1 November 2024

How To Get A Better Start Menu

No matter how much time and effort Microsoft expends on the Start Menu, there will always be some people who don’t like it. The Start Menu itself includes lots of customizations, but other ways exist to get the Start Menu you want.

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The Windows Start Menu can highlight recently installed applications and most-used apps if you enable those options. Based on your usage pattern, Microsoft can recommend apps in the Start Menu. The Start Menu can show tips and shortcuts and either display or hide specialized folders such as Settings, Documents, Pictures, and Downloads.

That’s an admirable amount of customization and the Task Bar adds even more options, but you may want features that aren’t present in Windows alone. Microsoft has come a long way since it unceremoniously dropped the Start Button in Windows 8. Response was immediate and negative. The Start Button returned and Microsoft has been working to make it better.

There are two applications I consider to be absolutely essential to Windows, one from Microsoft and one from Stardock. The Microsoft option is free. The Stardock option isn’t free, but there is a 30-day free-trial period. After that, you’ll have to purchase a license for $10. But a problem you may encounter is that Stardock makes several other applications that I’ve come to think of as essential. If you come to the same conclusion, you’ll pay for more licenses; fortunately, the cost is low.

I’ll start with Power Toys Run. As the name suggests, it’s part of the Power Toys utilities set, which should be on every Windows computer because it adds so many small but powerful features.

Power Toys Run allows the user to define the keystroke that launches it. I use Alt-Spacebar, which may be the default. A search window opens and the user can start typing part of an application’s name, but let’s pause on this screen and see what else is there. These are the kinds of features that make Power Toys so helpful.

Instead of typing the name of an application, you could press the equals key (=) and enter an equation, a colon (:) to search in the Registry, an exclamation point (!) to open the Services panel, the greater than symbol (>) to run a command, or two percent signs (%%) to request a numeric conversion. Those are just a few of the unexpected extras. But to launch an application, you type part of the application name.

Let’s say I’d like to run CyberLink Power DVD, but I don’t remember the publisher. I do recall that “power” is part of the name, though. So I type “pow” and Power Toys Run suggests several PowerShell options, PowerPoint, PowerToys, dBpoweramp, Power Automate, and CyberLink Power DVD. That’s considerably faster than searching through the Start Menu. In fact, I use this option instead of the paid Stardock application when I need to start an application I use so infrequently that it’s not on the Task Bar or pinned to the Start Menu.

There’s actually a hierarchy involved here. Most of the applications that I use frequently are pinned to the Task Bar and those that I use somewhat less often are in Start11, the Stardock replacement for the StartMenu. Then I launch the least-used applications with PowerToys Run.

Start11 appeals to me for several reasons, not the least of which is that it’s simply an attractive application. In addition to working properly and performing the task that its developers say it will, looking good and being highly configurable are strong positives. Start11 fulfils all four objectives and goes much further with configurations. If you liked the old Windows 7 Start Menu, you can have Start11 play that role. Or the Windows 10 Start Menu. Or the Windows 11 Start Menu with several additional options.

Or you can pick one of three Start11 options, App style, Pro style, or Launcher style. Once you’ve selected one of the primary categories, you’ll be presented with additional configuration settings that include colors, backgrounds, transparency effects, typefaces and sizes, and visual effects such as rounded corners and animation.

The potential problem I mentioned with Start11 is that Stardock has several other applications such as Fences 5 to create areas that hold folders and links on the desktop, Multiplicity 4 that shares a single mouse and keyboard to various computers, Cursor FX 4 to create and customize mouse cursors, Object Dock that creates an animated dock on the Desktop, and more. These have costs ranging from $3 to $23. Or there’s Object Desktop that has a $40 annual subscription price, with renewals at $30 per year. A single license works on up to five computers.

I ended up licensing Object Desktop and will be renewing it. I don’t keep a lot of icons on the Desktop, but I use Fences to keep single-click icons that shut down or restart the computer, restart Explorer or Search, and start Microsoft’s Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management tool and the System File Checker. When there’s a link or a shortcut that I need frequent access to, but only for a limited time, I put it in another Fences area labelled “Information”.

Multiplicity is an outstanding utility when I need to use the Surface laptop on the desk. There’s no room on the desk for another keyboard and mouse and even the tablet’s cramped keyboard is too much. Multiplicity solves that problem.

Realizing that the version of Windows now being released, version 24H2, has the potential to cause operational issues with utillities such as the ones it publishes, Stardock has worked diligently to prepare and release updated versions of its applications and they work properly with the latest version of Windows.

Whether you like Microsoft’s Start Menu or not, adding Power Toys Run and some of the other Power Toys utilities will provide more options to start applications efficiently, and to totally customize the look at feel of the Start Menu and other interface components, there’s Start 11 and the Object Desktop from Stardock.

Short Circuits

Beware Upcoming Windows Updates

Software developers have been releasing lot of updates in an effort to fix problems that Microsoft will create as it rolls out version 24H2. I’ve had 24H2 for a while but Windows 11 Insider Preview 10.0.26120.1930 (ge_release_upr) that I received in early October kept me amused and involved with the computer for much of the afternoon the update arrived.

