Chances are that it’s a mish-mash of recently installed programs mixed with a few programs you chose from the All Programs list. You might have different programs but still not likely to be a very useful selection.

Even my clients might see some of them – I didn’t get in the habit of removing them until recently. Go read about it.)Ĭlick on your Start button and see if you have any of those programs still listed on your own Start menu.

Sticky notes? Paint? Windows 7 is the best desktop operating system ever released – why would XPS Viewer be listed prominently on the menu that people see during their first experience with the OS? The default programs on the Windows 7 Start menu are poorly chosen and useless for most people. The picture above shows the programs on the Windows 7 Start menu when it is freshly installed. A fair number of people open their Documents and Pictures folders from the Start menu.Ībout two thirds of the Start menu space is taken up by that big white column on the left. Occasionally you have some reason to open Control Panel. You probably click on the Start orb to get to the power button to shut down or restart the computer. Here’s a secret: most of you don’t use the Start menu for much of anything. We are emotionally attached to it at a deep level, as you will discover when you try to adjust to a different concept in Windows 8. It was introduced in ancient times in Windows 95 and expanded to two columns in Windows XP. We have a long relationship with the Windows Start menu.

Windows 7 start menu