win7 How often do you use your start menu?

[Dot Matrix]

Precisely.. Search? for what? Too lazy to keep your stuff organized? Can't be bothered to pay attention to where things D/L to? This is the kind of behavior that got us to where we are ... what was once a hobby for only the most intelligent people is now being dumbed down to the absolute lowest common denominator...Win 8 is just the latest (and most damaging ) example of this.....when you surrender hvaing to be bothered with knowing where your files are you also surrender the ability to keep them private and secure....despite what MS want to tell us , most people do not give a rats ass about live updating tiles... they would much rather point and click and manage tasks they way they have for the last 20 + years... anyway, like cork said.. I have never used Search and can count on one or two fingers the people I have encountered in all my years as a tech and consultant who ever used it as well.....I know the answer to this (MS Store) , but why can't the windows UI be modular the way Linux is?? Choose the user environment at log in...

What a completely asinine statement. It's not being lazy, it's called being efficient. Whichever way you want to spin it, Search is more efficient for looking up things, than weeding through the old Start Menu or Explorer. It's an integral part of file management, and it ****es me off to no end to see such ignorance from other techies. Boo hoo, get over it. Ordinary people should not be left out of using tech because they don't know as much as we do, and there is no reason why computing needs to be this overly complex thing. Users don't want complexity. Hell, I'm a techie, and even I don't want it! Simplicity is key!

As for the live tiles, where's your source people don't care about them? Because they're a huge hit with bloggers on Windows Phone.

[grayscale]

+ a whole bunch!!

Pinning icons to the taskbar is even worse than half a million icons on the desktop, IMO. Looks like a slob that has no clue to what they're doing, uses the computer.

Don't know why so many of you say you only use it for searching either? What the heck are you searching for? Don't you know how to file/name things and know where you put them? I don't think I've used the search more than 3 times since it was invented!

Precisely.. Search? for what? Too lazy to keep your stuff organized? Can't be bothered to pay attention to where things D/L to? This is the kind of behavior that got us to where we are ... what was once a hobby for only the most intelligent people is now being dumbed down to the absolute lowest common denominator...Win 8 is just the latest (and most damaging ) example of this.....when you surrender hvaing to be bothered with knowing where your files are you also surrender the ability to keep them private and secure....despite what MS want to tell us , most people do not give a rats ass about live updating tiles... they would much rather point and click and manage tasks they way they have for the last 20 + years... anyway, like cork said.. I have never used Search and can count on one or two fingers the people I have encountered in all my years as a tech and consultant who ever used it as well.....I know the answer to this (MS Store) , but why can't the windows UI be modular the way Linux is?? Choose the user environment at log in...

Just because it is "searching" does not mean we need to find something or we have no control as to where our files are. There are keyboard users, you know, and for us who find typing faster than point, click this folder, click this folder, click the app, it's easier to just to press winkey -> type first 3 letters -> enter -> done. I keep my files organized for when I need to navigate through them. That doesn't mean I can't just type their names to launch it.

Also, on a time where devices are more into swipe, swipe, swipe, touch, how the hell is using a keyboard dumbed down?

[Rickkins]

I've been using 8rp since it came out. I use my start menu on a regular basis. I've never used the pinning thing... found it annoying. I revert back to the xp style taskbar.

Works for me.

Hell, I'm a techie

I find that hard to believe.

[falconhell]

I rarely use it, with everything in the dock in Windows 7 it makes things a lot simpler. At most I use the search feature of the Start menu. Very rarely the programs list.

[fehu]

every time that I need it

[Dot Matrix]

I find that hard to believe.

Why? Because I'm advocating simpler ways of doing things?

[jesseinsf]

I've learned to use it for system related tasks. Over the years I've also learned the benefits of Pinning apps and websites to the taskbar in Windows 7.

[Dick Montage]

Win 7 - all the time.

Search: {click start button on keyboard} type what I want

Run: {click start button on keyboard} type what I want

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Pretty sure I open my Start menu every 5 minutes at work, so I selected "all the time."

[(Account no longer active)]

This poll conflicts with Microsoft research, which states that "no one actually used the Start menu in Windows 7 and previous. That's why we're getting rid of it in Windows 8". Yeah right.

Watch the Windows 95 intro videos. The Start menu was revolutionary. It was a major step in consumer OS design. It blew Apple's System/Mac OS 7.x out of the water. It is a staple feature of Windows. And now Microsoft are replacing it! I do not agree with this. Full stop.

[psreloaded]

Well... all the time... i like to keep my taskbar and desktop clean... press start and start typing to find what i need...

Something I might have to let go if I start using Windows 8 as I hate the obtrusive nature of the start screen...

