Vista offered the option of restoring that "classic" Start Menu, but Windows 7, inexplicably, doesn't. Fortunately, there are at least two ways to accomplish this: one, a simple Registry tweak; the other, a shareware utility.
I'll start with the latter first, as it's arguably the easier of the two. Classic Start Menu (
http://www.classicstartmenu.com/index.html) replaces the Windows 7 Start Menu with, well, you can probably guess. Just install and run the utility, then click Start for a blast from the XP past:
As you can see, Classic Start Menu also leverages Windows' Aero features, so you get some of the best of both worlds.
Now for the bad news: CSMenu is nagware for the first 30 days, and after that it'll cost you $19.99. Ouch!
If you'd prefer a free solution, you can modify Windows 7 so that the Favorites menu becomes an XP-like Programs menu. Here's how:
1. Click Start, type
regedit, and press
Enter.
2. Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software \Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
3. Double-click the Favorites entry and replace the current path with this one:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs 4. Navigate to a second key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
5. Repeat Step 3.
6. Exit Regedit, then restart your PC.
Now, when you click Start, you should see a Programs menu on the righthand side. Mouse over to see the fly-out Programs menu of yore:
(Don't see it? You'll need to tweak the Start Menu settings. Right-click Start, then click Properties. In the Start Menu tab, click the Customize button. Scroll down to the Favorites menu entry, click its checkbox, and then click OK, OK.)
