Start Menu Alternitive

dbnavan

Hi all,


Anyone know of an alternitive to the windows start menu, have so much installed its going off the screen, i have desktop shortcuts too.

[edit] Windows xp btw [/edit]
D

GreenHell

Linux?

dbnavan

no sorry windows xp, should have clarified that,

GoneShootin

Perhaps an XP theme of some sort. WindowsBlinds for example.

Take a screenshot of your proggy list and we will be better able to recommend summat

Hobbes

You could use the quicklaunch buttons in the start bar.. Or another thing I use is ObjectDock. You can get that with Flyakiteosx theme. http://osx.portraitofakite.com/

Goldstein

Organise your start menu?

Shift to a higher resolution if you're not maxed out already?

RobertFoster

You could organise what programs you have installed into different folders on the start menu (e.g. "Internet" with your browser, mail, ftp, download managers, firewall etc. > "Computer Games" with them in it and so on...) - then, pin whatever you use most to the start menu.

Like Hobbes said too - ObjectDocks are good also, even a combination might work for you.

Khannie

Check out litestep.

Greenhell, you're getting a banning when I get into the office. Read the charter please.

Edit: Actually reconsidered this. The charter says "Unhelpful comments (e.g. "switch to linux" when encountering a windows problem) will result in a one day ban." but this one was begging for it tbh.

GoneShootin

Khannie wrote:

Check out litestep.

Greenhell, you're getting a banning when I get into the office. Read the charter please.

Edit: Actually reconsidered this. The charter says "Unhelpful comments (e.g. "switch to linux" when encountering a windows problem) will result in a one day ban." but this one was begging for it tbh.

I think your making a mistake there. Greenhell posted at 9:07, but the OT edited his post at 9:10. So it is conceivable that Greenhell was suggesting Linux as to find out what OS the OT was on about.

dbnavan wrote:

[edit] Windows xp btw [/edit]

GreenHell

Khannie wrote:

Check out litestep.

Greenhell, you're getting a banning when I get into the office. Read the charter please.

Edit: Actually reconsidered this. The charter says "Unhelpful comments (e.g. "switch to linux" when encountering a windows problem) will result in a one day ban." but this one was begging for it tbh.

Are you serious? Get off your high horse for two seconds there and have a look round, linux could be a viable alternative to the XP start menu.

dbnavan

in defence of Greenhell, whom i dont know, was asking if the problem was a linux problem I often see, non sensical, abusive, and down right stupid posts. on boards.ie and they are let slide.

too get banned for something like that is rediculous, and i think your going way over board talking about banning. And feel Greenhell diserves an apology.

Hobbes

GreenHell wrote:

Are you serious? Get off your high horse for two seconds there and have a look round, linux could be a viable alternative to the XP start menu.

No that is a stupid comment, and trying to back it up makes you look more stupid. I like Linux as much as the next zealot but even I know the guy is looking for an answer to a function within windows.

Khannie

GreenHell wrote:

Are you serious? Get off your high horse for two seconds there and have a look round, linux could be a viable alternative to the XP start menu.

Woah there. Linux is an alternative to windows, not to the start menu. The charter is pretty specific about suggesting linux as a solution to windows problems being a ban. There was a thread about this in the moderators forum where other mods specifically requested that course of action. I think you're the one who needs to get off his / her high horse.

If you bothered to read my edit properly, you'd see that I reconsidered and actually sided with you, so chill out before you go telling people to get off their high horse.

aidan_walsh

dbnavan wrote:

in defence of Greenhell, whom i dont know, was asking if the problem was a linux problem I often see, non sensical, abusive, and down right stupid posts. on boards.ie and they are let slide.

too get banned for something like that is rediculous, and i think your going way over board talking about banning. And feel Greenhell diserves an apology.

So did I. Until he posted this

Are you serious? Get off your high horse for two seconds there and have a look round, linux could be a viable alternative to the XP start menu.

which is a clear violation of the "No unhelpful remarks" rule. It has since become properly deserved. Anyhow, this isn't the place for this, and we're getting off topic.

dbnavan, if you right click on the Start button, you can choose to explore the structure of the Start Menu. You might find it useful to give the Programs section a better, cleaner arrangement, or even just delete items you don't want there. Since you are in XP, there will be items common to all users you won't be able to see straight away. You'll find these in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu.

