well, i have troubles installing windows7 on my PC. maybe i need a bios update or something ;'`

I would like to congratulate the developers on Start Menu 7. I too had trouble with so many progs in WinXP start menu that they go over the edge of the screen even with sub folders.

The previous version of Start Menu 7 given here was unfortunately knocked out by Aston 7 , so I am glad this has come round again.

My only criticism is that in WIn XP when you click say on my computer or say My Docs, it stops and you then have time to choose to click again.

In Menu 7 you have to navigate in one go through all the folders and subfolders till you get to what you want to open, Along the way it is very easy for the mouse to miss , and you end up starting again.

To explain further supposing I want to open up My Programs and create a new folder for new GOTD program. I cannot in Menu 7 as it has to go to a specific folder/program in the Program section.

If they could add functionality to stop at the main folder and open it, instead of continually navigating through all the sub folders , would be great.

I got here late to this giveaway, so I don't know if this post will be seen by anyone before the cutoff. Still, I got the standard version of this program back in June 2010 when it was a giveaway. THIS version, the PRO version, has more features and is just as easy to use, and installed right over the standard version of Classic Menu with no problems.

Sometimes I use the standard Win 7 menu, and sometimes I use this Classic menu. When you get bored with one, switch to the other (it's so easy to switch) - and the Pro version is much better than the standard. Works great on Win 7 64x - why not get it! It's free, and you'll probably like it.

I could not figure out what the "Keeps the position does" and it's always checked (it's on the list when you right click on any item).
Sure would win me over if I could re-arrange the programs into groups and seperate them with a line.

The software should include a blank page for one to put shortcuts into and that the items be arrangeable into groups. This would make a difference to what Windows offer. Then while maintaining the original Windows' Start menu with its Shift+start would really make it a useful novelty.

I've used the free version of this for a couple of years. Fantastic. With a little imagination you won't need any other access to your computer(i.e. shortcut folders, subfolders) You still have access to your windows start menu: just put your cursor in the bottom left corner- tight in the corner- and your start menu pops up like always.

Installed fine on Windows 7 32 bit.
Would like to have extra skins.
Opacity level makes menu items hard to see and the fonts are small as well.
I would also like to have the programs that I've pinned to my start menu still be there when I click on the start menu.
I also have software informer installed and it gives me a nice icon menu of my installed programs when I right click the start menu icon. These two programs work very well together.
http://software.informer.com/

Disappointed! Looked forward to using it, but it seemed as though it installed ok, but it won't start and when I try uninstalling it, it says that the file - unins001.msg is missing. The program doesn't appear in the Control Panel. I've tried re-installing it (which it does fine), and it still won't start or uninstall and have rebooted a couple of times, but still nothing.
Ahh well, just not meant to be!

Hi there. Have installed it but it does not seem to be the pro version. Followed the link and installed. The computer restarts and it runs fine but I have no customise button . It just looks like the free version. Would have expected some other users to have same problem but it just seems to be me. Have reinstalled it twice now without it being any different. What am I doing wrong. Please help.

.
Dunno if I'll keep it but so far, plenty of fun to play with.
Might actually be useful! My OS is XP.

Thanks, Denys Nazarenko and GOTD.
.

#88 J Marc:

Didn't mean to sound condescending. I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, and certainly not a schill. My intended point was that "to me" this program is a poor attempt at bettering MS's current menu system. That's why I called it "amateurish". I'm not denigrating programmers for trying to improve upon MS's products. I was disappointed that this program offered nothing significantly better than MS's current menu system for me. Certainly, it has some slight enhancements along with several faults, as I pointed out.

I am an amateurish programmer myself. I downloaded this program expecting to find something special. Instead, I found it to be only a slight rehashing of the current MS menu system. I hoped to encourage the programmers to come up with something actually better--not just a knockoff of MS's system.

And I'm not criticizing anyone for liking/using it (or buying it). I was just stating why "I" didn't care for it.

I apologize to the developers if I sounded spiteful, or something. I thank them (and GOTD) for offering it.

