Windows 8.0 as kiosk

I have several Windows 8 systems that we are putting in as kiosks.  

I have a bat file in the startup directory that checks to make sure the network is active and then opens Internet Explorer to a default page with -k argument for kiosk mode.  Initially IE would open, but not be the active program, the user would see the tiles.   I then created a scheduled tasks to open windows explorer at login to make the desktop active.  This was working fine until our associates starting surfing the web on other sites.   I purchased the Secure Lockdown software to lock the system down to IE in kiosk mode but the Internet Explorer page doesn't come active as the main page, we get the empty tiles page.   Currently I have the .bat file as the Master Application and iexplore.exe as the Process Name with an argument of -k.   How can I make Internet Explorer be the active window?  

I forgot to add, the only way I can get the Internet Explorer page active is to use the Alt Shift S key combination to bring up the lockdown screen and then cancel that.

Have you tried Secure Lockdown - Internet Explorer Edition? It seems like a better option for your setup.