Khannie

dbnavan wrote:

too get banned for something like that is rediculous, and i think your going way over board talking about banning. And feel Greenhell diserves an apology.

An apology for what I considered an obvious flaunt of the charters rules? Cop on.

The OP said

Anyone know of an alternitive to the windows start menu, have so much installed its going off the screen, i have desktop shortcuts too.

To me, it's pretty obvious that windows is installed. The 2nd post then says:

linux?

It's so borderline to being a (one day) bannable offence it's not funny.

GreenHell

Ban me if ya like, monday is probably the best day. I just proposed an alternative

Khannie

GreenHell wrote:

Ban me if ya like, monday is probably the best day. I just proposed an alternative

There's no need to be like that. I reconsidered and felt I made that clear. There were a lot of threads which were suggesting linux as a fix to windows problems and it was pissing a lot of people off. I put in the one day ban in response to community feedback. I wasn't overly bothered about it myself. I also posted a thread to draw attention to the change in the charter.

I use linux (am right now) and think it's a great OS, but it's not for everyone, and while I take your point that it's a viable alternative to windows, when people ask for a solution to a windows problem it's not really helpful to suggest linux. While great strides have been made since the early linux days to improve usability, it's still not a "desktop OS" for the average user IMO.

dbnavan

Khannie wrote:

An apology for what I considered an obvious flaunt of the charters rules? Cop on.

i take major offence too being told to 'cop on' when all my posts are respectful

I will probably gonna get banned for saying this, i bit my tongue on this already cause i know ur a modorator and dont want to p*** u of but...........The guy made a mistake, i didnt clarify till after his post that it was windows, i never used linux so i dont now if he was referring a start menu of some sort in it, but the problem is resolved. i cleaned up my menu i think it should end here

If you hand bans out for that well then i question who made you a mod. Mistake happen we move on if u wxant to give bans check this out this board is full of abuse and insults http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=289356&goto=newpost

which i take major offence too.

Khannie

dbnavan wrote:

I will probably gonna get banned for saying this, i bit my tongue on this already cause i know ur a modorator and dont want to p*** u of but...........The guy made a mistake, i didnt clarify till after his post that it was windows, i never used linux so i dont now if he was referring a start menu of some sort in it, but the problem is resolved. i cleaned up my menu i think it should end here

If you hand bans out for that well then i question who made you a mod. Mistake happen we move on if u wxant to give bans check this out this board is full of abuse and insults http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...56&goto=newpost

which i take major offence too.

Ok, first off, you'll never get banned for disagreeing with me. I do my level best to be fair when handing out bannings. I've never once had a serious disagreement with any ban that I've given out. I'm also open to criticism (just not abuse). So if you feel like I'm doing something wrong, I'd like to know about it so that I can change my ways.

The guy didn't make a mistake IMO. Your post made it clear that you were running windows (unless your edit has seriously changed the original, which doesn't appear to be the case). I believe that he knew that you were running windows and was suggesting linux as an alternative. He hasn't posted anything to indicate otherwise. Check the previous link I put up which points to the charter. It's not ambiguous. Like I said, the one day ban was added in response to community feedback (in particular from other moderators). I didn't just dream it up (and am not overly bothered about linux > windows comments myself). The one day bannage is intended as a "slap on the wrist" kind of thing.

Edit: Apologies for the "cop on" bit. No offence intended. It's all a bit heated at the moment.

dbnavan

Fair response no hard feelings I hope.

Clarity always makes things clearer

Khannie

No hard feelings at all.

LOL@the comparisson to the after hours forum. It's anarchy town over there.

SolarNexus

I'll try to keep well away from the bickering, but let me say just this before I offer my solution: I wholly disagree with the idea that in a society that claims to promote free speech, that forums such as this are (or "have to be") moderated; however assuming that nothing can be done about that (never been to a forum without mods, tbh), you have to accept that things like this will happen. This issue was overkill, imo, but if the charter dictacted that was that action, do not blame the messanger, blame those who make and uphold the rule.

now. lets try to get back on topic here, k?