[ShMaunder]

When I use Windows then all the time. I have Quick Launch buttons to about 10 applications, a bunch of pinned start menu (XP style) applications and still use the start menu for more.

Searching is fine if you know exactly what you're looking for. I prefer to categorise as this jogs my memory to other related things that might be important to the task in hand.

At the end of the day, it depends what you using your computer for. If you only use a web browser, games and some music then the new way of doing things may suit you more than someone that opens 20+ applications in one session.

[Charisma Veteran]

I like a clean desktop without icons, so pretty much all the time. On a few machines I have ObjectDock installed instead for the most common things, but even that I don't like to be too cluttered, so Start still gets clicked frequently.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Most of the time. The most used apps are pinned to the taskbar, everything else is launched by searching via the start menu.

[Calum Veteran]

I use a Start screen rather than a Start Menu because I use Windows 8.

I use it quite a lot because I access it whenever I would like to launch a program or whenever I would like to check for updates from various live tiles. For most important things (e.g. email) I seem to get toast notifications (although one important area lacking in that respect in Windows 8 is with regard to Facebook notifications), but I pin certain tiles (people, weather etc.) to my Start screen and sometimes view the screen to check out those tiles.

[DKAngel]

i also have everything pinned so iavnt used the start menu for ages

[+devHead Subscriber²]

I downloaded the basketball game for Windows 8, so, now more often than before. That game is addictive, man!

[DKAngel]

Well... all the time... i like to keep my taskbar and desktop clean... press start and start typing to find what i need...

Something I might have to let go if I start using Windows 8 as I hate the obtrusive nature of the start screen...

win+x and boom theres your search and that can be done from the desktop =]

[Dot Matrix]

This poll conflicts with Microsoft research, which states that "no one actually used the Start menu in Windows 7 and previous. That's why we're getting rid of it in Windows 8". Yeah right.

Watch the Windows 95 intro videos. The Start menu was revolutionary. It was a major step in consumer OS design. It blew Apple's System/Mac OS 7.x out of the water. It is a staple feature of Windows. And now Microsoft are replacing it! I do not agree with this. Full stop.

But, they never got rid of it. It's still there, just evolved into the Start screen. Perhaps they were talking about the all programs section, which was a mess of epic proportions.

But the start screen was needed. The old start menu doesn't play well with new technology.

[Izlude]

In win7 I never actually clicked anything in the start menu. I just hit the winkey and typed what I needed and hit enter. I use winkey+e to open my computer Very simple and efficient. Back in winXP I had to browse through tiny folders in the programs section of the start menu. I hated that. Sometimes the list would be miles long xD

In win8 I still type and enter what I want, but sometimes I have to click "apps settings or files". What I like about the start screen Is that you don't have to browse those tiny folders. The launch icons are "right there" bam as you boot up.

[siah1214]

In win7 I never actually clicked anything in the start menu. I just hit the winkey and typed what I needed and hit enter. I use winkey+e to open my computer Very simple and efficient. Back in winXP I had to browse through tiny folders in the programs section of the start menu. I hated that. Sometimes the list would be miles long xD

In win8 I still type and enter what I want, but sometimes I have to click "apps settings or files". What I like about the start screen Is that you don't have to browse those tiny folders. The launch icons are "right there" bam as you boot up.

Use the keyboard to select apps settings or files, makes it easier.

[scorpian007]

I only press the windows key to search for apps/files, so don't really use the start menu anymore as such.

[Sir Topham Hatt]

All the time.

I use it to get to Computer to get to my disk drives. The menu also keeps all my programs neat (internet things under Internet, games under Games) but tidy looking too.

I guess I could just have "Computer" pinned but force of habit...

Will have to play around with Windows 8 a lot before I change.

[qdave]

I use it alot too. Even though my most common apps are pinned to there are still occasional program i have to launch from start menu.

[Active.]

There's a new version of Start8 out, by the way. :)

New in this BETA (version 0.95)

? New User Interface

? Start button and Winkey can be configured to go to the Start menu or the Modern UI

? Customize what appears in the right menu pane, icon size, number of icons, power

options (including quick startup)

? Jump Lists now support pinning

? New default theme

? Options to change the Start menu color

? Toggle to enable and disable translucency (defaults to disabled)

? New Start button

? Users can change the Start button

? Modern UI apps have their own "Modern UI Applications" folder under All Programs

? Search

? Now searches Control Panel items

? Now adds directory and UNC path browsing

? App Launching

? Shift + right-click shows Run As option

? Ctrl + shift when launching an app will launch elevated

? Fix: Tree mode in the All Programs menu closes the tree when you launch something

? Fixed issue for auto-hide taskbar

? Fixes for some elements that were not translating properly