Is the XP classic start menu back (finally) with Windows 10?

Slimer mentioned this nice web page in a recent thread:
http://www.itechcolumn.com/2014/10/c...indows-10.html

Which seems to indicate that Windows 10 has the ability to get back
the missing WinXp Start Menu (whose only flaw was that people didn't
know how to make their own start menu OUTSIDE of the Windows default).

Am I reading that web page correctly that the user-customized start menu
(always outside of the default start menu) is back finally in Windows 10?

NOTE that the WinXP start menu works just fine if you create your own
hierarchy just below the top level, so that nothing goes into *your*
menu hierarchy except what *you* manually put there.

That way, the WinXP start menu style (classic style?) is extremely
manageable and functional. I had Dell set my kid up on Windows 8.1 with
this classic start menu, which turned out to be a folder hierarchy
embedded in the craziest place (something about roaming directories),
but once set up, it worked mostly like it should.

Is the Windows XP classic start menu (with a custom directory all of
your own being a requirement for usability!) back with Windows 10?

On 09 Jun 2015, "Paul B. Andersen" wrote in
alt.windows-xp:

Slimer mentioned this nice web page in a recent thread:
http://www.itechcolumn.com/2014/10/c...screen-windows
-10.html

Which seems to indicate that Windows 10 has the ability to get
back the missing WinXp Start Menu (whose only flaw was that people
didn't know how to make their own start menu OUTSIDE of the
Windows default).

No, it does not.

Nil wrote in message


No, it does not.

That's too bad.

The whole Windows XP start menu fiasco was, IMHO, all about
people never taking control of their computer.

All they had to do was ignore the default start menu, and
just set up their own start menu in the same hierarchy.

That way, their hierarchically cascaded start menu would
have only the links they put in there, and none of the garbage
(which almost every program installs, by default).

With Dell's help, we were able to pretty much get back our
own Start Menu in Windows 8.1 (but that was two years ago, so
I have forgotten how we did that) on the non-touch screen
laptop that my son brought to college with him.

The FIRST thing I'd do, if/when I regrade to Windows 10, would
be to add back a custom cascaded start menu.

In my opinion, the two best ways to execute software, outside
of the command line and the myriad idiotic search mechanisms,
a
1. Pin to the task bar the most common half-dozen programs,
2. Maintain your *own* cascaded start menu for all programs.

I organize my start menu by tasks (e.g., web browsers,
network managers, mail user agents, etc.) but each person
would organize their own hierarchical start menu as they
see fit (it would almost never be flat like the default is,
and it would never be organized by brand name, like the
default is and it would never contain all the crap that the
default start menu contains).

On 09 Jun 2015, "Paul B. Andersen" wrote in
alt.windows-xp:

The whole Windows XP start menu fiasco was, IMHO, all about
people never taking control of their computer.

It was never a "fiasco" to me. It was perfectly usable. The Windows 7
menu was even handier.

With Dell's help, we were able to pretty much get back our
own Start Menu in Windows 8.1 (but that was two years ago, so
I have forgotten how we did that) on the non-touch screen
laptop that my son brought to college with him.

You probably used a 3rd party utility, of which there are several.
There is no way to closely mimic the XP menu with Windows 8.

Paul B. Andersen wrote:
Nil wrote in message


No, it does not.

That's too bad.

You can install the Preview for yourself. It
stops booting Oct15, so there is plenty of time
to test it for yourself. The current version is
release 10130.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...so-update-1504

Use a separate hard drive.

Make a DVD from the download. (I've been using x64 versions
so far, as there didn't seem to be much point in x32 testing.)

Once you've installed, you can evaluate the menu subsystem
to see how it works. (Don't forget to right-click the lower
left hand corner, as well as left-clicking it.) It has a menu
scheme sorted alphabetically.

If you need a relatively sane way to shut down the
computer, click the desktop surface, and use Alt-F4
to get to the menu. I find this method comforting,
for OSes where the need for a swipe action means not
getting to the menu right away.

You can also look for one of the after-market menu replacements.
You can work through this list, and see if any of them have
a prototype intended for Windows 10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...or_Windows_ 8

By installing on a separate hard drive, the intention is to prevent
any activity in Win10, from affecting your working OSes. I have
one OS per hard drive on the test machine, and slide the drives
in and out of the Antec disk racks, as needed.

Paul

In article , , Paul
B. Andersen says...

Nil wrote in message


No, it does not.

That's too bad.

The whole Windows XP start menu fiasco was, IMHO, all about
people never taking control of their computer.

All they had to do was ignore the default start menu, and
just set up their own start menu in the same hierarchy.

That way, their hierarchically cascaded start menu would
have only the links they put in there, and none of the garbage
(which almost every program installs, by default).