Obviously a lot of you are making comments and haven't explored the options and the skins. 98 people voted for the suggestion Make it smaller. You can already do that. Just click on the top right corner n drag it smaller n the menus will adjust.

42 people voted for put it on a plain background so it's easier to see. Just change the skin. Vista Classic is a plain dark background that makes it easy to see. Or try one of the other skins.

Also check out the Wizard which has more options that don't appear to be anywhere else.

I installed it and it works fine. If you don't have lots of programs installed, it won't be as useful as it would be to those who do. You don't have to scroll through a long list to find your program, and you can pick one of the programs in a menu folder to be the main one to run when you click on the folder and run it without having to dig one level deeper. You still have the option of running any of those programs in that particular menu folder by hovering over the main item and moving over to the other programs, then pick the other one you want to run.

Dennis... This is excellent.
My OS is WinXP SP3. The Install was flawless and I am amazed with this application.
I am one of those folks who spent a great deal of time making folders for "like" applications. They are still there.
And, My eyes are not as good as they used to be, however, the white on black is just perfect.
Everything is there and more.
Yes, I am impressed and am ordering this application.
Good Job Young Man
Dri-Anna

So how do you get the lovely images behind your menu or the translucent look you see pictured on the website?

Could anyone let us know if your computer will return to it’s normal start menu once uninstalled? It states that it “replaces” the current start menu.

I once installed an program that “replaced” the shutdown menu with a different one but it deleted the original.

Nice looking interface although it seems similar to the freeware program, Vista Start Menu 3.8

Yes it will return to it normal start menu when you uninstall, i had the free version install a few days ago and removed it because i thought it came with the Areo skin when it didn't the pro was the only one that did which is the same as the free version just that the pro has skins while the free doesn't.

Took longer than normal for all the files to be extracted, but once they were, it installed right away. So far, I like being able to see all my programs at a glance, the way I used to with previous Windows versions. I have 2 questions, though:

1. I see now way to validate the installation - no serial number or anything. Have I missed something?
2. How do I change the skin?

Thanks for any information, and thank you very much to GAOTD and the developer for this lovely bit o' software!

I have installed this on Win7 32Bit Home Premium and Win7 X64 Home Premium.
On the 32Bit machine everything is fine. I used to have this programme when I had a VISTA machine and liked it then.

However ... on the X64 laptop ... it shows Control Panel as EMPTY... when I then click on the CP tab it brings up a clunky Windows Explorer type Menu ...

then ..........

crashes Windows Explorer. This basically means I can not access Control Panel via Start Menu 7.

I have therefore had to turn it off on the 64Bit system ... shame really as otherwise it is better than the standard WIN7 start menu.

You can always try the FREE version first, www.startmenu7.com, then if you like it you can come get the pro version from here.

Its an ok tool I suppose, not overwhelmingly better then the default start menu that comes with windows xp or windows 7. But its not that bad either.

For #3, I think this app is more for those who do not already have windows 7, so for them it may be a very different experience.

I have been using the previous GOATD off and on. I will upgrade to new version. To#5 - no permanent changes, you can exit at any time, no need to restart.

as soon as this program was installed, I got a Firefox message stating I should restart to complete my installation of the ASK toolbar.

Don't know whether to blame GOTD or the developer of this day's offering for this. I was quite careful during install to see if anything extra in terms of toolsbars, etc., was checked by default, but it somehow got past my defenses.

Fortunately, the Ask toolbar wasn't compatible with my version of Firefox, but I find this kind of hijacking extremely annoying. (especially when it occurs during the install of a software I have paid for).

@#71 Just Being Frank
"I don’t understand why programmers outside Microsoft’s own stable think they can do a better job with the most basic system functions than MS’s own programmers."

Good lord, do you work for MS? Do you shill for them? I've been using Windows since the beginning - when it was just called `Window.' Every release has been marketed too early with multiple bugs, leaks, holes, you name it. Then MS struggles to get out patches and updates never really correcting the many problems. When e-mailing or phoning support, the programmers seem to have no idea what's actually in their programmes; they do have a set of pat answers, though, always blaming the incompetence of their users.

