April 5, 2010 GiveawayDAY
Installed on Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 2 running on a HP-Pavilion.
April 6, 2010 Manual StartMenuFixupDay

Tidy Start Menu 3.4 is a good concept, but my results were "Tidy Corrupt Start Menu". Various shortcuts are placed into wrong folders. For instance you may at some time elect to un-install a particular program from the start menu and if you don't pay attention you might just un-install something entirely different. Try using various start menu program "help" links and see if your system is "Tidily Corrupt"... An alternative is to right click and select properties and view the path listed. Some of my "Windows Media 9 Series" links ended up in my "WinUtilities" Start Menu Folder (as another example).

An interesting thing is that when you run the program it creates a "Programs" folder in the start menu. Apparently the program uses the Start Menu area as it's work-space. I'm glad I didn't have a Programs folder, because the folder is erased when you exit the application.

The Hide feature totally alludes me as once hidden, you can't (at least I couldn't) bring them back without hacking into the file system (I wasn't too involved with it anyway).

One comment had: * No option in “Explorer Mode” to move start menu entries instead of copying them.
Right Click Drag would allow the option to move. You also don't want to rename a folder as the same name of another as the application will allow it and "issues" may (OK will) develop.

OrdinarySoft's home page indicates Vista as a supported platform (one of many), yet apparently it was not tested on it. I do find it somewhat appalling that (supposedly) a developer was giving it high praise. Maybe since his Start Menu was so loaded, he didn't notice...

At any rate, I only had around 137 menu folders to go through (and still fixing - mostly verification). I'm just glad it was free...

I have Windows XP and this charming little program was essential to me like air for breathing. The Icon option is not the important issue - it is only nice to have. So I find myself vote for this program whole heartedly. Thanks to GAOTD for this useful program.

I use FARR (Find and Run Robot),.. so simple to use and of course it's free.
Just hit the "Pause/Break" hotkey to open the FARR window,. then start typing in the name of the program you need and usually before you finish typing the first 2 or 3 letters of the program name, the results appear in the window. Select it and it opens instantly.
No need for any icons at all on your desktop with this beauty.

Good review here: http://www.nscave.com/Reviews/findandrunrobot.htm

Can be downloaded from Donation Coder website:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/

Not useful in Windows 7 or Vista. I never navigate the start menu any more; I just search using the search bar. Now what I think would be impressive is a program for XP that would index the start menu contents to create a similar search bar.

I like it. Faster then the manual way. I made up categories A-Z. And put each software into whatever letter they start with. Thanks.

I cannot help myself but agree with the comments posted here that this is useful for those users who have Windows XP and below. This would be definently useful for those people who have numerous programs installed and the left to right format is preventing the viewing of some program applications. I also happen to own a utility disc called Cool Tools for XP , and the Vista Start Menu is included on this disc. It makes programs in Windows XP scroll from left to right.

If you have Windows Vista and 7, you should not worry about a program like this in the first place since you can search by program name by the start menu by typing in the first few letters of the program or file name you need to access. Your programs are also listed in a more preferred format from top to bottom.

Well, I think I will give this Tidy Start Menu Pro a try, based on Ashraf's review, and some of the positive comments here today. Like some others have mentioned, I just edit the Start Menu by hand (thru Explorer) once in a while, so I was thinking of passing. And maybe this will get me to actually do it, since right now I can’t see the last column under the START menu (!)

One thing I do to “tidy up” a bit, is drag all the stuff into a folder named “Desktop” on the Desktop, once in a while. Downloading freeware a lot, the desktop gets really cluttered.

Love this program, have had for a year or so! Many program names are non-descriptive so hard to find when you want to look at, say "Photo Programs". This does the trick and I put a . in front of each category name so they rise to top of Start Menu. Just think about 5-10 groupings you would use to categorize all your programs.

I have .Graphics, .PhotoPrograms, .DuplicateFinders, .CleanersTools, .OfficePrograms, .SecurityPrograms, .VideoDVD, .MusicAudio, .Research, .Utilities,.NotesWriting,.Other to name a few. A bit of a pain to set up the first time, but so easy when I am hunting for a program and can't remember the name of it! Thanks GAOD!

I haven't downloaded or used this, but have been using a freebie called Vista Start Menu for several weeks -- and it is great. Tidy Start Menu may be similar; but from the other comments, I probably won't bother with it.

Why use this when you can do it yourself in windows? And regular price is $24,99? What a joke! I'll pass. I guess they should have given away this program on April 1st - a good April Fool's day....