With Dell's help, we were able to pretty much get back our
own Start Menu in Windows 8.1 (but that was two years ago, so
I have forgotten how we did that) on the non-touch screen
laptop that my son brought to college with him.

The FIRST thing I'd do, if/when I regrade to Windows 10, would
be to add back a custom cascaded start menu.

That's the whole idea of Live Tiles. Only they're 'live' - and give you
info at a glance, a lot more than an icon or Start menu item can.

ie. that *is* the (in Win10, a) start menu.

--
Duncan.

In article ,
, Dave Doe says...

In article , , Paul
B. Andersen says...

Nil wrote in message


No, it does not.

That's too bad.

The whole Windows XP start menu fiasco was, IMHO, all about
people never taking control of their computer.

All they had to do was ignore the default start menu, and
just set up their own start menu in the same hierarchy.

That way, their hierarchically cascaded start menu would
have only the links they put in there, and none of the garbage
(which almost every program installs, by default).

With Dell's help, we were able to pretty much get back our
own Start Menu in Windows 8.1 (but that was two years ago, so
I have forgotten how we did that) on the non-touch screen
laptop that my son brought to college with him.

The FIRST thing I'd do, if/when I regrade to Windows 10, would
be to add back a custom cascaded start menu.

That's the whole idea of Live Tiles. Only they're 'live' - and give you
info at a glance, a lot more than an icon or Start menu item can.

ie. that *is* the (in Win10, a) start menu.

Further on that though, I want to know why MS didn't just persist with
Windows 7 *and* Windows 8(.1) - and let the end-users decide. I'm
assuming it's the same kernel.

Windows 10, to me, is half a Windows 7 and half a Windows 8.1. It's
like they've given up on their Live Tiles idea. (I like Windows 8.1).

The good thing is, Windows 10 is free. And I reckon after a year, MS
will leave it that way. Desktop OS's don't have any monetary value
anymore IMO.

--
Duncan.

Paul B. Andersen wrote on 6/9/2015 9:34 PM:
Slimer mentioned this nice web page in a recent thread:
http://www.itechcolumn.com/2014/10/c...indows-10.html

Which seems to indicate that Windows 10 has the ability to get back
the missing WinXp Start Menu (whose only flaw was that people didn't
know how to make their own start menu OUTSIDE of the Windows default).

Am I reading that web page correctly that the user-customized start menu
(always outside of the default start menu) is back finally in Windows 10?

NOTE that the WinXP start menu works just fine if you create your own
hierarchy just below the top level, so that nothing goes into *your*
menu hierarchy except what *you* manually put there.

That way, the WinXP start menu style (classic style?) is extremely
manageable and functional. I had Dell set my kid up on Windows 8.1 with
this classic start menu, which turned out to be a folder hierarchy
embedded in the craziest place (something about roaming directories),
but once set up, it worked mostly like it should.

Is the Windows XP classic start menu (with a custom directory all of
your own being a requirement for usability!) back with Windows 10?

There is no XP/Win7 type menu Windows 10.

I found http://www.startmenux.com/index.html Start Menu X an interesting menu replacement for windows 10. You can
access the old style cascade menu like lets say WIndows 7 or the default windows 10 menu with tiles. A matter of
single click or double clicking the start icon I think.

I'm currently using it and it works good.

I also found http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...8-taskbar.html that explained
how to make a toolbar start menu. I've used it but by default it's on the right and I don't like that, and moving it
is cumbersome however I was able to move it to the left side. Not sure if that can be done in 10, haven't tried this
particular tutorial in 10.

Nil wrote in message


It was never a "fiasco" to me. It was perfectly usable. The Windows 7
menu was even handier.

To be clear, it was never a fiasco with me either as I always made
my own hierarchical menus, OUTSIDE of the Windows menu (but in the
Start Menu folder so that they show up ABOVE the "Programs" menu).

I never use the Programs menu, so, it can get as messy as it wants,
and it won't bother me one bit.

But, I have seen PLENTY of people who couldn't find a program
if it hit them in the face BECAUSE they used the "Programs" menu,
and, at the same time, they didn't MANAGE it every time they installed
a new program (by deleting the junk and organizing it hierarchically).

They couldn't find all their picture editors if their lives depended
on it.

They even had to use that idiotic "recently used programs" mechanism
just to find a program that they just used!

Sigh. I think *that* is why Redmond ditched the classic start menu.
It wasn't a disaster to you or to me - but to every mom and pop
and kid out there, it was a disaster.

You probably used a 3rd party utility, of which there are several.
There is no way to closely mimic the XP menu with Windows 8.

I don't remember what we did because Dell actually logged in and
did it, and then my kid went off to college, so, I don't see that
computer much anymore.

