
- START MENU INSTALL
- START MENU WINDOWS 10
- START MENU WINDOWS 8
- START MENU WINDOWS 7
Get used to hitting the Windows key to invoke the Start Menu and you’ll soon be a Windows 10 pro! Just click and drag the Task Bar to a different edge of the screen (You may have to right-click on the Task Bar and uncheck “Lock all taskbars” first).Įven though Windows 10 now includes Cortana (more about her in another blog post!) you can still use that old trick of launching an app by hitting the Windows key on your keyboard, and then just typing the name of the app you want.I like the Task Bar on the left side of my screen, which puts the Start Menu in the top left. Just like previous versions of Windows, you can move your taskbar to different parts of the screen, which also repositions your Start Menu. There’s no reason to limit yourself! Just drag the edge of the Start Menu out and size it to whatever works for you. Having said that, though, you can resize your Start Menu to get more space, and I certainly recommend it. However, if you connect that tablet to a keyboard and mouse (click!) the entire interface reverts to desktop mode, complete with a compact Start Menu and smaller tap targets.
Surface Pro, HP Stream, etc.) the Start Menu will turn back into a Start Screen (á la Windows 8) and all of the tap targets (the buttons and icons you’d normally click with a mouse, but now have to tap with a finger or stylus) get bigger and easier to hit. This means that if you have a Windows tablet (i.e.
Continuum attempts to detect how you’re using your computer-whether with a keyboard and mouse or as a tablet-and adapts the interface for you on-the-fly. Windows 10 fixes that through the use of Continuum.
Windows 8 favors tablet devices heavily over traditional desktops and laptops, and if you don’t have a touchscreen device, it can be unwieldy to handle.
The rest of your apps are now handily organized alphabetically, so you can find what you need quickly. Tap All Apps at the bottom, and you’ll see the list right there at the top. You should take advantage of this feature immediately and pin the icon to the Start Menu if you know it’s something you’ll be using regularly. To rearrange them, just tap and hold an icon in the Start Menu, then drag it where you want it.Ī feature of the new Start Menu I like is that any time you install a new app (whether from the App store or not), for a limited time it will show up at the top of the Start Menu so you can begin using it without hunting through your long list of applications. Tap the circle with the ellipsis and select a size. Just tap (or click) and hold the app icon. You can have all your most often used apps live right on the Start Menu, which makes it easy to use in tablet mode (more on that later), so you’re not digging through menus. Resizing your app icons is simple to do, and makes organization a cinch. This feature also works well with resizable icons, since larger live tiles can display more information. Live Tiles are a handy feature, and I hope more developers will start incorporating this into their app icon functionality. The weather app will show you the current temperature. For example, the MSN News app will show you the headlines right on the app icon. Live Tiles allow the app to show you information without even launching the app. In Windows 10, Microsoft has returned to the old Start Menu since it’s what so many people are familiar with, but they’ve also brought all of those Windows 8 Start Screen advancements with them. Some icons can even display live information. The icons can be resized for easier tap targets. The icons can be arranged and grouped for quick access. There are three advantages to the Start Screen method over the traditional Start Menu: Granted, it’s better suited for tablet devices with touchscreens, but I’ve always kept my start screen organized with all my app icons right where I can get to them. I personally really like the Start Screen in Windows 8. Well, all of that is a thing of the past now because the Start Menu is back, and it’s better than ever! In fact, some users even used third-party applications to hack Windows 8 to act more like Windows 7. The Start Menu was introduced in Windows 95 (20 years ago!) and it was a very controversial move when it was removed from Windows 8, and replaced with the “Start Screen.” This change felt foreign and jarring to many people and so user adoption from Windows 7 was slow.