Well, I sure like it. I used to have about 6 columns of programs to look through when I needed to find a less used program. Doubly irritating when I inevitably overlook it on the first eyeball scan. Now that they've been sub-categorized (which this program does very nicely I'll ad) I have one maybe two(relevant)column(s) to look through.

Sure makes MY life easier!

Also like the auto-Icon feature!!

Kudos!!

This is a good program for those who like their start menu to be organised into categories. I uninstalled this, as I like having my start menu items listed alphabetically.

For quick access to programs, I have 2 folders on my desktop, Security, and Utilities which contain shortcuts to my most frequently used programs.

This is a great program for those of us thrive on simplicity, something Microsoft has never figured out...they have catered for years to their own techy-eyed requirements and design, not to the normal, non-techy users' wants and needs...

That is why there are so many good products out there to help those of us who do not live in smug-self-aggrandizing technical worlds...we just want simple and clean products...the only way Microsoft gets such is to buy them out...even then they can mange to complicate some...obviously I am not a Microsoft fan...

I am offering my opinion here amongst those of praise and derision and do not care if anyone finds it helpful or not...it is simply how I see it... and that's okay...long live simplicity and user-friendly products...

I agree with some of the other comments, with windows 7 and windows vista this is useless thanks to the new search features in the start bar. If OrdinarySoft wishes to stay current and make money they should keep with the current times. I can honestly say I don't have even one computer left out of the 7 in my household on xp, they have all been upgraded to windows 7. Thanks for the software but no thanks.

Start Menu > All Programs > (any FOLDER you like) - right click it, choose "Properties", choose "Customize" tab, choose "Change Icon...", browse to the program .exe associated with the folder (or any icon you like), choose "Open", pick an icon. Bam!, an iconified start menu folder.

#27- as far as I can tell the changes apply to permission to un-install programs, but I tend to agree with you, letting programs make changes to the registry is dangerous, especially when they are made with out knowledge and/or prior approval. For this reason alone it is not worth installing. Decent software will tell a user what's involved. If this is an inadvertent change it points to a basic disregard(who knows what else it might do)and if it's done knowingly then it amounts to mal-ware.

Thanks for the heads up, this is the type of item that Ashraf might consider including in his (generally) excellent reviews. Perhaps if this type of action was publicized the vendors might reconsider. At the least there should be '*Makes Changes to Registry' warning

Personally, I have been manually organizing my menus since Win95. Over the years I have found that sites like www.majorgeekis.com, cnet.com, and filehippo.com have the file menu organization down to a science. So rather than make my own menu categories, I use theirs. Sub-menus are dealers choice, but remember too much 'nesting' can defeat your goal.

If you have a dual panel 'windows explorer' replacement, hint GOTD, you can easily do this without any program, creating folders and moving programs to your categories. Windows explorer is a dinosaur and needs replacement, yet $$MS fails to address this.

Windows 7 makes no effort to ease the processes by deeply nesting/permissions the user and admin menus. If you have a few programs to remember windows program search will do, yet if there are many, organization will save you tons of time.

Good Luck, taming your start menu, it's worth the effort!

Geek1945 fixing computers since 1965

I can do this by right clicking on start menu and choosing open.. Yes I've done that for years as well what I think this program does differently is it deals with both public and individual start menus at once. To me that's worth a free download (not more than $10 to buy though).
I respect the fact the developer even explains the start menu folders and how things are done manually on the website so anyone doing the research on there can see the pros/cons of the program.

This is a really well programmed piece of software. The proof is in the fact that it works with Windows 7 with no reprogramming needed. Not many programmers can claim that. My only question is why so many thumbs down ratings? It really is good quality and will be of use to most users.

This program utterly destroyed my start menu.
The integrated backup and restore functions did not work at all. Due to this manual start menu organization using any file manager (Windows Explorer, Power Desk, Free Commander etc.) is easier, faster and safer.

btw. I managed to restore my start menu after trying this out by using Windows Explorer. I made a manual copy before I used this.

Didnt download folders can be drag and droped into Start, other customization might be cool though

I didn't think I would need it either but I had not even tried to organize my programs in Windows 7 yet. Well it's not as easy as previous versions of Windows.....So I tried this program and WELL I LIKE IT! IT IS MUCH EASIER TO USE THIS!!!

TRY IT, YOU WILL LIKE IT!...... THUMBS WAY UP ON THIS OFFERING! THANKS GOTD

I don't really see the point in this program.