But, as I remember it, we had on the bottom right a menu that was
hierarchical and which had cascades. It just didn't edit as easily
as the classic Windows XP start menu did (with just a right click).

It was in some really deep idiotically named roaming directory, but,
I don't remember the details.

Paul wrote in message

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...so-update-1504

Hey, that's interesting that they offer Windows10 beta to the users
for free. What's the catch? The web page implies you just have to
sign up, and you can then download the iso image.

You can also look for one of the after-market menu replacements.

It may seem overly simplistic, but, all I want in a menu is exactly
what we had with Windows XP.

1. A location where I could put a hierarchy containing folders & links.
2. No other program puts garbage there (it only is populated manually!)
3. It would be nice to have the WinXP right-click editing back though.

The only other thing I want is what Windows XP called the quick menu,
which is what all Linux' have, which is a task bar (or whatever you
want to call it) with a half-dozen of the most-used programs pinned
to it.

That's pretty much all that I need by way of menus.
It's what Windows XP had.
It's what Kubuntu has.
It's all that I need.

Dave Doe wrote in message


The good thing is, Windows 10 is free. And I reckon after a year, MS
will leave it that way. Desktop OS's don't have any monetary value
anymore IMO.

Pretty much there's nothing in Windows' desktops that Linux desktops
don't already have, so, I would tend to agree with you since Linux
desktops are free.

I use Kubuntu, and I pretty much can do anything that I can do on
Windows, only using different programs to do it (but the functionality
is the same essentially).

The *only* reason I keep Windows around lately is (a) the kids use it,
and (b) when you need to be compatible with MS Office, you need MS Office
(and no, Wine and VMs are not my particular cup of tea).

So, I dual boot to Windows when I need MS Office; but otherwise, I'm pretty
much on Linux (which does all the same things and most of the programs
are the same but not all of them).

As for Windows, the KDE cascaded menu is the same as the Windows XP
menu (again, you ignore the default menu and make your own menu).

The KDE cascaded menu is a LOT harder to set up though, than is the
WinXP menu (which was a dream come true). Pinning apps to the taskbar
on KDE is as easy as it is on Windows though.

If Windows 10 has:
1. Cascaded menus that are easy to manage (outside of the default!), and,
2. The ability to pins the half-dozen most often used programs
Then that's all I need.

I hope to never need an "active" menu or any mechanism that involves
a "search". Sheesh.

Big_Al wrote in message

There is no XP/Win7 type menu Windows 10.

What was wrong with the XP "classic" style of menu?

Since I had absolutely no problem with it, and since it did
what I wanted, the only reason I can think of Redmond ditching
it was that *most people* (not me) couldn't figure it out.

For me, it was (super) easy to use:
0. I never (ever!) used the default "Programs" menu!
1. I created my own heirarchy and populated it manually.

It was that simple.

What I liked best was that you could right click at any point in
the XP-style cascaded menu, and that allowed you to open it up
at that level for edits.

That was very nice.

Why does Microsoft hate those simple functional XP-style menus so much?

Paul B. Andersen wrote on 6/10/2015 3:20 AM:
Big_Al wrote in message

There is no XP/Win7 type menu Windows 10.

What was wrong with the XP "classic" style of menu?

Since I had absolutely no problem with it, and since it did
what I wanted, the only reason I can think of Redmond ditching
it was that *most people* (not me) couldn't figure it out.

For me, it was (super) easy to use:
0. I never (ever!) used the default "Programs" menu!
1. I created my own heirarchy and populated it manually.

It was that simple.

What I liked best was that you could right click at any point in
the XP-style cascaded menu, and that allowed you to open it up
at that level for edits.

That was very nice.

Why does Microsoft hate those simple functional XP-style menus so much?

Answer that and you'll make a lot of people happy, you won't fix it, but people will enjoy the knowledge. Redmond is
on their own track and I'm not sure what the development team's plan is, or if they know either. They try to
centralize the 'settings' since "so many items were scattered" and now they still have Control Panel for some things and
Settings App for other things. You even get into one like personalization and one of the links takes you back to the
classic Control Panel feature. So they still don't have it all together.

Paul B. Andersen wrote on 6/10/2015 2:59 AM:
But, as I remember it, we had on the bottom right a menu that was
hierarchical and which had cascades. It just didn't edit as easily
as the classic Windows XP start menu did (with just a right click)
See my earlier post.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...8-taskbar.html
This might be what Dell did. Try it.

On 10/06/2015 03:34, Paul B. Andersen wrote:
Slimer mentioned this nice web page in a recent thread:
http://www.itechcolumn.com/2014/10/c...indows-10.html


Tell me the icon of this web site is meant to symbolize Sanskrit rather
than Nazi.