Graphical user interface element included in Microsoft Windows since Windows 95
This article is about the GUI element. For the keyboard button that summons the Start menu, see Windows key.
The Start menu is a graphical user interface element that has been part of Microsoft Windows since Windows 95, providing a means of opening programs and performing other functions in the Windows shell. The Start menu, and the Taskbar on which it appears, were created and named in 1993 by Daniel Oran, a program manager at Microsoft who had previously collaborated on great ape language research with the behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner at Harvard.[1][2][3][4]
The Start menu was renamed Start screen in Windows 8, before returning to its original name with Windows 10. It has been co-opted by some operating systems (like ReactOS) and Linux desktop environments for providing a more Windows-like experience, and as such is, for example, present in KDE, with the name of Kickoff Application Launcher, and on Xfce with the name of Whisker Menu.
Traditionally, the Start menu provided a customizable nested list of programs for the user to launch, as well as a list of most recently opened documents, a way to find files and obtain assistance, and access to the system settings. Later enhancements via Windows Desktop Update included access to special folders such as "My Documents" and "Favorites" (browser bookmarks). Windows XP's Start menu was expanded to encompass various My Documents folders (including My Music and My Pictures), and transplanted other items like My Computer and My Network Places from the Windows desktop. Until Windows Vista, the Start menu was constantly expanded across the screen as the user navigated through its cascading sub-menus.
^Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (1998-07-09). "Books of the Times; A Jungle? It's Murder, It's a Conspiracy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
^Weinberger, Matt (2015-07-30). "'He was literally a rocket scientist. And even he couldn't figure out Windows.'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2015-08-07. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
^Andrews, Paul (1999). How the Web was won : Microsoft from Windows to the Web : the inside story of how Bill Gates and his band of internet idealists transformed a software empire (1st ed.). New York: Broadway Books. pp. 244–5. ISBN 0-7679-0048-0. OCLC 40820951.
^Inside out : Microsoft--in our own words. Microsoft Corporation. New York, NY: Warner Books. 2000. p. 30. ISBN 0-446-52739-4. OCLC 45226466.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
The Startmenu is a graphical user interface element that has been part of Microsoft Windows since Windows 95, providing a means of opening programs and...
restore familiar features from past versions of Windows. It focuses on the Startmenu, File Explorer and Internet Explorer — three major components of the Windows...
graphical user interface. Its function is to toggle a menu (sometimes referred to as a hamburger menu) or navigation bar between being collapsed behind the...
readily identifiable elements consist of the desktop, the taskbar, the Startmenu, the task switcher and the AutoPlay feature. On some versions of Windows...
desktop windows and a more traditional Startmenu in place of the Start screen seen in Windows 8. The new Startmenu takes after Windows 7's design by using...
reverted in February 2022 insider builds.) Some functionality from the Startmenu was removed and replaced with other features. Folders and groups (reinstated...
Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system introduced an updated Startmenu known as the "Start screen", which uses a full-screen design consisting of tiles...
from the Startmenu. Connect To and Network are no longer available on the Startmenu by default; users can still add these links to the Startmenu. Dynamically...
features that have been part of the product ever since, including the Startmenu, the taskbar, and Windows Explorer (renamed File Explorer in Windows 8)...
Windows 10 reintroduced the startmenu as seen in versions of Windows prior to 8. However, unlike these versions, the new startmenu includes live tile features...
button Startmenu, element in the Windows GUI Start screen (Windows) Start signal, in telecommunications Start (Stefanie Sun album), 2002 Start (Mameshiba...
shell influenced by the canceled Windows 10X, including a redesigned Startmenu, the replacement of its "live tiles" with a separate "Widgets" panel on...
the startmenu. Ctrl+Esc performs the same function, in case the keyboard lacks this key. Historically, the addition of two Windows keys and a menu key...
In Windows XP, the Startmenu shortcut to NetMeeting was removed “by design”. Users must start conf.exe manually from the Startmenu Run dialog. As of...
version of Microsoft Windows to include the Modern Windows Feel (Taskbar, StartMenu.) Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Microsoft...
Pokki, a replacement for Windows 8's StartMenu Pokki is designed to return the core functionality of the StartMenu, to restore features such as the ability...
introduced in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. If a user clicks on the News Startmenu tile when a particular story is shown, the user will see a link to that...
is being used. In Windows Server 2003 and earlier, a folder like the "StartMenu" had a different name on non-English versions of Windows. For example...
Starting with Windows 95, the Run command is accessible through the Startmenu and also through the shortcut key ⊞ Win+R. Although the Run command is...
facilitating switching between running programs. The taskbar and the associated StartMenu were created and named in 1993 by Daniel Oran, a program manager at Microsoft...
extension by SweetLabs, Inc. that alters the startmenu to a look and feel like the second generation startmenu used before Windows 8. The extension also...
The Startmenu is coming back to Windows". PC World. IDG. Retrieved April 2, 2014. "Future Windows 8.1 update will finally bring back the Startmenu". Ars...
hidden, and can be clicked/tapped to be shown. New startmenu: Microsoft redesigned the startmenu with a focus on productivity, with the search box now...
Apple menu is a drop-down menu that is on the left side of the menu bar in the classic Mac OS, macOS and A/UX operating systems. The Apple menu's role...
indexes shortcuts in the startmenu, and files in specific folders, to allow quicker access to programs without opening the startmenu or browsing to folders...
U Menu is the main dashboard of the system, acting as an application organizer and launcher. It is a graphical shell similar to the Wii's "Wii Menu" and...
HTML, RTF and OLE private data. In Windows XP, it is not listed in the Startmenu and can only be accessed through its executable file, ClipBrd.exe. Windows...