I've been doing this since the invention of the abacus - I rather have a pretty good idea if the problem is me or the programme. And I've known too many others and am aware of too many more who have the same problems; we can't all be the problem.

"It’s just an amateurish rehashing of what is already available. (Sorry…just Being Frank.)"

What a slap in the face to other professional and amateur programmers here in the non-MS world. You're being very condescending.

Is this the 'Pro' version today?
It calls itself SM7 3.84.

1. I often use my left hand to start the menu, then I use my mouse to take over the rest of the job. SM7p unfortunately doesn't recognise ambidextrousness, so it's filled with extra speed-letter column width, then
2. I have two Mozilla entries down in the menu: I go - Ctrl+Esc, J, 2 and nothing happens.
If I press Enter there, the folder for Mozilla shortcuts FOLDER opens up.
If I press right-arrow to open the stalled section I see 'A' for two entries: it does nothing.
I then have to press down-arrow then Enter to start the second Mozilla entry.
Huh? Why bother? Why break things?
3. BTW - Shift Ctrl+Esc doesn't bypass SM7; that's Task Manager...
4. I have 15 items pinned to my first Win7 menu - but SM7 affronts me by eliminating them. Where's the migration?
5. If I want to shut down: Start, move 3" over to Power, then move another 4" up to Shut Down.
Huh?
Unready IMO.

Installed no problem on Win7 64bit...I like it.

Actually one of the GAOTD programs liked quite abit. Been using since last giveaway, version 3.6
Question is, if install today's, will it keep the organization of the older version? I know I spent a lot of time getting things located after the first install and would sure hate to lose it.

I have used this software on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7. I have never seen any major problems with it though if you have to many programs installed it will force you to scroll to see all the programs. It also works on Win2K for those holdouts who have not upgraded. Overall I like it though on lower resolution screens I find it not to be optimal. In this I would prefer to set the font and make minor adjustments to how it looks. If I had one request it would be to make the software more user configurable than it is now.

Thank you - I have been using Vista Start Menu(free version) and find it so easy to find things. I'm delighted to get this version. Many thanks GAOTD for this and all the software you offer for free, sure helps us pensioners!

Nifty little program. Seems to work well and no noticeable degradation of computer performance. Can anyone tell me how to group seldom used start icons so I can de-clutter my start menu?

Thanks!

#67: "... I’m sadly still on a Vista machine..."

Purely FWIW, try the win7 trial -- Google/Bing for instructions on-line to run it for a year, maybe longer. OTOH for those that remember win98 & win98 SE, to a surprising extent Vista & 7 are the same way. I installed the 7 trial along side the existing Vista HP on my wife's PC [dual boot on current hardware] -- she uses her PC for games & on-line stuff, & so far hasn't/can't find a reason to bother with switching to 7 at all. Her sis in a WOW fanatic & feels the same way.

* * *

#74: "... With 2, 3 and 4GB of RAM standard for the past few years in a PC, the ram used with all your programs installed and the OS will probably never be over 50% unless you run a whole bunch of background programs. The RAM is there, why not use it. Unless you see a decline in the performance of your machine, you have plenty of resources left to keep everything enabled."

NOT disagreeing, but to mention another point of view... there are times when you still want more power, regardless what hardware you have. AMD has a setup where it turns off Windows' processes/features in an effort to tune the machine for serious gaming. And with an AMD quad running 3.3 summer, higher in winter, with 6 GB RAM in 7 ult 64, I still find myself getting impatient during long video renders, turning off anything & everything I can in order to gain *maybe* an extra frame per second or two, & yes, the CPU is very close to maxed. It's the same as back before the 1st Pentium came out, only now the video frames are *much* bigger. We always want more than we can have. ;-)

Start Menu 7 Pro isn't a bad app at all, but it won't appeal to everybody -- we're all different, have different ways of organizing/working, & different ideas of what looks/acts cool. While I personally don't think it's ugly, Start Menu 7 Pro is not designed as eye candy -- if that's what you're after you'll be disappointed. What it does do is provide a customizable way of organizing a replacement Start Menu, one that takes up more room, but takes less clicking to dig deep into your collection of Start Menu shortcuts. While IMHO that's the main point of the app, there are lots of other refinements & adjustments you can take advantage of -- e.g. besides dragging the menu to size, you can use the 3 keys: Control, [a] Number, & "+" or "-" to increase/decrease type/font size. Another example, creating new tabs you might group shortcuts you use for a particular task, rather than the usual grouping similar types of apps together.

