Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Organise your programs under the Start menu in Windows XP
Kai Chandler shows you how to customise the Start Menu in Microsoft's latest Operating System
Anyone who moved from an earlier version of Windows to XP may be excused for feeling a trifle bemused over how to organise program entries under the Start menu.
How do you start your 'Start Menu?' You can:
* Click on the Start button.
* Press the Windows key on your keyboard if fitted.
* Press Control and Escape keys at the same time.
Each time you install a new program the installer carves out a new entry in the programs listing. If your system is like mine, it'll soon become cluttered with dozens of entries.
There are a couple of things you can do to help you tidy the entries. You can reorder them and sort them into folders so similar programs, for example games, appear in the same folder.
Use the Start Programs function to re-order the entries one by one
It's often helpful to reorganise your programs into some sort of logical order. Perhaps you want to have commonly used programs at the top of the list. If you want to reorganise your entries then it's simply a matter of accessing your Start Menu (see Practical PC top tip in the table,) selecting an entry and dragging it to where you want it to be - this is called 'drag and drop'.
Use Windows Explorer to tidy your program entries
Windows 98 users will be familiar with organising the entries into folders. These help you to group similar programs together for ease of use. For example, I have a folder called Games which contains shortcuts for all the games on the system. For those not in the know, this was achieved in '98 by using the Advanced option under Taskbar and Start Menu.
Strangely, there's no equivalent mechanism in XP to do this from the Start menu, or at least none I've come across. Instead, it's best to use Windows Explorer to tidy your program entries, after all they are just shortcuts in the Documents and Settings folder.
Here's how to do it:
Start Windows Explorer by right clicking on the Start button and selecting Explore.
Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\AllUsers.Windows\Start Menu. As you'll find yourself using this folder almost every day you may as well make life easy. Create a shortcut from the desktop by right clicking the Start Menu folder and selecting Send to and then Desktop. This creates an icon on your desktop called 'shortcut to Start Menu'
In the Start Menu folder, you should see a Programs folder and several other entries.
The Programs folder contains the programs available on the start menu.
The other entries, which may include AOL, New Office Document and Open Office Document, are listed on the Start Menu as shortcuts displayed above a narrow line.
You can easily organise your shortcuts by creating subfolders in the Programs folder and dragging other shortcuts entries into them.
For example, to create a Games folder, first select the Programs folder.
Select File | New | Folders from the Windows Explorer menu.
Enter Games as the folder name.
You can now drag and drop shortcuts or entire folders into it. They'll then appear as Program entries in the Start Menu.
Now, when you use the Start button and view 'All Programs' you'll see the new Games folder containing all the entries you've defined.