The installation failed on the first attempt. On the second go, it installed properly but destroyed the drivers for my sound subsystem. Windows has done this before; the solution involves removing the drivers, disconnecting the device, downloading new drivers, rebooting the computer a couple of times, reinstalling the drivers and the application, and reconnecting the device.

There was one trick I hadn’t seen previously: HTTP and HTTPS shortcuts on the desktop had blank icons and didn’t work. That’s because the update apparently tried to switch to Edge as the application to answer for all web links, succeeded with some, and simply removed the associations for others without adding a valid target.

That was another hour of troubleshooting and tinkering during which I might otherwise have been bored.

Before the day was over, several other applications updated. I hadn’t had any significant problems with the initial pre-release version, but the update for Windows insiders didn’t play well even with the operating system.

Stardock, developers of the Start Menu replacement Start 11 and several other applications described their approach to customers this way: “For the past few months, Stardock has been diligently evaluating our applications like Start11 v2 and Fences 5 to make sure that they are fully functional with these changes. You may have noticed that we have been shipping more updates recently, while not always directly related to 24H2, it was part of our effort to make sure that when the new Windows release hits your device, your applications are ready.”

Fx Sound, which provides a graphic equalizer to improve the computer’s sound system reported errors on startup, but an update was available and that resolved the problem. My preferred text editor UltraEdit Studio continued to work properly, but an update was available immediately after I installed Windows 24H2.

Because Microsoft is building more artificial intelligence into Windows and doing everything it can to force users to switch to Microsoft applications such as Edge and One Drive, as well as to push Microsoft 365 users toward storing files in the cloud instead of on local disk drives, this new version is almost guaranteed to create more problems for users than any recent updates, which had been becoming so reliable that updates were almost boring.

I rarely recommend skipping a Windows update, and I’m certainly not doing that now because the benefits usually exceed the potential shortcomings. But this might be a good update to postpone for a few weeks so that some of the bugs and annoyances can be tracked down and eliminated.

Potentially the most serious problems involve update failures that may require rolling back the update. Microsoft usually resolves these kinds of issues quickly and they’re relatively rare anyway. When they occur, though, they’re highly disruptive and can be quite time consuming.

A common problem involves the update’s propensity to change the user’s customized settings to Microsoft’s default settings. Granted my experience as a software developer is severely limited and my experienc as an operating system developer is nil, I consider this type of behavior to be unacceptable. Surely Microsoft’s developers are capable of creating a logic branch that could examine a setting and then leave it alone if the user has modified it. Sometimes users won’t notice these unwanted changes for several days, or even several weeks if the change was to something that’s used infrequently.

Following the update, the backup process for the boot drive no longer worked. The settings apparently had been destroyed. Microsoft would like computer owners to use the backup process provided by the company. I have no objection to that, but I do object when an update requires me to set up the backup process again because Microsoft destroyed the settings.

Don’t expect Microsoft to fix this until or unless lawsuits and government regulators manage to get the company’s attention.

Some users have reported slow boot times, but these problems usually resolve over time and often are simply temporary side effects of an operating system update.

Driver issues and problems with installed software are common, especially for older applications and hardware devices. I haven’t found any outdated drivers despite the problem with the audio subsystem. What I encountered was simply an issue that I’ve seen before with this device and Windows updates.

Some gamers have reported network, video, and performance issues with their games. These problems will likely be resolved by the publishers of the gaming software or by device driver updates for network and video subsystems.

So if you’re comfortable dealing with potential problems, now’s a good time to proceed with the update. Otherwise, waiting a few weeks would be wise.

Updating the tablet computer to version 24H2 was much more straightforward. Unlike my primary computer, the tablet is more like a device that is being used by a normal person. The browser default and all application assignments I checked were retained. I did need to update Stardock Multiplicity on both the primary computer and the tablet, but that’s because Stardock replaced version 3 of that application with version 4.

Should You Change That Password?

Passwords eventually will be replaced by passkeys or other authentication types , but we’ll have to deal with the frustrations of passwords until then.

One of the most annoying problems with passwords is being forced to change them. Too many sites force users to change their passwords frequently, sometimes in just 30 or 45 days, but frequent password changes can reduce security instead of enhancing it.

Besides that, there’s the annoyance factor. I’m familiar with a company that required password changes every 45 days. Set a new password on Monday and it will expire 45 days later (Saturday) and the old password won’t be accepted when you return to the office on Monday (day 47). Then you’d have to call the IT department and have someone reset the password. That wastes a lot of time for everyone.

I used a process by which I changed my password every 42 days on a Tuesday. Why 42? Why Tuesday? It wasn’t a nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but the simple mathematical fact that 42 days is exactly 7 weeks. And Tuesday to avoid scheduling the change on an occasional Monday holiday. Tuesday seemed like the best choice and it left three grace days if I couldn’t change the password on Tuesday.

But I said frequent password changes can harm security. You’re wondering how. When people are forced to change passwords frequently, they often use their previous password an add a number at the end. Or they create a password that’s too short or can be guessed. I’ve considered the safer method to have a long, complex password that’s stored in a password manager and changed infrequently.

In other words, unless you’re forced to change a password, I prefer setting a long and complex password, storing it in a password manager, and using it indefinitely.

Laughable Scam Of The Week

Another in the occasional series of scams perpetrated by idiots.