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    Is there a way to replace the Vista start menu wholesale?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by swiego, Jun 10, 2008.

  1. swiego

    swiego Notebook Consultant

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    I use XP far too much in corporate environments (where things aren't going to change much for 2-3 years) and have a decade of familiarity with being able to hit the window key, the letter I, and have Internet Explorer come up. The new Vista start menu seems to be focused on searching, which I'm sure is wonderful for some people but it's pretty much useless for me. (I now type Start, I, and after 5-10 seconds I get a list of 50 items to scroll through, one of which might be Internet Explorer.) I want a start menu that's keyboard driven, accommodates all my installed programs, and isn't designed to be a search engine for people who aren't sure what is installed on their computer or where it might be.

    I also want one that uses my big 1920x1200 LCD and expands to fill it (like XP) instead of being a little menu in the bottom left that I have to scroll through as though it were hard-wired for 800x600.

    I have not been able to customize the Vista start menu to behave at all like the XP one, which I prefer, so I was wondering if there is some addon or alternative skin or UI or something that replaces the Vista explorer interface with something that behaves more like XP did. I know that shell replacements have been around since Windows 3.0 had Program Manager alternatives, but do such things exist for Vista?
     
    swiego, Jun 10, 2008
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  2. swiego

    swiego Notebook Consultant

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    BAH! You spend hours looking on the net, checking and unchecking options in that Customize... scroll box, then finally give up and post on the forums, and 30 seconds later you see the "Classic Start menu" option. Gah!

    Okay, I'm set!
     
    swiego, Jun 10, 2008
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  3. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Yeah, but "classic start menu" looks awful. They should have at least offered the functionality of the classic menu with the look of Vista.
     
    HTWingNut, Jun 10, 2008
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  4. markkin

    markkin Notebook Geek

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    I like the Classic Start Menu. I have been using it for XP and Vista ever since I upgraded from Windows 95.
     
    markkin, Jun 10, 2008
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  5. professorman

    professorman Notebook Enthusiast

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    I hate the way how the programs open up in the vista menu. I wish I could keep the main portion of the vista menu, but when I go to Programs, it opens up like XP. Are there no hacks out there to do this?
     
    professorman, Dec 12, 2008
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  6. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    I restructured my Vista Start Menu but 99.9% of my programs are launched from RocketDock.
     
    AKAJohnDoe, Dec 12, 2008
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