Cleaning Up the Start Menu
Have you ever noticed that every program wants to install itself into the Start Menu in its very own line?
The Start Menu quickly balloons as each game adds its own block, each utility adds each own section, each graphics program, each communications program, etc. all with their very own listing under “All Programs”…
If you’ve got a small screen, especially if you use a large resolution like 800×600, you can quickly get a menu that wraps and takes up the whole screen — and more!
However, it’s easy to take control of the Start Menu.
I have a very few entries in my All Programs list — and they’re all folders. That’s right, most of the entries in the Start Menu are just folders that have shortcuts to programs and shortcuts to other folders in them.
Plain, regular folders that include shortcuts to other files and folders… The Start Menu just displays them in a nice fly-out menu style.
You can create your own folders and put them on the All Programs list. Then, you can easily drag and drop the existing entries into your new folders.
For example, I have a “Communications” folder into which I have moved all email, web browser, instant messaging, etc “All” Programs folders that relate to communications. Similarly, I have CD/DVD, Graphics, and Utilities folders (and a few more, too).
Just create a folder on the desktop (right click on a blank spot on the desktop, select New, Folder) and name it.
Then, right-click and drag the new folder over the Start button — and hover there. The Start button will open up and you can continue dragging the folder into the All Programs area.
If you open the All Programs list again, you may see that Windows has sorted the new folder to the bottom of the list. Just left-click on it and drag it up the list to drop it between two other items.
Then, you can left-click and drag current Start Menu items into the new folder. You can also right-click and drag program shortcuts from the desktop into the new folders.
Right-click so you get a menu where you can choose to Move or Copy — don’t make a shortcut, because it will be a shortcut to the desktop shortcut which will break if you delete or rename the desktop shortcut.