Filed under: Fun, Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Mods
Vista Start Menu Emulator
by Jason Clarke Dec 27th 2006 at 9:30AM
This one's for the not-so-faint-of-heart out there. The Vista Start Menu Emulator intends to offer Windows XP users similar functionality to what is found in the Windows Vista start menu. While it appears to be making a good stab at it, unfortunately when I tested it I found it to be extremely unstable. The current version is already Release Candidate 1, implying the program has passed through the beta process and is virtually ready for general release, but my experience wasn't nearly good enough to warrant that label. In any event, your experience may differ, since I'm sure it wouldn't get to a release candidate stage without running virtually flawlessly for some people. The idea here is to give users a single-pane start menu, rather than the expanding one we have all come to be used to since Windows 95. It also offers the search field to allow you to search your start menu programs and launch them immediately.
If launching your applications using a text search is most interesting to you, I'd currently recommend either Colibri or Launchy, both of which have been covered here before.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike said 1:03PM on 12-27-2006
This is the last thing we need. The Vista Start menu is horrible. The whole thing is counter intuitive. I shouldn't have to hit a back button ever other click just to find a program. The XP Start menu is just fine when you place programs in topic groups like Hardware, Security, Graphics, etc.
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digitalrift said 6:35PM on 12-27-2006
...I'm sorry, but have you used the Vista start menu?
You hardly ever hit that back button.
Aside from being a bit on the small side in terms of the viewing space, it's loads better than XP. That, and you really shouldn't have to sift through icons anyway, because you can just start typing what you want, like Quicksilver on OS X or Launchy on Windows.
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Catweazle said 8:13PM on 12-27-2006
I'm afraid I have to agree, the Vista start menu is very disappointing. Personally I still believe the classic 95 start menu is about as good as you can possibly get and still use it in XP to this day. All you have to do is organize it, everytime you install a new program move that shortcut into a category and delete the folder and other junk the program makes. I have only 6 entries in mine; Accessories, Applications, Games, Multimedia, Internet and System Tools. Every program on my system goes in one of those folders. No need for scrolling, personalized menus, start panels or any of the other nonsense they have tried to come up with, especially with Vista.
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musicphreke said 9:15PM on 12-27-2006
i agree, it's very unstable right now. and it seems slow as far as when you hover over stuff it takes too long to show that you're hovering it. maybe the final will be better.
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hazrard said 5:32AM on 12-28-2006
ahh .. I still prefer jetToolBar
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Andrea Nagar said 11:19AM on 12-28-2006
What do you think about Direct Access for launching applications? It's available from http://www.nagarsoft.com
You can launch your favorite application just typing an abbreviation in any application.
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james-42 said 5:37PM on 12-28-2006
I agree with Catweazle, 'Classic Mode' for the start menu (and all of XP for that matter) is the way to go. Can't get much more elegant or simple.
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conedude13 said 6:24PM on 12-29-2006
I was totally thinking of launchy as i got to the end of this post! It's user interface is nice and simple and is easy to start up any program from it.
I haven't tried this vista start menu, but i have tried the vista transformation pack. this is just another vista emulator for xp that is, also, not for the faint of hard, perhaps even more so this time.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Vista-Transformation-Pack.shtml
this doesn't have that search bar at the bottom of the start menu though. it just makes everything look like it were from vista. pretty much just a fresh coat of paint for xp. I like change though, i'm just not ready for vista and probably won't go to it. thats what i said about xp though. only time will tell.
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Norman said 9:55PM on 1-20-2007
The Vista Start Menu Emulator is horrible. The button looks disgusting. It doesn't even stay on top. And to organise the menu, you need to go through a very long process. It would be faster just to use the normal Windows XP Start Menu. It would be good if it replaced the original Start Menu, the icon was the right colour, and it could be organised as it is in Vista. And the Vista Transformation Pack doesn't do anything but change the colours and icons. There should be a real Vista Start Menu Emulator. One that actually works how it should.
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Ashley said 9:02AM on 3-26-2007
i'm having trouble with the shutdown/restart button it appears in the search bar?
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