On the downside, it takes work. While Start Menu 7 Pro reuses the Start Menu shortcuts you already have, you'll have to spend the time to customize it if you want more than it adds *right out of the box*. And while you're at it adding your own touches, today's GOTD uses skins -- while you get 4 to start with, they're stored in plain .zip files, so image components should be relatively easy to replace, even without a skins editor.

When it's running Start Menu 7 Pro works by intercepting your mouse click when you click on Windows' Start button -- you can also left click the tray icon, getting the same results. It's very light weight, but it is another running app, meaning it will take some resources -- since it doesn't change Windows itself, you can turn it on/off, use it all the time or just when/if you choose. In fact it's light weight enough that when I have time I want to *try* and convert it to the portableapps.com format, & have it provide a combined Start Menu, with apps installed to the hard drive plus those on the removable drive [alongside Start Menu 7] together in one convenient place.

Installation adds the program's folder, which takes up ~6.5 MB in 62 files, 2 folders, plus there's a folder storing shortcuts in text files added under [UserName] \ Application Data [XP] or [UserName] \ AppData \ Roaming [win7]. In the registry there's the program's key, + one for uninstall, + 3 related to the Quick Uninstall shell extension.

All in all if you never worry about how many clicks or keystrokes something takes, &/or you're not one for tightly organizing your Windows' Start Menu, you might wonder why the developers went to all this trouble, creating something that's there in Windows already. OTOH if you despised Vista's Aero [& I remember people complaining about the waste in XP's *eye candy* -- just think, non-square corners!], Start Menu 7 may be much closer to what you hoped win7 would provide by default. Same if you want/need more Start Menu organization. Who knows, if it came along a few years back maybe I wouldn't have gotten in the habit of starting so many apps directly from Windows' Explorer itself, never bothering to add (or even deleting) the Start Menu shortcut in the 1st place. :-)

What's going on? I removed the old Start Menu 7 from my computer and the new package refuses to connect with GAOTD!?! Any assistance would be appreciated.

In regards to the comments by a few of you: Its a mystery to me how you can run out of space in the start menu and then even clutter your desktop. I couldn't live that way so unorganized. As that can only happen if you never sort your menu and let every program put their entries where they like. Like in real life where we use shelfs etc. to sort our things, you will loose overview if you don't - and thats just the same on computers. My start menu is filled with hundreds of programs, but neatly sorted in categories and subcategories, so I always know exactly where to find what. You can do that easily if you go to your startmenu folder and create subfolders then sort your programs there. Once done right click on any item in the menu and select "sort alphabetically" and you're all set with a nice, neat and clear menu. If you always sort new entries right after installation of a new program, it does only take 10 seconds but you will never have cluttering.

#40 Bob Lee: Thats not true. Start Menu 7 does NOT alter any Windows settings and does not overwrite the start menu (read description as it actually explains it). You don't even have to have it as autostart. When running, you can always switch to the normal Windows menu, by either holding the shift key when pressing Start, or by uncheck system integration. In this case you have both the normal menu and, when you click the task bar icon of Menu 7, you have that one.

