Windows Classic Start Menu and Desktop Reclamation - Part I
The first thing I did after XP installation was seek out ways to
eliminate the garish colors and return the interface to a more
soothing Windows 98 or 2000 scheme. The steps are detailed below.
Click on
Start/Settings/Control Panel - Select “Taskbar and Start Menu”
The properties sheet shown below will open.
The focus is now on
the “Taskbar Appearance” section.
If selected, “Lock the taskbar” keeps the taskbar locked at its
current position on the desktop and prevents size and position
changes of any toolbars displayed on the taskbar.
“Auto-hide the taskbar” keeps the taskbar hidden until you move
the cursor to whatever edge of the screen you keep the taskbar
anchored.
“Keep the taskbar on top of other windows” ensures it remains
visible even when other windows are in full screen mode.
“Group similar taskbar buttons” is in my estimation one of the
nicest features of XP. I switch between many documents when I work
and this feature groups similar documents together rather than
having them cluttering the taskbar with unreadable buttons. A highly
recommended feature.
The “Show Quick Launch” section is the area to the left of the
taskbar, right after the “Start” button, where you can place
shortcuts to your most used programs. Used wisely, this small area
can drastically reduce the need to use the “Start/Programs” series
of mouse movements or keystrokes.
Switch your focus to the “Notification Area”
“Show the clock” is self-explanatory. I keep it checked so I know
when it’s time for a Freecell fix.
“Hide inactive icons” is designed to keep the taskbar notification
area to the far right of the taskbar free of inactive icons. I’m
still not sure about this feature. Right now I have it disabled but
will be going back to give it a try at some point.
Switch to the “Start Menu” tab.
The focus is now on
the two “Start Menu” options available in XP
In this section there are two choices. The “Start Menu” which is
the default for XP and the “Classic Start Menu” which is similar to
the Win 98 and 2000 menus. If you like the XP look then “Start Menu”
is your choice. If not, click “Classic Start Menu” and the
“Customize Classic Start Menu” pictured below will open.
Under the “Start
Menu” section you find the “Add” “Remove” “Advanced” and “Sort”
options.
The “Add” option opens a wizard for selecting programs, creating
folders, and naming the new items created for the start menu.
The “Remove” option allows you to select existing items on the
start menu to be removed.
The “Advanced” option opens Windows Explorer to the section where
the user settings are stored on the hard drive. Basically, you can
accomplish the same tasks the “Add” and “Remove” options provide.
This option does make it easy to group and organize items already
present on the Start Menu.
“Sort” arranges the items on the Start Menu alphabetically,
folders first, followed by any individual items not placed in
folders.
Under “Advanced Start Menu Options” place checkmarks to
activate/deactivate options.
The first three choices are display options for “Administrative
Tools”, “Favorites”, and the “Run” menu. Select any you would like
to have available from the Start Menu.
The next choice, “Enable Dragging and Dropping” allows you to drag
and drop items onto the Start menu. I never found this very useful,
but it certainly doesn’t hurt anything to have it checked.
The next five menu items are “Expand” options. If checked, these
items will expand to reveal the submenu when you point at them on
the Start menu to eliminate having the choices open in a separate
window.
“Scroll Programs” allows the program selection menu to scroll up
and down if the number of entries becomes too long for your screen
real estate rather then expanding into a second column.
“Show Small Icons in Start Menu” is just what it says. Check it
and get rid of those icons which are the size of country estates.
“Use Personalized Menus” rubbed me wrong from the beginning. In
theory, it keeps the program menu clean by hiding programs which are
used infrequently. What determines ‘infrequently’, I’m not sure, but
if I have the program installed I want to see the icon without
having to point to an arrow at the bottom of the menu. This option
is showing up more frequently in numerous products and I make it a
point to disable it wherever it’s encountered.
This completes step one by reclaiming the Classic Windows Start
Menu. It may not be as flashy as the new XP offering, but it’s
compact and provides solid access to needed items without burning
the retinas.
Windows Classic Start Menu and Desktop Reclamation - Part II
Shown above is the
standard desktop you see the first time Windows XP Professional
loads. To open the “Display Properties” sheet, right click on any
open part of the desktop and select “Properties”.
The sheet shown above
will open with the five tabs displayed across the top. For the scope
of this article, we will only be dealing with the “Themes” and
“Desktop” tabs.
To see the theme choices available in XP, click the arrow on the
drop down box and the sheet changes as shown below.
Click on the theme of
your choice. In my case, it was the “Windows Classic” theme which is
partially visible behind the drop down selection box.
Once your selection has been made, click on the “Desktop” tab to
open the property sheet shown below.
[Bliss] is the
default background for new XP professional installations. In the
“Background” section, as shown below, select the background you
prefer. In this case, I have selected the (None) option which
displays the classic blue background.
Scroll down the list
of possible backgrounds and you’ll come to one called “Windows XP”
as shown below. Truthfully, I found this desktop rather pleasing and
ended up using it rather than the solid blue desktop shown in the
screen capture above. My one concession to the new XP interface.
Select [OK] to close
the property sheet and enjoy the Windows Classic look of old.
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