There are two solutions to your problem here, I think. First is you need a good organisation of your menu, I do this far too often, but its good to clean up the menu into categories and subcategories etc. I use stuff like "entertainment" , "productivity" etc.

The second solution I offer is windows taskbars. Basically they're like the quick launch menu in your taskbar, but if you drag them to the top, bottom, left or right of a screen, they snap to it. You can create about three of these, they can hold icons and text etc.

to create them, right click the taskbar, click toolbars then click new. Select or create a folder for the shortcuts to be held in. Now drag the toolbar to the edge of the screen. The shortcuts are always within reach and the toolbar can be made always on top, or not, or to hide. If you have a small screen though, things can get cluttered fast. To add shortcuts, just drag 'em on.

Now as for a completely different 'style' of start menu, or none at all... I dont have a clue, but I do remember a while back a 3D windows shell that allowed to you move around, going to different areas for different icons. Dont know how well it took of or if it did at all, though.

EDIT:
whoah, slow connection...

Spunog UIE

Millhouse your cut,
GreenHell your cut,
Khannie your cut.



To fix your problem, the easiest and probally best way is to sort out your start menubar.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=267429

As mentioned above, you can also do away with the start menu for your more used programs by using the quick launch bar. Right click the taskbar and goto toolbars and make sure quick launch is ticked. You should then see some icons down on the left beside the start button.

You can click and drag new short cuts here. It is not limited to any number. If you want more than 3/4 displayed you can right click the toolbar again and untick lock toolbar. You can now see new resize symbols on the bar, you can click and drag these around to reshape the bar or show more.

Okay so you want a bucket load of stuff instead of a quick launch. What you can do is right click toolbar like you did for quick launch and this time

Right-click Taskbar
Go to Toolbars
Choose Links
Right-click the word Links
Open Folder
Put whatever folders(MAKE SURE ITS A NEW FOLDER YOU CREATE IN HERE AND NOT A SHORTCUT TO ONE)... you want in here (Games, Media, etc). Give them accurate names for mouseover text, and give them relevant pictures for convenience.
Put shortcuts in folders, close Links folder
Right-click the word Links on the toolbar
Untick Show Text
Untick Show Title

You will now have something like this, where each icon represents a folder of programs.


Another program you might want to try which is free is Object Dock

Oh yeah,
to stop that start menu blocking up your whole screen in the mean time, you can:
right click the start menu
select properties
select start menu tab
click customise for which ever your have classic classic or not
Then scroll through the menus, and put a check beside, scroll programs. Then hit okay.

This will give you on big menu on the left rather than like 5 or 6 spreading across. Instead there will be little black arrows at the top and bottom of this one menu and you will have to wait as the menu scrolls up and down (might take a while if you've loads). Think thats what it does, don't have enough shortcuts to see, but fairly sure.

Capt'n Midnight

make sure you are using small icons
turn off personalised menus
treak the speed settings on the menu

the XP interface is sooo sloooowwww compared to say the windows 95 one, the timeouts are so painful, that at times I find my self wishing I had the responsiveness of program manager on windows 3.11 with 16MB on a 33MHz 486

Other tip is to use shortcuts in the properties of the Icons you use most so you don't need the start menu

SolarNexus

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

make sure you are using small icons
turn off personalised menus
treak the speed settings on the menu

the XP interface is sooo sloooowwww compared to say the windows 95 one, the timeouts are so painful, that at times I find my self wishing I had the responsiveness of program manager on windows 3.11 with 16MB on a 33MHz 486

Other tip is to use shortcuts in the properties of the Icons you use most so you don't need the start menu

you can disable (and maybe? set) the delay for contextual menus (popup menus). Or just turn off all XP 'fancy' crap, and your back to your ol' win 95 looking setup.

Capt'n Midnight

SolarNexus wrote:

you can disable (and maybe? set) the delay for contextual menus (popup menus). Or just turn off all XP 'fancy' crap, and your back to your ol' win 95 looking setup.

Yeah classic all the way
- but if you've ever used 98lite to replace Windows 98 Explorer.exe with the one from Windows 95 you really notice the difference - bit like that bit in Lost in Space when Joey does a double take when he tries the interface on newer space ship.