I just downloaded this, and set up "my programs" in the start menu in a matter of minutes. My start menu looks much tidier. The program works and it's easy to use, so though this can be done through the windows interface, it is pretty good. Thanks GAOTD

You must be joking right??? I do what this program tries to do manually i create custom conic folders and simply include them in my start menu LOL tidy start menu haha anyway My Start menu is very tidy in fact its MY START MENU! Win7Ult-x64 Of course~!

I have owned and used this utility for several years. It is great for organizing my start menu and is very helpful if one has more than three rows of programs in the start menu. For those of us with poorer vision, at least. we can't see the maximum screen resolutions.

it is not perfect, and has some quirks that i wish it didn't, such as keeping a category checked when a program is reinstalled, so it is checked in a folder, but shows up outside of the folder (uncheck and re-check it fixes it). still, it has made my pc work much easier.

I've used it for awhile now. I like it. No worries about undoing. I know what I want done and this does it. Organize me! :)

Is anyone else getting the error message "the compressed or zipped folder is invalid or corrupt"?

The "Start Menu" in XP onwards is not as simple as you might think - There are at least two different ones ("All Users" and "Administrator"). If you have different log-on names for each member of the family, then each one of these will also have their own start menu that is completely seperate.

You can drag and drop items around the start menu if you have administrator rights BUT even then, you will have difficulty dragging an item from an ordinary user into a folder that is part of "All Users" or "Administrator" due to it increasing the programs rights. MS now block this from happening.

You can still do that manually through Windows Explorer, just not through the Start Menu itself anymore.

So there is some justification for programs such as this.

For everyone who has a perfectly organized Start Menu, there's someone else who has what you'd likely consider a chaotic mess. ;-)

If you're the highly organized Start Menu type, you may find it hard to see things from their perspective [you can see that in some of the comments so far], but hey, if Tidy Start Menu helps others be more like you, you should be all smiles & encouragement. :-)

And if you maintain, &/or usually end up fixing 1 or more *cluttered* PCs, maybe you should be sending all those folks to the GOTD site today? Who knows -- it may wind up making your job easier. ;-)

actually win 7 and vista have these features in built xept fr the uninstall

#18 FRANK DRAKMAN - Who said I don't understand any programs? Apparently, you don't quite understand English.

I said that I have so many programs I was unable to find anything past "P" (They are alphabetized, after all)

Tidy Menu makes organizing start menu items into folders by type effortless, thereby reducing the columns I had from 8 to 2. That made it possible for me to find any program I want to call/execute.

Try it, you'll like it!

The basic reorganisation as far as renaming and moving folders does not require any paid for product, since that you can do that yourself.
The skinning, and ability to change the behaviour are not present by default in windows, but this product is only worth buying if those features are important to you, not the focus on the moving and renaming which you do not need to buy anything to do.

Okay 25 I checked it out. Both tools, Tidy Start Menu as well as 8Start can be called handy, just depends on the kind of machine it is installed on and the level of the end-user. 8Start is a bit more complicated to configure. Uses more resources as well looking at the interface and given information. Tiny TSM allows to create as many categories and groups as you want in a easier way.

Time to fix my start-menu.

Downloaded OK.
When I installed, Ad-Aware Plus informed me this program was trying to alter the security-settings in the registry.(!!)
Blocked that, and tried to install again.
Seemed to work (did not get that error message, and cannot find any changes in my (backed up) registry.

Tested "delete empty shortcuts Wizard". It found a lot of shortcuts missing, programs that I have never used, but they are still a part of Standard Windows Programs.
Tried with Win Utilities Pro, and found NO empty shortcuts.

The start menu organizing seems to work, allthough I have to right-click and chose "move" in order to move programs/folders around ("left click and drag" makes no changes when I drop whatever I try to move)

I would say:
This is handy and a bit faster than doing it manually. But when I get warning messages from my security software, false positives when scanning my computer AND have some problems getting the program to do what I want, I don't really like it.
You should never let a program make changes to your computer that you do not understand, and with this one, I get the feeling "maybe it is doing something I do not like..."

I may be paranoid, but I'll pass.

W7, 64 bit

Vista Start Menu (free version) is easier to use and understand (not that I took a look at this one offered here):

http://www.vistastartmenu.com

I use since many years the 8start application launcher. A great tool that allows you to create as many categories and groups as you want. This is the best I have come accross and it is free. Check it out at www.8start.com

Of course we are all so clever that we can adjust our start menu ourselves! Oh wow! Let us show our overestimated self-knowledge here. Even I can do it! Sure ! Open in the explorer C: Documents and Settings... However this very nice and easy to handle tool could make the job real easy. It can even replace the icons just as well !! For many of us this is a very handy and no nonsense tool. Easy to install without complicated registration and a straightforward interface. Both my thumbs up! Again well done GAOTD!

