6 Quick Tips for a More Efficient Start Menu

The Start Menu is the most accessed tool in the Windows environment. It houses all the programs and files in your computer so it provides an easy way to access all these data. However, what you don't know is that there are some tricks that you can apply to this tool for a more productive working space. Listed below are some of these tips.

1. Add the Run command permanently.

The Run command is a great tool to access locations and open programs. However, the Start Menu doesn't have the Run command permanently pinned into its section, unlike the Control Panel and Devices and Printers.

To do this, right click the Start button and go to Properties. This will open the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties. Open Customize. In the list of items, check the Run command. Lastly, click OK.

2. Easily see the contents of the items.

Don't you find it counterproductive when you still have to open each Start Menu item just to see its contents? Fortunately, your computer has an option where it automatically expands each of these items so that you can see all of the files and folders in it.

For instance, if you want to expand the Documents, simply go to the Properties of the Start button then choose Customize. Under the Documents section, select Display as a menu then click OK. You will notice that the Documents item has an arrow, which you can hover to so that you can see its contents.

3. Put Videos as an item.

If you press the Start button, you see the Documents, the Pictures, and the Music on the right-hand panel. However, the movie buffs out there might think why the videos item is not pinned. You can easily do that through these steps.

As indicated in the previous items, open Customize in the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties. Find the Videos section then choose Display as a link. To finish, click OK.

4. Let the Recycle Bin be shown in the menu.

The Recycle Bin is usually situated in your desktop area. However, if you want to enjoy your wallpaper in all its glory, you don't want any icons in your desktop. However, if you right click the said application, you can't see a Delete button. What can you do now?

There's an actual remedy for this situation. First, right click your Desktop to open Personalization. In the Change desktop icons, simply uncheck the Recycle Bin so that it will disappear on your desktop.

Next, open My Computer then paste this code in the address bar:

"C:UsersXAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart Menu"

Replace X with the username of the current user account in your computer. Right click an empty space in the folder then choose Shortcut. For the location, type the code below.

"explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder"

Choose Next. Afterwards, type Recycle Bin as the name of the shortcut. Lastly, press Finish.

To change its icon from a folder to a trash icon, simply right click the shortcut to open its Properties. Afterwards, go to Change Icon in the Shortcut tab. In the Look for icons in this file field, paste the code below.

"%SystemRoot%system32imageres.dll"

A gallery of icons will populate. Select the standard bin icon then choose OK. Your shortcut will now appear to be like the Recycle Bin application sans the shortcut arrow.

If you use the Search function, you'll now see the Recycle Bin in the list of programs.

5. Improve the speed of the Search tool.

The Search tool uses a database called the Index to find all the items in your computer. So if you want to increase the speed of the Search tool, you should minimize the items listed in the Index.

To do this, go to the Control Panel. Choose Indexing Options among the entries. It will list all the locations of the items that the Indexing service has saved in its database. Select Modify then uncheck items to remove some of the locations. Don't forget to click OK.

6. Trim down your searches to programs only.

Whenever you perform a search, it looks for all of your documents, files and programs by default. This is why it takes the search bar too long to populate your needed items.

Therefore, it would be fitting if the Search field will only find for the applications. This promotes speeds up the search in terms of finding programs, as compared to the default setting.

To do this, go to Customize. Find the Search other files and libraries option in the list, then select Don't search. Finally, press OK.

With these foolproof tips and tricks, you can now enjoy the new look and functions of your Start Menu.