Let's resize the Windows 7 Start Menu

I've long complained that the narrow Programs area of the Windows 7 Start menu gives a claustrophobic feel compared to the cascading menus of Windows XP and earlier.

Since the start menu's shape isn't hardcoded (I know this from how it supports arbitrary DPI settings) that there must be way some way of hacking it to make it wider, perhaps by modifying some value within explorer.exe or something (since there's obviously no registry setting for this).

Fortunately my trouble has been saved. Some Polish chap has written a program that modifies the .mui file that defines the width of the start menu. It's a shame because it's impossible to find this program using english search terms, I had to do some investigation to find the right polish keywords to google for in order to find the program.

Clickey.

I've just run it on my laptop, and after a quick restart I now have a (more) usable start menu that doesn't require horizontal scrolling.

Meh. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. I so rarely make it past [WinKey, *typetypetype*, Enter] that I've never noticed any of that.

I was very glad when they did away with the cascading menus.

Edit: Hey, I made it in before Paolo could bring up Start menu search.

kettch said:

Meh. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. I so rarely make it past [WinKey, *typetypetype*, Enter] that I've never noticed any of that.

 

I was very glad when they did away with the cascading menus.

 

 

Edit: Hey, I made it in before Paolo could bring up Start menu search.

Honestly I haven't felt trapped in the Win7 start menu. 9/10 times I use the search.

spivonious said:

Honestly I haven't felt trapped in the Win7 start menu. 9/10 times I use the search.

I hate search.

There, I said it.

It's called a GUI, if you want to type in the name of the program to run it, use unix

rhm said:

spivonious said:

*snip*

I hate search.

 

There, I said it.

 

It's called a GUI, if you want to type in the name of the program to run it, use unix

Actually I launch pretty much everything from the taskbar these days, I've found that covers most of my needs without ever having to resort to the start menu.

AndyC said:

rhm said:

*snip*

Actually I launch pretty much everything from the taskbar these days, I've found that covers most of my needs without ever having to resort to the start menu.

++;

AndyC said:

rhm said:

*snip*

Actually I launch pretty much everything from the taskbar these days, I've found that covers most of my needs without ever having to resort to the start menu.

I just wish that switching the taskbar to small icons actually got you more room than it does.

That's pretty smart. I can see how it would be annoying if you ever had to scroll horizontally in the start menu.

I actually don't have any use for it because I just checked and everything fits just fine  for me. The longest name I have in my Start Menu is "East West EWQLSO Gold Edition" and there's still room for a few more characters. Even when I open stuff that's a folder nested inside a folder it still all fits horizontally.

I didn't think I would like "search" in the start menu but now I wouldn't want it any other way. I almost never scroll through it any more.

kettch said:

AndyC said:

*snip*

I just wish that switching the taskbar to small icons actually got you more room than it does.

I agree and the fact that the notification badges don't work with the small icons too is a strange decision.