MASTER THE START MENU
Introduced in Windows 95, the Start Menu is one of the operating system’s most recognisable features. It’s undergone several transformations over the past 25 years. Its most radical overhaul was the addition of tiles in Windows 8, which initially hogged the entire screen when Start was clicked. After much uproar, Microsoft relented and allowed users to shrink these tiles to less intrusive dimensions, but the current Start menu remains a contentious issue. However, with a bit of tweaking, you can tame this unwieldy tool to suit your needs.
Remove unwanted tiles
In its default state, the Start menu provides quick access to Windows’ most commonly used tools. But it also serves to push you toward programs Microsoft would like you to use, such as Skype and Windows Mail, and games like Candy Crush. Fortunately, you can now do away with any tile that you never use – or even an entire group. Simply right-click its heading, followed by ‘Unpin group from Start’ (see screenshot above right).
The programs within this group won’t be uninstalled from your PC and will still be displayed in the Start menu’s column on the left, but removing their tiles makes space for other, more useful tiles - or just a more streamlined Start menu.
You can also rearrange a group in the Start menu by clicking and dragging it (other groups will shuffle out of the way to accommodate its new position).
For more nuanced control, drag individual tiles to move them between groups, and right-click a single tile to unpin it from Start.
Make your Start menu more useful
Some tiles provide information without needing to launch the program they’re associated with. Known as ‘live tiles’, these flip over to reveal the extra information as soon as you open the Start menu. For example, the Weather tile will display the forecast for your local area. The amount of information displayed depends on the size of the tile. To change the size of a tile, right-click it and hover over Resize, then try the different sizes (see screenshot above right) to see how each setting affects the tile’s display.
To add a program to a group of tiles, find it in the list of software on the left of the Start menu, right-click its name and select ‘Pin to Start’. If it’s a program you use all the time, you can go further by right-clicking it, hovering over More in the menu that opens and clicking ‘Pin to taskbar’ instead.
This adds it to the collection of program icons to the right of the Start menu, where it can be launched by holding down the Windows key and pressing the number that correlates to its position from the left.
So, if your taskbar displays (from the left) the Windows icon, Cortana, Search and Task View buttons, followed by four program icons, pressing Windows+1 would launch the first program, Windows+3 the third, and so on (ignoring Windows’ default tool icons).
You’ll notice that there are quick links to your Documents and Pictures folders on the left of the Start menu (the second and third icons down on the far left). You can remove or add icons here via Settings. Click Personalisation followed by Start, then click ‘Choose which folders appear on Start’ and use the sliders to enable/ disable the various options.