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Is an Organized Efficient Start Menu the Holy Grail of Daily Computing?

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tinjaw:
This thread got me thinking. (I know. I know. Shut up. I have been know to think on occasion.) I was wondering if my personal quest of finding a Start Menu (Linux as well) organizational method that actually saves me time instead of wasting time is a universal quest. Lately, I have been finding a combination of FARR and Direct Access to be the closest to what I find the most intuitive, and only using the Start Menu occasionally. But I still feel the urge to reach Start Menu Nirvana.

For a while I used an alphabetical system with 26 lettered folders, but that didn't work particularly well and has been replaced by FARR. I always feel the urge to categorize all of my programs, with many programs being put in multiple categories, but that seems to be too much work to maintain and I can never seem to find a good category system.

I think if I could borrow, steal, or adapt somebody else's category system, and combine it with FARR and Direct Access, it might actually be productive.

Have any of you found a system that works particularly well for you?

Darwin:
My system is a combo of DirectAccess, TrueLaunchBar and DOpus. DOpus allows me to have the contents of two different folders displayed side by side (so any dual pane file manager will do... as this is a convenience, Windows Explorer will do just fine, actually!) I can then view my various Start Menu and Quick Launch folders and move links around between them and organise them. I'm pretty happy with this method - once you get your folders set up (Internet, Security, Productivity, Disk Management, File Management, etc.) it's pretty easy to drop and drag links to their appropriate folders.

PS I also have VistaStartMenu Pro installed and use it occasionally, too (went on a big kick to free up resources so its autostarting was a casualty along with things like SnagIt and Mophy Accents - DirectAccess abbreviations mean these are only a few taps on the keyboard away, anyway).

Lashiec:
I personally combine xplorer², FARR and a bit of "Run" dialog. But I'm proud of my Start Menu organization, so I could live with it.

jgpaiva:
I can't find any use for my start menu. I only keep it around in the rare cases where i can't remember the name of the app i'm looking for. Still, in these cases i usually use google or DC search to find the app i'm looking for, because it's much faster than to search through all the junk i've got in the Start menu.

I honestly think there's no point to it. In the rare situations i use the mouse to access something, i use the quick launch bar, where i keep my 9 most used apps.

mouser:
There are some tools to help you organize your start menu; i always meant to write one myself..

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