TechStuffCanada

jargon-free tech news for non-technical people

Sort your Start menu

March 1, 2004 › Sandy McMurray | comment

Did you know that you can sort the items in your Windows Start menu?

For example, to sort the items in your Programs list alphabetically, you simply right-click anywhere on the list of programs and select "Sort by Name" from the pop-up menu.

Here are step-by-step instructions:

1. Click on the Windows Start button.
2. Select Programs.
3. Right-click anywhere on the list of Programs.
4. From the pop-up menu that appears, select Sort by Name.

This will sort the items in your Programs list alphabetically. Folders will be listed first, followed by individual programs.

If you would like to do a more thorough cleanup of your Start and Programs menu items, it's easy. The Start menu is actually just another Windows folder, with "shortcuts" to programs stored inside. These folders and shortcuts are not the programs themselves, so you can rename them, delete them, etc. without doing any damage.

To make your Start menu tidy, simply tidy up the folders and the shortcuts!

Here's how:
1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. From the pop-up menu, select Explore.

This will open a familiar Windows Explorer window. You can now rename folders, create new folders, drag items from one folder to another, and delete unwanted shortcuts.

Remember that shortcuts are just pointers to programs; they're not the programs themselves. You can delete any shortcut you like and it won't hurt anything.

If you want to remove a program from your system safely, you must use the Add/Remove Programs control panel.

March 1, 2004 › Sandy McMurray | comment on this item