Windows Help & Advice – May 2019

Windows 10

60 customisation tips

May 2019 | |^13

Startmenu precautions
Beforemakingmajorchangestoyour
Startmenu,navigateto‘Desktopand
Taskbar’>Backup/RestoreStartMenu
LayoutinWinaeroTweakertoexport
thecurrentlayout– justincase.

CustomisetheStart menu
UsethePersonalisation>Startsection
ofSettingstoconfigurecertainaspects
oftheStartmenu.Tilescanbeaddedby
right-clickingitemsandchoosing‘Pinto
Startmenu’.Youcanthenclickanddrag
itemstorearrangethem,orclickand
dragitemsontopofeachotherto
groupthemina folder.

LocktheStartmenu
Afteryou’vesetupthetilestoyour
satisfaction,openUltimateWindows
TweakerandnavigatetoCustomization

UniversalUIandtick‘LockStart
Tiles...’topreventaccidentally
rearrangingtheminfuture.

DitchtheStartmenu
StillhankeringaftertheWindows 7
Startmenu?Ouroldfavourite
alternativeStartmenu– ClassicStart–
hasbeenresurrectedundera newname
andupdatedtoworkwiththelatest
versionofWindows10.Downloadand
installOpen-Shellfromhttps://open-
shell.github.io/Open-Shell-Menu/

• duringinstallation,clicktheClassic
  ExplorerandClassicIEoptionsand
  choose‘Entirefeaturewillbe
  unavailable’toavoidinstallingthem.

Customisethe

QuickAccess menu

Press[Win]+[X]toaccessthe

alternativeStartmenu.Youcanchoose

exactlywhichoptionsappearonit by

downloadingandrunningtheportable

Win + X Menu Editor app (https://

winaero.com/download.php?view.21).

Restore desktop gadgets

Missing the old Windows 7 gadgets

that provide extra functionality on the

desktop? Visit http://win10widgets.

com/ to download Win10 Widgets, a

customised version of Rainmeter (see

final page of the feature) with the

gadgets pre-installed and running.

1
Install icons
Download and install Vi-Pad
(http://lee-soft.com/vipad/) – if the
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and unblock the program. During
installation, click Yes when prompted
to copy all existing desktop icons to
the Vi-Pad window, which will
happen in real-time as you watch.

2

Organise icons

All shortcut apps will appear in

a single tab – New Tab – spread over

multiple pages. Right-click New Tab to

rename it, or the ‘+’ button to create

additional tabs, so that you can organise

your apps into more categories. Once

that’s done, right-click an app icon to

move it to that tab.

3

Add new icons

You can drag new shortcuts into

any tab from the desktop or from File

Explorer. Right-click the program’s Taskbar

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translucent. You can also make the icons

larger or smaller if you wish using the

slider at the top of the menu.

Organise your desktop icons

Still hankering after the old Start menu?

Open-Shell is the new name for Classic Start.

8GadgetsPack allows you to restore desktop
gadgets to Windows 8.1 and 10.