@Frank [#18]
Good comment. Like many others here , I also 'do it by hand'. Much simpler and you have full control.

I do not understand why it is receiving so many thumbs down, other than people not recognizing its usefulness or just the snobbery of geekdom, but I've been using the free version of this now for several years. This is an excellent program that does exactly what it says it will do. It does not nag or tie up system resources after install, it just does what it is supposed to do when it is supposed to do it.

Installing dozens of dozens of programs makes the Start menu unwieldy, which defeats the purpose. It also reduces overall performance of your computer, especially if you use the Start menu frequently. Yes, you can manually create category folders in the Windows Start menu folders and arrange everything in Windows Explorer. This is a time consuming and tedious process, which most people won't bother with.

Tidy Start Menu makes this process much quicker and more convenient to do, thus increasing the likelihood that it will get done. It has a very basic interface, which in this situation I consider to be a good thing; who needs fancy graphics when you're just rearranging some folders? It uses very little system resources, and doesn't run in the background when you aren't using it.

I usually sort my programs by going into the start menus foldr which can usually be found (in XP) via the following path:

C:/documents and settings/administrator (or whatever you've called your account)/Start Menu/Programs. from here you can create whatever custom folders you wish an place the appropriate program folders within, even creating sub folders. It takes very little time to sort it all and you end up with a satisfyingly small start menu programs menu thats easy to navigate. New programs can either be drag and dropped into the appropriate folders or going through the path above and copying them into the appropriate folder.

That said i'll give this program a try and see if it's any qucker than the way i do it.

I tried GOTD Tidy Start Menu 3.4 but it does not provide any added value. It is no easier to use this program than to simply drag and drop the links in your start menu (In all windows versions you can create categories in your start menu programs folder, just like working with any folder.) If fact, I found Tidy Start Menu's "simple mode" more cumbersome than the native Windows method, though others could like it since it sorts by selecting the items for a category in checkboxes.

I do believe that the Windows start menu can be improved, but this program does not do it. I am amazed that he can sell it for hat price.

His other program, Vista Start Menu, looks more interesting.

Free alternative: I do this by hand in Windows 7 and did the same in XP too. The only downside of doing it by hand just the menu items is that if you un-install the program then the odd menu item is left(though they may be removed if you use Revo Uninstaller); also if you delete a category by hand it is undo-able.

@Dan [#4]
Let me get this straight - you have so many programs that you need yet another program to organize the programs that you already don't understand?

See also; Irony, Paradox, Catch 22

Very cool program. I've been using the (fairly limited) free version for awhile so thanx gaotd.

And yes, you CAN use things other than the start menu (like, DUH, #13) but as long as you have the start menu, it might as well be organized. And this does it. Easily & quickly

Not very useful for XP either, there is enough crap slowing me down.

Free Alternative:

Create category maps on desktop
Create toolbar on taskbar to desktop
Drag and drop icons

i am only a novice but it seems to have most things i can put catergories to
many thanks gaotd team and thank you ashraf
i might find i useless later but who knows
so i will keep it for now

This is nice. I paid full price for an earlier version, so I'm happy to have this latest version for free. I have tons of programs, so my start menu was quite a mess - this really makes it simple and convenient to keep everything condensed and organized. I highly recommend everyone grab this and give it a spin - it's quite handy.

FYI - Version 3.4 has been around since Oct/Nov 2007

Installed on XP SP2 32 bit (all hotfixes) no problems.

Created a backup prior to moving my Start Menu around using Tidy Start Menus backup/restore feature, and then placed some of my shortcuts in the predetermined choices (Utilities,etc.) that TSM has to offer.

Everything worked fine and I then restored my backup, which was also successful.

Note: Tidy Start Menu actually creates a backup of your start menu structure upon first launch itself, I just thought I'd save my own as part of the test.

I also tried the Icon Wizard which basically replaces the boring folder look of the start menu (I use Classic - still...) with the programmes icon. Also worked without a hitch and can be restored to the original look should you want.

I did not have any empty shortcuts (Delete Empty Shortcuts Wizard).

The Import/Export Wizard is basically the same as the Backup/Restore feature with the exception that you choose where to save the backup to (or where get the xml file to restore from.

If you copy the programmes folder it will run as portable but it's important to know that the backups are written to your Application Data folder so you may want to remember to delete that (or not!).

Everything works as it should but I'd like to know what, if any changes have been made since 2007...

All in all a very nicely executed utility.

Thanks GOTD and OrdinarySoft - Regards - Damian