Due to what I said in the beginning, since my start menu is beautifully sorted, I was hesitant to download Start Menu 7 first. But curiosity won. Now I must say I am happy I downloaded/installed it. It exceeds my expectations. Nice and clean look though the small selection on skins isn't really fancy and the only one I like is the Vista look. But what I LOVE is 1. the 1-click function (just some days ago I thought, how I could arrange items, so I have both, the icon to the program plus the folder with its stuff like docs etc.). Thats a perfect solution and worth alone to have the program. And 2. the tabbing fuction is absolutely brillant. I am working with special shortcut folders all the time, for example one with admin power tools, one with my most used multimedia apps etc. Now I can put those folders in the form of tabs into the menu, which is great.
The only thing that does not work for me is the system integration, if its checked, nothing at all happens when clicking the Start button. With shift it opens the usual menu, but without it does not open Menu 7. I guess thats because I am using a special theme that skins XP with a Win 7 like task bar + start menu. Maybe they both bite each other. But I can live with it, as it does not make any difference if I click left on Start or right on the icon in the task bar :).
All in all I find Start Menu 7 a lovely program and say thank you to GAOT and Ordinary Soft.

#18 @Maniac Actually Keith is right. It is only one click because in Windows 7 you don't have to click on all programs, just hover the cursor over it and it pops up, so technically it is just 1 click. You didn't have to be so mean about the guys comments either. Why do people find it necessary to bash others to try to prove them wrong. I guess some people have such a pathetic life that the only way to feel better about themselves is to bring others down.

Also to those worried about the bloat of the aero interface in their start menu; aero is going to run whether or not you have this or not unless you turn it off completely. It will use the same resources no matter what. Secondly, with the amount of RAM and the power of today's processors it makes absolutely no sense to turn off Aero or any other feature of the Windows OS unless you have an ancient PC with 1 gig of RAM or less, or you are gaming and need the extra resources for your game. With 2, 3 and 4GB of RAM standard for the past few years in a PC, the ram used with all your programs installed and the OS will probably never be over 50% unless you run a whole bunch of background programs. The RAM is there, why not use it. Unless you see a decline in the performance of your machine, you have plenty of resources left to keep everything enabled.

Doh! I'm going to re-reply as I made the same mistake elsewhere...

@12, LOL! I had no idea I could SHIFT + START to get the XP menu.

I’ve been using this since the last GOTD release and like it. It has been relatively stable although occasionally my computer (an old 2.8GHz P4) will error and disable Start Menu. No worries… It returns to the XP menu and Start Menu works fine upon reboot. My only complaint is with the shut down procedure, but knowing about the SHIFT + START shortcut back to the XP menu solves that issue. I use the "U" shortcut in XP’s menu twice to shutdown sans mouse moves and hated using the START, F11, scroll down in Start Menu.

I’m going to upgrade, FWIW.

Nice little program. Installed and runs fine under Windows 7/32bit with no hesitation or slow downs apparent. It did seem to freeze-up for about 30 seconds when I attempted to access my Pictures folder (which is very full BTW) but soon recovered after reading the contents I assume. A couple of things would making it more visually appealing to me (options may exist, but I can't find them): It would be nice to be able to "hover" over the Start button to open the menu rather than have to click it or hit the Windows button (I know, I'm lazy :) and the option to have the columns adjust for width automatically based on the folder's content would be nice so that the window wouldn't stay the same size for folders with one item as they do for items with twenty. All-in-all I like it. For those hesitant to install over the Windows start menu, I suggest you try it as it is easily turned off. Peace.

(Tested on a Windows XP (SP3) system.)


Features:
---------
* Improves on Windows XP's Menu system by adding the Shortcut-Search feature like in Windows 7.


Faults:
-------
* No local Help system. Must be online to get help.

* Defaults to "My Computer" every time when selecting tab items instead of reopening last location. This makes setting up tabs more time-consuming than necessary.

* Tab feature is okay, but I don't see how it's any better than the default Windows system.

* Command/Search field also brings up Favorites items. I'd rather it had a button/option to choose this.

* It didn't handle personal theme Appearance settings well for the Classic View on my system.

* Where are the Most-Used-Programs and Recent-Docs items?


Future Improvements:
--------------------
* Offer a tab showing all menu items (with path) available at once without the organization, sorted beneath the letters of the alphabet. Not a necessary feature, but could be useful for getting an overview of the entire Start Menu setup.


