not too difficult getting it to look & behave pretty much like the Win7 UI.
eg. Here’s my “clean” Win10 interface
- I use RocketDock to provide the application menu you can see at the top of my window.
John