SOLVED Windows 8 start menu "replacement" (specific need)

[JeremyCT]

I've been using Win8 now for about a week as my primary OS. I had played with it for a few months, on and off, before that with the beta and release candidate through Technet.

TBH, I find the updates to the underlying engine/kernel are noticeable and welcome. It's very snappy, even compared to Win7. I don't mind the Start Screen as a replacement for the Start Menu. I find that it's not as terrible as the some of the more zealous seem to think. And "adventure mode" Minesweeper is actually kind of awesome, lol. That my opinion, you're welcome to your own.

The one thing I miss is direct access to the "Downloads", "Music", etc folders from the old Start Menu. The only real replacement for that functionality built into Win8 is firing up the File Manager and clicking the folder that I want on the left side of the screen. It's passable, but I decided to try this "Classic Start Menu" that everyone keeps raving about.

What a waste of my time.

What it gives you: a start-like menu that looks largely like the stock Start Menu from various previous versions of Windows.

What it doesn't give: Any of the power-user items that could be added to the Start Menu previously. Administrative tools. Direct access to the videos, music, or downloads User directory. Oddly enough, it provides options for adding the root User directory, Documents, and Pictures folders to it's menu, but it stops there and the rest aren't available unless I'm totally blind and missed it in the settings customizer. This functionality has been in Windows since XP, I don't see how the Classic Shell people missed this, but it appears they did.

So, what do I do from here? I guess I could keep trying each of the recommended "start menu replacement" programs, but I really don't actually want a full start menu replacement. I just want direct access to each individual User directory from a menu system.

Would a custom Jump List be the best way to do this? Any thoughts for achieving that sort of functionality easily are welcome.

 

[hafa]

Music shows up in the initial File Explorer screen; you can add a library to this screen by right click > new > library. You can then assign the downloads folder to this library.

 

[JeremyCT]

I'm aware, but I'd rather launch the folder I want directly rather than launching File Explorer and then clicking the folder I want. It's a small difference I'll admit, but one I think I should be able accomplish.

 

[anonymuos]

I've been using Win8 now for about a week as my primary OS. I had played with it for a few months, on and off, before that with the beta and release candidate through Technet.

TBH, I find the updates to the underlying engine/kernel are noticeable and welcome. It's very snappy, even compared to Win7. I don't mind the Start Screen as a replacement for the Start Menu. I find that it's not as terrible as the some of the more zealous seem to think. And "adventure mode" Minesweeper is actually kind of awesome, lol. That my opinion, you're welcome to your own.

The one thing I miss is direct access to the "Downloads", "Music", etc folders from the old Start Menu. The only real replacement for that functionality built into Win8 is firing up the File Manager and clicking the folder that I want on the left side of the screen. It's passable, but I decided to try this "Classic Start Menu" that everyone keeps raving about.

What a waste of my time.

What it gives you: a start-like menu that looks largely like the stock Start Menu from various previous versions of Windows.

What it doesn't give: Any of the power-user items that could be added to the Start Menu previously. Administrative tools. Direct access to the videos, music, or downloads User directory. Oddly enough, it provides options for adding the root User directory, Documents, and Pictures folders to it's menu, but it stops there and the rest aren't available unless I'm totally blind and missed it in the settings customizer. This functionality has been in Windows since XP, I don't see how the Classic Shell people missed this, but it appears they did.

So, what do I do from here? I guess I could keep trying each of the recommended "start menu replacement" programs, but I really don't actually want a full start menu replacement. I just want direct access to each individual User directory from a menu system.

Would a custom Jump List be the best way to do this? Any thoughts for achieving that sort of functionality easily are welcome.

You seem to be unaware and not even have explored Classic Shell's features before ranting. It lets you add ANY item - Downloads, Music, Administrative Tools from Customize Start Menu tab. Blaming your ignorance on the excellent app, well done.

 

[hafa]

Another option would be to right-click>send to>desktop to create individual shortcuts for the respective folders, then put all the shortcuts in a desktop folder. You could then pin the folder to the taskbar (drag it there). If you then right-click on the pinned folder, you'll get a list of shortcuts to the folders.

I think that a library is more efficient, however. It's the same number of operations:

start>directory
library>directory

My most recent suggestion is actually the least efficient:

taskbar>folder>directory

 

[JeremyCT]

You seem to be unaware and not even have explored Classic Shell's features before ranting. It lets you add ANY item - Downloads, Music, Administrative Tools from Customize Start Menu tab. Blaming your ignorance on the excellent app, well done.

Well, I did say "unless I'm blind" which I've been known to suffer acute attacks of from time to time. How do I add those other things that aren't available under the Customize Start Menu tab? The things I'm looking for weren't in the list.

 

[Tarl]

Sorry, but the designers of Classic Shell deserve great kudos! It is a GREAT program and instrumental in me running and liking Windows 8. I'm very happy with that program installed and it meets ALL my needs. Very well done!

 

[JeremyCT]

All these people telling me I'm missing something/doing it wrong, and nobody offering any help or guidance for how to get what I want from the program. Thanks for all the help, guys. /sarcasm

It's not exactly straightforward because it doesn't default to the way the Windows Start Menu works. If you create a custom item for Downloads, it merely acts as a sub-menu header. Clicking "Downloads" opens a sub-menu to the right containing a list of the contents of that folder instead of actually opening the folder in a new window like I wanted. If you set the "Don't Expand" check box, it operates as I wanted. The default My Documents item, however, apparently cannot be set to not operate as a sub-menu header. The "Don't Expand" option has no effect, and the only option is to create a second "custom item" for your Start Menu if you want "My Documents" to open in a new window.

The custom item function seems to be pretty flexible, but it's weird to be using so many custom items (I'm up to 4) simply to replicate stock Start Menu functions, which is what I thought Classic Shell was supposed to do right out of the box.

Oh well. At least I got it to do what I wanted. Perhaps this will help someone else.