Organizing the Start button

If the list of installed programs on your Windows XP computer is annoying long, a little organization goes a long way. Try moving items that you never expect to use to a folder called "NeverUsed" and move items you very rarely use to a folder called "Infrequent". I've done this for years, on many computers, and never regretted it.

To begin, right click on the Start button, "Open All Users" and double-click on the Programs folder. In the Windows Explorer window, right click over nothing and select "New" and then "Folder". Name the new folder "NeverUsed" and then repeat the process to make another new folder called "Infrequent".

Then, right click on the Start button again, select "Open" and double-click on this copy of the Programs folder. If you can, re-arrange these two Windows Explorer windows so they are both visible side-by-side.

We need two windows because some programs are installed for all users of Windows, while others are installed for use by just the user logged on when the program was installed. The entries for each program are shortcuts. Moving a shortcut is harmless, it does not impact the actual program in any way.

The process of moving the shortcut for a program into one of these new folders consists of two steps. First, right click on the shortcut to be moved and select "Cut". Then, right click on the destination folder (Infrequent or NeverUsed) and select "Paste".

I find that I never invoke the Adobe Acrobat Reader or Windows Media Player directly, so they are good candidates for the Infrequent folder. I don't use Outlook Express, so it goes into the NeverUsed folder. I always invoke Internet Explorer from a desktop icon, rather than the Start button, so it gets moved to the NeverUsed folder too. Other candidates for NeverUsed include MSN Explorer, Set Program Access and Defaults, Windows Messenger and Remote Assistance.

At times, I have worked with computers that came with tons of software from the hardware vendor. If your computer is like that, organizing all that stuff under a single folder named after the computer manufacturer should neatened things up.

Think of it as spring cleaning.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

[cisasteelersfan]

Great post!

[Imalittleteapot]

Odd, I do something completely different. I use the quick launch toolbar for any programs that I either always having running, or start multiple times a day. Such as web browser, media player, instant messenger, email. Basically what it was meant for. Then I pin to Start Menu about 4 to 10 icons for my heavier apps like my word processor, IDE, and spreadsheet. Basically programs that once they're shut down, they're shut down for the day. This way I can start my apps if I already have a window up.

A lot of people just keep the basic icons on their desktop like My Computer, Documents, Recycle, and seem to save files directly to My Documents folder.

I do something different. I actually use the documents folder as sort of an archived folder of old stuff. All the files/folders I'm currently working on stay on the desktop. Small PHP scripts, PDF reports, photos I'm editing, anything I just downloaded, or anything I just transfered from another device. I do this because it doesn't matter if I have another window up. If I'm getting something off the desktop it's probably a file. Which means I'll be closing/minimizing what I'm working on anyway to switch to another document.

My desktop gets a pretty messy sometimes. Of course, some of my older files are in their twenties now. If I actually tried working on a file in the My Documents folder I'd just confuse the crap outta myself.

This seems to work pretty well for me. Since I only use the Start Menu twice a year it hasn't bothered me. On a side note, some parts of my method have been lost in translation with GNOME, but not much has changed.

[pipevine]

XP start menu