Start Menu Pizzazz

Start Menu Pizzazz!

The default Start menu of Windows XP is much improved over the classic style (in my opinion). I dread returning to Windows 2000 or earlier OSes for whatever reason simply because of the now-old-fashioned Start menu. For those of you who like the classic view, you can get back to it in a flash. But, for those willing to give the new look and feel a solid go, there are many nifty improvements you can take advantage of and even customize.

Accessing properties for the Start menu involves a right-click over the Start button to select the Properties command from the pop-up menu. This reveals the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box. The Start Menu tab is selected by default (which is strange since it's not the first tab of the dialog box). This tab offers the selections of Start menu and Classic Start menu. The Start menu option is the new Luna visual stylings of Windows XP. The Classic Start menu is that of Windows 2000. A quick click and you can be back in the land of Windows 2000 out-of-date fashion before you can say baggy jeans.

For those of you sticking with Windows XP's new classy stylings, slam the Customize button to see all the options available to you. From the Customize Start Menu dialog box, you can choose between large (default) and small icons, the number of recently accessed applications to be displayed (5 by default), and which Internet (IE by default) and email (Outlook Express by default) application shortcuts to display.

The Advanced tab (see Figure 23.1) of the Customize Start Menu dialog box controls the following:

• Whether to open submenus on mouseover (default) or only when clicked.

• Whether to highlight newly installed programs (enabled by default).

• Which items to include on the Start menu: Control Panel (enabled by default), Favorites menu, Help and Support (enabled by default), My Computer (enabled by default), My Documents (enabled by default), My Music (enabled by default), My Network Places, My Pictures (enabled by default), Network Connections, Printers and Faxes, and Run command (enabled by default). Some of these can be normal links or displayed as submenus themselves (see "Cascading Elements Off the Start Menu" later in this chapter).

• Whether to list the most recently opened documents (and to clear out this list).

Figure 23.1. The Advanced tab of the Customize Start Menu dialog box.

With a bit of experimentation, you'll find the combination of features that best suits your preferred Start menu population and function.

Working with the Taskbar

The taskbar itself has configurable options; these are contained on the Taskbar tab of the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box. The taskbar can be locked so stray mouse actions won't alter its placement or configuration; it can be auto-hidden to maximize desktop area; and it can be set to always appear on top of other maximized windows. You'll probably recall these controls from previous Windows OSes. The latest taskbar feature is the automatic grouping of similar taskbar items. Instead of listing task buttons in their order of launch, they are grouped by similar interface. For example, if you have Control Panel, My Computer, and Windows Explorer open, they can appear as a single button. This single button displays a number indicating how many applications are accessed through it (I just love the grouping feature). You can elect to show or hide the clock and even hide inactive system tray icons.

If you're experienced with previous Windows OSes you might be familiar with how quickly the system tray (next to the clock) can fill up with icons. I've had systems with more than a dozen. Windows XP manages its system tray much more intelligently by allowing inactive icons to be hidden. Plus, instead of displaying a long stream of active icons, only two or so are displayed with a double-arrow button, which can be used to access the hidden icons. By enabling Hide inactive icons (which is the default) you can also customize which icons are hidden or displayed.

As with previous versions of Windows, you can still drag the taskbar to any edge of your desktop: top, bottom, or sides. You can also still expand the thickness of the taskbar to allow multiple rows of task buttons. Just hover the mouse pointer near the edge of the taskbar so that it turns into a double arrow, and drag it up or down.

Customizing the Start Menu

As new applications are installed, the All Programs section of the Windows XP Start menu can become horribly cluttered. Almost every application will create its own Start menu submenu and propagate it with numerous shortcutsoften to worthless documentation or sales promotions. I rarely let an installed application dictate the state of my Start menu, and I'll tell you how you can take control too.

The Start menu is little more than a folder hierarchy full of shortcuts. Changing the layout of the Start menu (or at least the All Programs section) is just a matter of folder and shortcut manipulationeasy. Just right-click over the Start button and select Open or Explore. You'll be dropped into a My Computer or Windows Explorer interface pointing to the …\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu folder. Any item you add to this folder (that is, at the same level as the Programs folder) will be displayed above the dividing line within the All Programs submenu. Any item you add within the Programs folder or any of its subfolders will appear as you expect in the Start menu hierarchy. Be sure only to create shortcuts within this folder hierarchy.

You also should be aware that there are actually two Start menus for every user. There is the Start menu which is associated with your user profile (the one stored in the …\Documents and Settings\<username>\ folder, where <username> is your user account name), and there is the Start menu stored in the …\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start menu folder. The latter Start menu includes items that appear in every users' Start menu. When you need to make a change for everyone on this system, make it within the All Users area. If it is for only one user, make that change within their personal Start menu.