Final Opinion:
--------------
I don't understand why programmers outside Microsoft's own stable think they can do a better job with the most basic system functions than MS's own programmers. MS has been developing the Windows operating system for at least 30 years now. Windows has been honed by trial-and-error and user-feedback to its current incarnation. It's not perfect, but MS keeps making improvements based on their user's reactions.

I personally don't see anything special here at all. Microsoft Windows 7's menu system contains the best ideas postulated by anyone so far. However, people do need to pick the settings they prefer to get what they want. To me, Start Menu 7 may be useful to a handful of users, but it offers very little (if any) improvements for me. It's just an amateurish rehashing of what is already available. (Sorry...just Being Frank.)

Just realized that this program is also identical to this one:

http://www.vistastartmenu.com/

Same developer, except he changed his first name to "Dennis" for this one.

What's going on?

This is confusing...it seems to be exactly the same program as this one:

http://www.classicstartmenu.com/index.html

Right-click the green-check-mark system tray icon for either program and select "About", and you'll see the same About box...Dennis even spelled his name wrong on both...the only difference is that Classic Start Menu links to http://www.classicstartmenu.com and Start Menu 7 links to http://www.startmenu7.com. And both come in freeware and "pro" versions, the latter for $19.99.

Why have two names and two web pages for the same program, Dennis?

(Interestingly, on www.startmenu7.com the developer's name is "Denys"...and in the two About boxes noted above, it's spelled "Denis" and "Dennis". Multiple names for the same person, who is offering the same program under multiple names).

This is well worth the price if you are an XP user.

It is very decent. It is perfect, there is nothing bad about it. One thing that I see that could be improved is, well, perhaps, the ability to change the coloration?

This is really nicely done. The functionality is so much easier than the normal Start menu. Runs fine on Win7 32 bit and doesn't seem to slow anything down at all. I liked the Shift control to go the regular Start menu for a few times and quickly realized I'll never use it again.

Wonderful app, I'll buy the next major release you come out with, you deserve it for making such a nice app.

#40, actually you can. Right click on the taskbar icon,then on 'Customize Wizard'. Un-check 'Replace the system start menu'. Then, the taskbar icon takes you to the Start Menu 7 Pro menu, while the Windows start button goes to the original MS menu. Or uncheck the autostart option on the same Customize page,and you'll have to fire up the 7 Pro menu manually. I'm sadly still on a Vista machine, and this worked fine for me

People are comparing the freeware version of Vista Start Menu with this Pro offering. The pro version of Vista Start Menu is the same price as the Pro version of (this) Start Menu 7.

Anyway one can arrange the list on the page it shows - like grouping all the photo software instead of them being under a folder and arranged alphabetically ?

I installed it in Win 7 64 Pro.
Installed quick and easy without any problem.
Have been trying and using it in all its variable settings, no glitch at all.
I just can't understand the "skeptics" trying to run down this program; in my opinion is very practical, unobtrusive, low in resources consume, very useful with the different possibilities it offers, with already enough alternatives of use to be adapted to different personal needs, ways and tastes without being overloaded. The looks is good enough and sober enough, an excellent equilibrium.
In my opinion, the author crafted it with personal care and love as a piece of software, paying attention to detail.
Personally, I am utmost pleased with it, cannot find yet any, not the least, "con". In its scope and genre I put on it 5+/5.

Works really well on vista.

Been waiting for something like this for a while now but hey.

Umm,#36, tried your link. As best I can tell,Aston isn't free- personal lic is $20,home lic $25. Am I missing something here?

I like it, easy and useful. Makes starting progs easier for me, love the grouping and numbers too, sometimes much prefer not using the mouse for some things. This is faster and I like the search feature too for speeding up also. Much better than Vista's original start menu.

I have been using a free alternative called "Classic Shell"
It is much cleaner than the GOTD.
If you liked the XP style start menu, then you will like Classic Shell.
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/shell/classicshell.aspx

I have been using this company's Vista Start Menu program for about 2 years and I have to admit it is really great. The shutdown/hibernate/timer alone is worth it. Although I will admit an extra skin or two would be nice, but since I use docks, I only see the start menu when I need to, otherwise it is hidden.