Newsletter Archives

• Why I leave Windows 11 alone

  Posted on October 9, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  It’s not that I think Windows 11 is perfect. It’s just that I don’t let it bother me. Too much, that is.

  Don’t get me wrong — I am not suggesting that using third-party apps such as Start11 or StartAllBack to enhance Windows is a bad idea, or even that you shouldn’t bother. We’ve come to look at Windows as highly customizable over the decades of its existence, and it is thus quite natural to want to continue working in the same manner without having to adapt ourselves to a new paradigm we didn’t ask for.

  I don’t do that. Here’s why, along with a few things I think Microsoft got wrong.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.41.0, 2023-10-09).

  Windows 11 File Explorer, Newsletters, Start menu, Touch, UI, User Interface, Windows, Windows 11

• Your worst Windows 11 irritations — solved!

  Posted on August 21, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.34 • 2023-08-21

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth that Windows 11 users have directed at Microsoft, the tech giant still hasn’t corrected the OS’s most common failings. Fortunately, we can fix the problems ourselves.

  Microsoft plans to end technical support and security patches for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. (Redmond might extend that date — if big corporate users howl loudly enough — but don’t count on it.) It’s likely that we’re little more than a year away from being forced to run Win11, like it or not. You might as well make it work the way you want it to. Why suffer the dumbed-down user interface that you get out of the box?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.34.0, 2023-08-21).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender File Explorer, Newsletters, Start menu, StartAllBack, Windows 11, WinSetView

• The Windows Start menu: Trials and tribulations

  Posted on September 13, 2021 at 02:42 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS

  

  By Lance Whitney

  Don’t get me started: Windows 11 saddles us with yet another major change to the always vital but never quite right Start menu.

  Another version of Windows, another version of the Start menu. With Windows 11, Microsoft has unveiled its most dramatic change in years to a feature that’s always been a core part of Windows. Instead of the traditional vertical list of all the apps installed on your PC, we get a sparse, boxy window with links only to pinned and recommended apps. Getting to all your apps requires an additional step.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.35.0 (2021-09-13).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter AskWoody Plus Newsletter, History, Start menu, Windows

• Add Excel to Win10 Start menu most used list?

  Posted on July 27, 2016 at 14:25 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Another right-on question from RM:

  What a great article your wrote for info world on the modifying the start menu.
   
  I just upgraded about a dozen window 7 machines to windows 10 in our medical offices and have a question that I cannot seem to find an answer to:
   
  Some of our machines do not list excel and its jump list under “most used”, even if we use it a ton.  I have tried to clear the automatic destinations files as other have recommended but that does not work.  I thought there must be some way to add it to the top of the left side since our staff does not run with any tiles open.  According to what I have read on multiple web site, originally one could left drag and drop from a tile to the left side, but apparently this feature has been discontinued by MS.
   
  Any ideas how to either put excel and the jump list back into the “most used” list or alternatively, add a shortcut to the top of the left side the start menu.  Our staff gets confused with the shortcut in the taskbar, but this seems the only workaround
   
  Thanks for the great article and appreciate any help you could give me.

  Short answer: You can’t. There’s no way to directly change anything at the top of the left side of the Start menu, in Win10 RTM, Win10 Fall Update, or in Win10 Anniversary Update.

  The only way I know to get something onto the Most Used is to delete what’s on the list – right-click and “Don’t show in this list” — enough times to bring up the program you want.

  I found a way to move items up the “MFU” (“most frequently used”) list in earlier versions of Windows – you could manually manipulate a registry entry to rig the system. I haven’t been able to replicate that kludge in Win10.

  Windows News Start menu

• The inside story on Windows 10’s Start menu and how to customize it

  Posted on October 1, 2015 at 08:46 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Lots of surprises.

  InfoWorld slideshow

  Windows News Start menu, Windows 10

• Windows 10 Start menu secrets every desktop pro should know

  Posted on November 10, 2014 at 05:18 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  An amazingly large number of Windows 7/8 Start menu hacks carry over to Windows 10, with a few new twists – and a couple of apparent bugs (which will probably be fixed by the time Win10 ships).

  Good news for Win7 diehards — present company included.

  InfoWorld.

  Windows News Start menu, Windows 10

• Microsoft may bring back Start menu

  Posted on April 19, 2013 at 06:42 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Hope springs eternal… don’t rub our noses in Metro, Microsoft, dangle it like a carrot.

  InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Windows News Start menu, Windows 8.1

• The Windows Start menu superguide – Part I

  Posted on February 23, 2012 at 07:18 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  The first installment in the most thorough guide to the Start Menu ever.

  Windows Secrets Newsletter Top Story.

  Other Start menu
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