As a blogger and tech geek, I have found my start menu getting out of control from time to time due to all of the programs and applications that I download. SMOz is a great program that will help you easily organize your start menu and reduce your clutter.
SMOz is extremely easy to use and makes that start menu reorganization you’ve been wanting to do take just a few minutes.
SMOz comes with a default template that is good right out of the box. The default template has nine different categories and will automatically place some of the more common programs in places they should go (i.e. iTunes in Multimedia).
Launchy, previously mentioned as a Windows start menu alternative, is a powerful keystroke based launcher for your Windows computer. Using Launchy, you can start programs, view files and folders, access bookmarks and perform other such tasks.
In this post, I’ll talk about how you can use Launchy to stay more productive throughout the day. Trust me, once you get the hang of it, you’ll never touch icons or your start menu again. It just rocks. Before you go about using it, let’s have a look at some basic configuration options that you can alter to make Launchy work better for you.
We have already covered how to make XP look like Vista or any other popular Operating System. This time, we want to focus only on Windows Start Menu and present a number of better Start Menu alternatives.
(1) Vista Start Menu
The name might sound strange, but this one works in most versions of Windows, not just Vista. Vista Start Menu might take you aback when you use it for the first time, but it’s worth it once you get used to it. It simply replaces your current start menu (even on Vista) with a more functional, feature rich and customizable menu.
Your computer running Windows isn’t running in the same speed that it used to run when you first used it. It’s slower, crappy, takes a while to start and tests your patience like anything. There are many reasons for this, let’s try fixing up a few things on your slow Windows PC:
Slow Start Up
There can be a variety of reasons to Windows loading slow during start up. Go to Run, type msconfig and hit enter. Under the ‘Start Up’ tab, uncheck the unwanted programs and press OK. Things should be a bit fine the next time Windows boots.
Do you like Windows Vista only because of its newly revamped Graphical User Interface? It surely does have an attractive interface but many are still hesitant to upgrade. Some because of it’s massive system requirements, and some because of all the negative buzz around it. Whatever your reasons are, you still can get a Vista like look even on your Win XP system. Below are some of the better free tools that can help you to make your Windows XP look like Vista. Just make sure you got a bit of spare RAM on your system.
Last time I discussed finding drivers for your software programs and also how to set up a printer on Windows. Well today I am going to get onto a more interesting topic - what to put on your computer. I know countless other blogs have done lists like this so this isn’t anything groundbreaking. But I know quite a few people at the moment who are buying their first PC and who are asking me “so what do I put on this PC-thingy-ma-jig then?”. Well, here’s your answer.
So for all the newbies, parents, grandparents, techno-phobes and computer doofs out there, here’s what should be on your computer.
1. HowTo: Setup Quick Searches in Firefox.
Last month I posted about my favorite Gmail feature, well this one is my TOP 1 for Firefox. Probably the most underestimated (and yet VERY USEFUL) Firefox feature ever.
2. Three Awesome Firefox Quick Searches (via JimmyR.com)
3. Quickly Find and Download FREE MP3s from Google (using FF Quick Search) (via JimmyR.com)
for Windows
4. HowTo: Hide Files inside JPG images
5. HowTo: Speedup Windows Star Menu
Quick registry tweak that lets you speed-up Start Menu navigation.
While I am busy compiling some more Registry tweaks for you, I realised that there are some tweaks you can make to your PC without ever having to touch the Registry at all. So here’s some off the top of my head.
1. Tweak your trash bin
If you right-click on your trash bin and choose “properties”, you can tweak a few trash features. For example, you can turn off the eternally annoying “are you sure you want to delete this?” dialogue (I love being rid of this stupid feature). You can also reduce the space in your trash bin (to prevent it from filling up too much) and you can even disable the trash bin so that anything you delete bypasses the trash and gets deleted off the system immediately (I would use this one with caution though).
For those brave enough to face the Windows registry, the possibilities to alter your Windows operating system is endless. When your PC is made at the factory, Microsoft sets everything at what they think is the best. But nine times out of ten, the default settings that Microsoft chooses on your behalf are downright irritating. Do we really need to be asked “are you sure you want to delete this file?” (no, I hit the delete button for kicks). Do we really need to wait an eternity for the start menu to start moving?
If you have a long and overwhelming start menu program list, you should check out Tidy Start Menu. This nifty program can help you clean it up. By using this program, you can reduce multi-page, scrollable start-menus to a virgin looking ones that you get with a fresh copy of Windows.
What this application offers is to organize your programs according to the purposes you use them for. For instance, ,all office reletad programs can be place in ‘office’ folder, while all internet programs can be included in the ‘internet’. After playing around with it for the first time you can reduce your menu into small list of categories with related programs within. See it in action below
