The Good
* Straightforward and easy to use.
* Allows users to easily go between "All Users" and current user's start menu entries.
* Has a feature to search the start menu.
* Has a start menu "shortcut validator".
* Comes with a few simple start menu tweaks, like change menu speed, hide menu button, etc.

The Bad
* Most of the things done by Easy Start Menu Organizer can be done very easily in Windows natively - no need for third party software.
* The "shortcut validator" does not work properly.
* The "hide taskbar" feature does not properly hide the taskbar.
* The "hide clock" feature hides the clock but still leaves an empty spot where the clock used to be.
* The search feature is a bit laggy.
* When navigating start menu entries, the entry you have your cursor over is automatically highlighted - this is very annoying.
* If you accidentally try to rename the main start menu directory, Easy Start Menu Organizer will bug out on you.

Free Alternatives
Tidy Start Menu

For final verdict, recommendations, and full review please click here.

Ashraf  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+159)

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I would have questioned the need for such a program - until I saw someone who had hundreds of items in the first level of their start menu (ahem... a friend of mine). For such a person a tool to perhaps assist in directing the contents of the start menu into a place of structure and order, might be appreciated.

But I'm not convinced that this would be the program or direction I would take - it seems all the "Start Menu Organizers" take this path - of categories, then break down from that level.

There are others who have developed similar programs - for example:

SMOz http://smoz.sourceforge.net/

and the organizer that forms a part of Winstep Extreme (has both a free and $$$ version)
Winstep Start Menu Organizer http://www.winstep.net/index.asp?cat=organizer

Yes - you can do all of this with windows explorer (there are no medals for organizing your menu this way - and claims that you are somehow better because you can, might only mean that your task isn't as big as somebody elses) - but the point here is obviously enough people feel that while you can dig a hole for a swimming pool with a broken tree branch (I'm being generous to Windows Explorer here), some want a shovel or something even more industrial.

Windows also comes with a disk defrag program - yet lots of people go out and choose their own because the "windows way" doesn't meet their needs. I think that was the idea behind these start menu organisers... someone doing this task using explorer has thought - there has to be a better/faster way to do this.

I'm undecided - perhaps I could use software like this, but being the procrastinator I am - any task as big as my start menu (or cleaning up my hard drives) can wait a bit longer.

BuBBy  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+72)

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@5. MSCONFIG?

It's back to minesweeper for you. :P

BuBBy  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+41)

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I have MANY programs installed, and I'm looking for this kind of programs for a long time. This one should be nice, but it is in fact very unstable, and the diff. accounts are not managed together.
More complicated that just plain Windows explorer, confusig. Thumb down.

NYB  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+23)

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Seemed to install OK on Windows7, but impossible to get it to register.
Tried to install as administrator, but same problem. When starting the program, I am informed this is a trial-version, and I have until march 8th to try it for free.

The actual use of the program is about as expected. Better than using Windows Explorer, but not much.

I have tried to organize my start menus before, and when I upgrade, sometimes the upgraded programs place themselves in the root of my start menu. This resulting in my having two entries, one in the root and one neatly in the folder where I want it.
Using Easy Start Menu organizer to correct this "error" confuses the program. Instead of informing me there is allready an item with the same name in that folder, do I want to keep/delete it, it goes on a loop. Annoying, but in the end, the program shows two similar items in the start-menu.
The actual start-menu only has the program once, so it seems to get the job done, albeit it has a curious way of getting there.

So:
- Does not seem to activate in Windows7
- It works a little bit better than Windows explorer for the advertised task
- Seems like the program still have a few bugs (but in fairness, this COULD be because I am running Windows7)

Thumbs down on this one.

spredo  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+22)

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