J
Jan Buelens
This question was asked in this article but never answered satisfactorily. The answer given by Amit_Sun answered a different question.
Here's what everybody already knows: the start menu (alpha list, not tiles) is a merger of two folders:
As in Win7 and earlier, you can navigate to these folders and manipulate the shortcuts, adding / removing / renaming / organizing them in subfolders to your heart's content.
The question that has not been answered is this: when I look at my Start Menu, I can see several items that I want to rename and move to a subfolder. However, they are not in either of the above folders. In the case of a classic program, if I don't like that way it appears in my Start Menu, I just go to one of these folders and rename the shortcut. But what if you can't because there is no shortcut to rename?
That's the case with the multiple Dell items in my Startup Menu. The reason why I want to move them to a Dell subfolder is -1- reduce clutter -2- one of the items isn't even called Dell Something (as a result, I can't even find it on the rare occasions that I need it - I'm stuck with the non-descript name that Dell chose to give it).
Part of the explanation must be that the Dell programs are UWP-based Win10 "apps" as opposed to "classic desktop applications". Only the latter have shortcuts in the traditional Start Menu folders.
Of course, it's not just Dell. Wading through my Start Menu, I can see perhaps 2 dozen semi-useful apps. They "look" important or useful enough to keep, "just in case", but I'd rather park them in subfolders, out of sight. For a start, Windows comes with a good many of these apps. Then, each main hardware component that went into your computer (storage, video, sound...) probably added 1 or 2 of their own apps. And these tend be UWP apps these days. I count 8 of these "HW accessory apps" on my computer. I don't understand enough about what they do, am I going to need them and is it safe to delete them... So they stay. Cluttering my Start Menu.
Summarizing: we've all been used to a customizable Start Menu. In Win7, we could rename shortcuts, organize them in subfolders, delete the shortcut without uninstalling the program. Win10 introduced a new class of programs ("apps") based on a new API (UWP). As far as "classic desktop programs" are concerned, the Start Menu retains its full customizability. But what about Win10 "apps"? Do we lose all that customizability? Are we stuck with immutable names? A flat list?
Continue reading...
Here's what everybody already knows: the start menu (alpha list, not tiles) is a merger of two folders:
- the common start menu lives in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu.
- the logged in user's start menu lives in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu.
As in Win7 and earlier, you can navigate to these folders and manipulate the shortcuts, adding / removing / renaming / organizing them in subfolders to your heart's content.
The question that has not been answered is this: when I look at my Start Menu, I can see several items that I want to rename and move to a subfolder. However, they are not in either of the above folders. In the case of a classic program, if I don't like that way it appears in my Start Menu, I just go to one of these folders and rename the shortcut. But what if you can't because there is no shortcut to rename?
That's the case with the multiple Dell items in my Startup Menu. The reason why I want to move them to a Dell subfolder is -1- reduce clutter -2- one of the items isn't even called Dell Something (as a result, I can't even find it on the rare occasions that I need it - I'm stuck with the non-descript name that Dell chose to give it).
Part of the explanation must be that the Dell programs are UWP-based Win10 "apps" as opposed to "classic desktop applications". Only the latter have shortcuts in the traditional Start Menu folders.
Of course, it's not just Dell. Wading through my Start Menu, I can see perhaps 2 dozen semi-useful apps. They "look" important or useful enough to keep, "just in case", but I'd rather park them in subfolders, out of sight. For a start, Windows comes with a good many of these apps. Then, each main hardware component that went into your computer (storage, video, sound...) probably added 1 or 2 of their own apps. And these tend be UWP apps these days. I count 8 of these "HW accessory apps" on my computer. I don't understand enough about what they do, am I going to need them and is it safe to delete them... So they stay. Cluttering my Start Menu.
Summarizing: we've all been used to a customizable Start Menu. In Win7, we could rename shortcuts, organize them in subfolders, delete the shortcut without uninstalling the program. Win10 introduced a new class of programs ("apps") based on a new API (UWP). As far as "classic desktop programs" are concerned, the Start Menu retains its full customizability. But what about Win10 "apps"? Do we lose all that customizability? Are we stuck with immutable names? A flat list?
Continue reading...