Section 2.3. The Start Menu | Windows Vista for Starters: The Missing Manual

2.3. The Start Menu

Windows Vista is composed of 50 million lines of computer code, scattered across your hard drive in thousands of files. The vast majority of them are support files, there for behind-the-scenes use by Windows and your applicationsthey're not for you. They may as well bear a sticker saying, "No user -serviceable parts inside."

That's why the Start menu is so important. It lists every useful piece of software on your computer, including commands, programs, and files. Just about everything you do on your PC beginsor can beginwith your Start menu.

In Vista, the word Start no longer appears on the Start menu; now the Start menu is just a round, backlit, glass pebble with a Windows logo behind it. But it's still called the Start menu, and it's still the gateway to everything on the PC.

If you're the type who bills by the hour , you can open the Start menu (Figure 2-3) by clicking it with the mouse. If you're among those who feel that life's too short, however, open it by tapping the key on the keyboard instead.

Figure 2-3. Left: The Start menu's top-left section is yours to play with. You can "pin" whatever programs you want here, in whatever order you like. The lower-left section lists programs you use most often. (You can delete individual items heresee Section 5.6.3but you can't add things manually or rearrange them.) The right-hand column links to important Windows features and folder locations.
Right: The All Programs menu replaces the left column of the Start menu, listing almost every piece of software you've got. You can rearrange, add to, or delete items from this list.

Tip: To find out what something issomething in your Start menu, All Programs menu, or indeed anywhere on your desktoppoint to it with your cursor without clicking. A shaded, rectangular Tooltip bar appears, containing a text description. (If the Tooltip doesn't appear, it might be that the window you're pointing to isn't the active window on your desktop. Click the window and then try again.)

2.3.1. Anatomy of the Start Menu

The new Start menu is split down the middle into two columns :

Left side (white) . At the top, above the thin divider line, is the pinned items list , which is yours to modify; it lists programs, folders, documents, and anything else you want to open quickly. This list never changes unless you change it.

Below that is the standard Windows most frequently used programs list. This list is computed automatically by Windows and may change from day to day.
Right side (dark) . In general, the right side of the open Start menu is devoted to listing important places on the computer: folders like Documents, Pictures, and Music, or special windows like Network, Control Panel, and Computer.

The important new Search command (Chapter 4) appears here, too. And at the bottom, you'll find new buttons that let you turn the PC off or, when you're about to wander away for coffee, lock it so that a password is required to re-enter.

Tip: After 20 years , Microsoft has finally eliminated the prefix My from the important folders of your PC (My Pictures, My Music, My Documents, My Computer, and so on). Maybe it was tired of all the lawsuits from Fisher-Price.In any case, if you miss that touch of homey personalization, it's easy enough to bring it back; you can rename these special icons just as you would any other icon (Section 4.5). Call it My Computer, call it Your Computer, call it Jar Jar Binksmakes no difference to Vista.