If you have followed along with Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 we will continue with the final housekeeping steps. So let's get back into the groove with the Start Menu. Below is a screen shot of my start menu. It will look slightly different than yours because I run Stardock's WindowBlinds program, but everything else is the same. I've left a few recently installed programs to use as examples, and let me tell you having a messy Start menu has been driving my crazy!
Above is a screen shot of the programs listed in my Start Menu. Anything with an arrow on the right is actually a folder. You will also notice the entries at the top are in alphabetical order. If you hover your mouse over one of the entries with an arrow it will expand and show you the programs and shortcuts inside.
When you add a program to your computer it generally adds a folder to the Start Menu. Sometimes the only thing in the folder will be the shortcut to the program (why do they add a folder then?) and other times they add all sorts of shortcuts. Most people accept this addition and live with a Start Menu that is full of useless shortcuts, many times their Start Menu covers two or more columns!
So what exactly is the Start Menu? It's a folder, well actually it's several folders combined and they are all located in C:\Documents and Settings. In the Documents and Settings folder you will see many folders that may not make sense at first, but the ones we are concerned about are the All Users folder and the folders that are the same as the user accounts on the computer. Most of you will only have one user account, so look for a folder with your name, Owner, or a name you entered during the Windows installation. As an example my user account is "Owner" so I have a folder labeled "Owner" in Documents and Settings. A friend has a user account of Ninja so he has a folder labeled Ninja. Another friend has a user account Cheeks (No, I didn't ask where that came from!) so they have a folder labeled Cheeks. Inside these folders is another folder named Start Menu (who would have thought?). This is where the Start Menu shortcuts end up.
When you install software it is either installed for everyone (All User accounts) or for the user account that is signed on during the installation. Some software let's you make the choice and some makes the choice for you. I find software that doesn't offer the option of installing for one user account or the All Users account winds up in the All Users folder. Windows looks at who is logged on when it displays the Start Menu and magically combines their folder with the All Users folder and displays this as the Start Menu. We know that the contents of a folder can be moved, copied, pasted, and deleted. (Hey didn't he say the Start Menu was a folder?) Well we can do this to the Start Menu, just like any folder on your PC. The only thing we can't do directly from the Start Menu is create a new folder (Microsoft, why did you leave this out?).
In this example we're looking at a program I recently installed to experiment with RSS feeds called RSS Wizard. You can see there are 7 shortcuts inside the folder. I usually take a look at the shortcuts and determine which ones I truly need. In this case the only shortcut I really need is the one that starts the program, RSS Wizard. All of the others are unneeded, as is usually the case. The uninstall shortcut isn't needed. You can uninstall the program from the Add/Remove applet in the control panel, or use MyUninstaller. The shortcut to the manual isn't needed, it can be found in the installation folder at c:\program files. The homepage can usually be found in the help menu of the program. So the only thing we need is the actual program shortcut. Every unneeded shortcuts can be deleted. But we still have a folder with one shortcut. What to do, oh, what to do?
So let's get cleaning! Look at your Start Menu and see what programs you that are similar or serve a similar purpose. Examples would be if you have several programs by Adobe, or several programs that you use for the same purpose. Common answers would be instant messaging, security software, etc. Remember we can't create a new folder directly from the Start Menu, so let's open c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs. Once open you will notice that it has many of the folders from your Start Menu. Let's right click in a blank area of this folder and select New>Folder, which will create a folder named New Folder (very appropriate). At this point you can type a name to rename the folder. Let's type Security and AntiSpyware and then hit enter. When you're done minimize the window.
If you want to see what happened to the Start Menu click Start>All Programs. At the bottom you should now see a folder titled Security and AntiSpyware! So what are we going to do with that folder? We're going to start organizing your Start Menu. While the Start Menu is open find all of your security and antispyware programs including Antivirus, AntiSpyware, Firewall, etc. Open the folders by hovering your mouse over the entry. When the folder expands left click on the program shortcut and hold it down while you drag it to the new Security and AntiSpyware folder. Repeat this step for each security related program. Be patient, it can take a couple of tries to get the hang of it. Once your done with all programs you feel should be in the new Security and AntiSpyware folder you can delete the original folders, which should remove several entries from your Start Menu.
The rest is up to you. Do you have more than one web browser? Create a Browser Folder and copy the program shortcuts to it, then delete the originals. Do you have a several programs that you use for one project? Create a folder and repeat. When you are completely done creating folders and moving shortcuts right click and select Sort By Name, which will put everything into alphabetical order. You now have a smaller, more organized, and personalized Start Menu to compliment your faster computer!