How to Organize Your Start Menu

If anyone else new to the Vista Operating System, but not new to Windows, is groaning about the new start menu setup, don't worry: You're not alone! Those of us who are used to simply clicking and dragging to move our start menu around the way we want it did not entirely lose a capability within this new operating system. Perhaps, even, we are given more control over it, as the Start Menu is in a central location, as opposed to lost in the depths of User Profiles of Windows XP. With a few simple steps, anyone can use the new operating system to organize their start menu.

Step One: Navigate to a folder - any folder!

If this is your first time using the Windows Explorer to navigate your files, you may find it a bit confusing. For one thing, the days of C:Documents and SettingsUser ... are gone. Instead, you'll find a more graphical interface which allows you to click on any previous or upper name to get moved to that folder. You can get to the Windows Explorer service by hitting the start menu button(in the lower left hand corner) and then clicking on any of the labels on the right portion of the menu: Your Username, Documents, Pictures, Music or Games. You can also bring up the start menu by hitting the "Windows key" on your keyboard, if it is present.

Step Two: Enable hidden folders

Now that we've got Windows Explorer open, we need to enable a different sort of viewing. For your safety, or perhaps for its own, Windows Vista(and Windows XP) comes automatically with certain hidden files. Those files and folders often contain program information that shouldn't be played around with unless a user knows what they are doing. In any case, underneath the navigation, there is a button labeled "Organize" with what looks to be several sheets of paper as its icon. Click that, and then navigate to the label "Folder and Search Options." The Folder Options box has three tabs: General, View, and Search. Click on the View tab, and then select the option "Show hidden files and folders." Hit apply, acknowledge any warnings and then hit OK.

Step Three: Navigate to the right place

With that window closed, you should now be able to click on "Local Disk (C:)" in the Address Bar. From that starting location, you then want to navigate to ProgramData, then Microsoft, then Windows, then Start Menu, then Programs. This is your starting location.

Step Four: Organize Away!

You'll find that organization of your Start Menu can be an endless process. For me, I tend to organize into several different categories: Visual Programs, Audio Programs, Games, Writing Programs, Default Programs(programs that come with the computer) and perhaps others. If I have an entire range of products (from Adobe or Microsoft, for example) I may leave their parent folder(Adobe, Microsoft Office, etc) in my Start Menu to access the whole range of programs at once, instead of searching for Adobe Photoshop CS3 in Visual Programs and Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 in Web Design. You may have to click through the User Account Control permissions as you move folders, rename folders and create new ones.