Justin Lloyd

Most people who use Microsoft Windows prefer the “classic start menu” over the new and improved and mostly annoying Vista start menu.

The Windows classic menu is one of the first things I switch over to after setting up a new computer for myself. The problem with the classic start menu that the new Vista version attempts to fix is the clutter and the endlessly cascading and scrolling sub-menus preventing you from finding what you need.

An attempt to rectify this huge usability problem in Windows was made by Microsoft, by introducing “personalized menus” in to Windows and their Office suite of applications. Everybody I have spoken to pretty much hates the implementation and always asks me how to switch the option off.

I have found that optimizing the start menu in my own way is trivial to do, and it probably speaks to my preference of using a keyboard for controlling most of a computer’s operation, rather than the mouse.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the mouse is a great innovation for dragging windows around, clicking on buttons and selecting menu options.

The language and metaphor that the mouse provides in a standardised user interface, makes the task of working with a new piece of software or a different operating system, such as Apple OS X, a trivial exercise and allows anyone to be productive and work on tasks immediately, rather than having to learn some new and arcane keyboard command set or poorly documented, command line tool.

But once you move beyond the launching of Solitaire, Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer or Microsoft Outlook and get in to the realm of doing real work with actions that you repeat routinely on a daily basis, you start to move in to the realm of the power user.

You build up a mental roadmap of where certain things are on your computer, you cannot say “it is the third menu option down on the second menu from the left” but your fingers know precisely where they need to be, to click on what you want.

I have seen this in World of Warcraft and other computer games too. Rote memorisation of commands and actions become completely second nature. I cannot tell you what the spell is to make a Paladin create an area of effect damage over time spell (Consecrate, had to stop and think about it) but I can tell you that on every Paladin I have ever created it is mapped to the 5 key on the first command bar (Press SHIFT-1 then 5). The same goes for every other spell on my hunters, my priests, my warriors, my mages, my warlocks, etc, etc.

The same holds true for when I am working with Microsoft Word — draft mode? ALT V, D — Microsoft Excel — Delete a column? ALT E, D, C, Enter — and a myriad other packages. These small rote memorisations turn you from a regular user in to a power-user, and you do not even know you are doing it most of the time. It is true for me, it is true for you, and it is true for anybody that uses a computer regularly. You build up roadmaps in your head of where certain files are stored in the directories, how to launch an application or where to find those bookmarks you saved to read later.

When personalized menus begin interfering and moving things around on you, it just becomes an exercise in frustration.

So how do you optimize the start menu so that it does not wind up as one big mess reminiscent of your college dorm room floor?

I will let you in on the huge secret.

Folders.

Inside of the “Programs” folder of the start menu directory, and there are actually two start menu directories for each user on the computer, you can create sub-folders. Well behaved applications, games and other software does this automatically when they are installed.

To get the best out of the power of folders in your start menu, you need to give each folder a unique name, but it also must have a unique start letter. Inside of “Programs” my start menu consists of:

• Accessories – These are the standard accessories that come with Windows, this is where you will find the calculator, Notepad, MSPaint, etc.
• CD Recorder – PowerISO, Lightscribe Labeling, Roxio, and so on.
• Development – Development tools such as Visual Studio, Dreamweaver, Flash, Winmerge, Perforce
• Graphics – Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya, ArtRage, SketchUp
• Internet – Outlook, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Filezilla
• Media – Media Monkey, iTunes, Windows Media Player, Tag & Rename, eBook Reader, etc.
• Office –Microsoft Word, OneNote, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Money
• Startup – Standard startup folder. Do not change this
• Toys – These are my games, World of Warcraft, SimCity, Spore, Solitaire
• Utilities – Ultraedit, Acronis Trueimage, Diskkeeper, and software that came installed by default with the computer.
• Video – Premiere, Video Converter

Into each folder of the start menu you should move the appropriate tools. If the application comes with a lot of extraneous support tools such as a Readme file, an uninstaller, a EULA, etc, rename the original folder they were in by placing a dash in front of the folder name, so Adobe becomes "-Adobe" under the Graphics folder, Microsoft becomes "-Microsoft" under the Office folder.

You may need to create a company specific folder, if the application installer does not create one for you and there are a lot of extraneous files that you do not use all that often, this includes the documentation and other utilities that came with the main application.

For the programs you use frequently such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, Firefox, Photoshop, etc, give each application within the folder a unique name with a unique start letter. Adobe Illustrator becomes just Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop becomes just Photoshop.

Remember, each folder has a unique start letter too, so there are never folders inside of the same folder named with the same start letter as another folder or application.

That change allows you to still maintain a neat and tidy start menu and retain the support tools and files that you may need in the future.

So how does all of this help you?

For mousing around, it makes finding things very efficient and orderly, but the true power comes when you start remembering specific keyboard sequences. For example:

• Windows Key then P then I then F starts up Mozilla Firefox (Windows, P, I, F)
• Windows Key then P then I then O starts up Microsoft Outlook (Windows, P, I, O)
• Windows Key then P then I then I starts up Microsoft Internet Explorer (Windows, P, I, I)
• Windows Key then P then O then W starts up Microsoft Word (Windows, P, O,W)
• Windows Key then A then C starts up Calculator (Windows, P, A, C)

Using this system becomes second-nature after a few days of usage, and should you find yourself on someone else’s computer who does not use this system you will begin to wonder how they can find anything at all.

Sorting out the start menu on Windows takes about 10 minutes. When a new application is installed, once you are sure you will be keeping it, move the folder to the relevant location because if the name of the folder begins with the first letter of another folder that you use regularly, you will quickly come to find it annoying that your keyboard shortcut no longer works as you expected.

Do not be afraid to rename start menu folders or start menu applications to something shorter or easier to find, especially if it makes you more efficient. This will mean that when you uninstall the application, or install a newer version, that the old start menu entry that you renamed will stick around, but it is the work of a few seconds to delete the obsolete folder and items.

Once you have sorted out your start menu folders and applications, be sure to sort them alphabetically, you can do this by tediously clicking on each folder and selecting “sort by name” or by opening up the “properties” dialogue of the start menu, right click on start menu then select properties, selecting “customize” and then “sort.”

Sorting via the properties dialogue of the start menu does not always work and you may need to select each folder in the start menu individually and sort by name.

This is a really simple optimisation tip but it can save you a lot of wasted time, remove frustration and keep you in your work flow by reducing the mental steps you need to take to perform a task.

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