Section 1.4. What s in the Start Menu: All Versions | Windows Vista: The Missing Manual

1.4. What's in the Start Menu: All Versions

The following pages take you on a whirlwind tour of the Start menu itselffrom the bottom up, left to right, the way your mouse encounters its contents as it moves up from the Start button.

1.4.1. All Programs

When you click All Programs, you're presented with an important list indeed: the master catalog of every program on your computer. You can jump directly to your word processor, calendar, or favorite game, for example, just by choosing its name from the Start All Programs menu.

In Vista, as you'll notice very quickly, Microsoft abandoned the superimposed- menus effect of Windows XP. Rather than covering up the regularly scheduled Start menu, the All Programs list replaces it (or at least the left-side column of it).

You can restore the original left-side column by clicking Back (at the bottom of the list) or pressing the Esc key.

Tip: When the Start menu is open, you can open the All Programs menu in a number of ways: by clicking the phrase "All Programs," by pointing to it and keeping the mouse still for a moment, or by pressing the up arrow key (to highlight All Programs) and then tapping the Enter key, the right arrow key, or the Space bar.Keyboard fanaticsonce the programs list is open , you can also choose anything in it without involving the mouse. Just type the first few letters of a program's a folder's name, or press the up and down arrow keys, to highlight the item you want. Then press Enter to seal the deal.

1.4.2. Folders

As you'll quickly discover, the All Programs list in Vista doesn't just list programs. It also houses a number of folders .

1.4.2.1. Software-company folders

Some of them bear the names of software you've installed; you might see a folder called, for example, Urge (Microsoft's online music-store partner) or Logitech. These generally contain programs, uninstallers, instruction manuals, and other related junk.

Tip: Submenus, also known as cascading menus, have been largely eliminated from the Start menu. Instead, when you open something that contains other thingslike a folder listed in the Start menuyou see its contents listed beneath , indented slightly, as shown in Figure 1-5. Click the folder name again to collapse the sublisting.Keyboard freaks should note that you can also open a highlighted folder in the list by pressing the Enter key (or the right arrow key). Close the folder by pressing Enter again (or the left arrow key).

1.4.2.2. Program- group folders

Another set of folders is designed to trim down the Programs menu by consolidating related programs, like Games, Accessories (little single-purpose programs), and Extras and Upgrades. Everything in these folders is described in Chapter 7.

1.4.2.3. The Startup folder

This folder contains programs that load automatically every time you start Windows Vista. This can be a very useful feature. For instance, if you check your email every morning, you may as well save yourself a few mouse clicks by putting your email program into the Startup folder. If you spend all day long word processing, you may as well put Microsoft Word in there.

In fact, although few PC users suspect it, what you put into the Startup folder doesn't have to be an application. It can just as well be a document you consult every day. It can even be a folder or disk icon whose window you'd like to find open and waiting each time you turn on the PC. (The Documents folder is a natural example.)

Of course, you may be interested in the Startup folder for a different reason: to stop some program from launching itself. This is a particularly common syndrome if somebody else set up your PC. Some program seems to launch itself, unbidden, every time you turn the machine on.

Tip: All kinds of programs dump components into this folder. Over time, they can begin to slow down your computer. If you're having trouble determining the purpose of one startup program or another, visit this Web page, which provides a comprehensive list of every startup software nugget known, with instructions for turning off each one: http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html.

Fortunately, it's easy to either add or remove items from the Startup folder:

Deleting something . With the Startup folder's listing visible in the All Programs menu, right-click whatever you want to delete. From the shortcut menu, choose Delete. Click Yes to send the icon to the Recycle Bin.

Enjoy your newfound freedom from self-launching software.
Adding something . With the All Programs list open, right-click the Startup folder and, from the shortcut menu, choose Open. You've just opened the Startup folder itself.

Once its window is open, navigate to the disk, folder, application, or document icon you want to add. (Navigating your files and folders is described in the following chapters.)

Using the right mouse button, drag the icon directly into the Startup window, as shown in Figure 1-5. When you release the button, a shortcut menu appears; from the shortcut menu, choose Create Shortcuts Here.

Close any windows you've opened. From now on, each time you turn on or restart your computer, the program, file, disk, or folder you dragged will open by itself.