Spice Mines of Kessel

Chances are, there are some of you out there that do not like the fancy new Start Menu in Windows Vista. It may be too bloated with features or just too distracting. The option does exist for you to switch back to the basic Start Menu that has been a part of Windows since the days of Windows 95.

Just follow these steps.

1. Right-click on the Start Menu on the task bar
2. Choose Properties (A window will pop up)
3. In this window, you should see two radio buttons (the small round ones). Click the one that says “Classic Start Menu”
4. Click Apply
5. Click OK

Now, when you click on the Start Menu, you will get the classic style of menu. If you wish to add/remove options to/from the classic Start Menu, go back to that properties window in the above steps. Look to the right of the radio button you selected to switch to the Classic Start Menu and you will see a button that says “Customize…” on it. Click it and sort through the features in the new window that pops up.

If, by chance, you have the Classic Start Menu and you wish to use the fancy new Vista-style Start Menu, just follow the above steps and choose the radio button next to “Start Menu” instead of “Classic Start Menu”. Customizing the new Start Menu is a little different than customizing the Classic Start Menu. Features are usually on/off or displayed as a link or menu. This is also where you may add the Run command that has existed in previous Windows start menus, but not in the new Vista Start Menu by default.

With this information, you can now fix the Windows Vista Start Menu to be just the way you want.