I have a ton of programs installed on my computer, far more than I can remember.
The Windows XP Start Programs menu is terrible if you have a lot of programs installed. If you have it set to display the programs in a series of menus that cover the screen, it only gets to those that start with H on my system. If you have it set to scroll, it doesn’t use a normal list window with a scroll bar, that lets you use page up and page down and home and end keys, and you can’t type Hipihi to get to Hipihi, you have to press H repeatedly to get to it, because if you type Hipihi, it goes to the first on that starts with H, then the first on that starts with I, and so on. The scrolling is so awkward and slow it is quite unpleasant using it.
You could almost use Windows Explorer to do what I want but that is kind of awkward. It’s not as good as having a special purpose program could be.
What I’m looking for would be something likek a special purpose program that would list the same programs the the Start Programs menu does, but have normal scrollbars, allow use of page up, page down, home, end, allow you to move to Hipihi by typing Hipihi.
I can find a number of program launchers but not much in the way of program listers. Launchy, Colibri, Rock-it, are doing something different, they are trying to speed up accessing programs that you know the name of. I want something that lists all the installed applications that are listed by Programs Start.
It would be great to have something that would list just the programs and not the uninstall programs – I want to run programs a lot more than I want to uninstall them, but that might be asking too much.
Unable To Connect - SuezanneC Baskerville 
April 22, 2008 at 11:06 pm
If you find one, let me know, I’d be glad for it. Personally I’ve moved all my icons to my quicklaunch. You can create custom folders that popout like the start menu, but it uses a lot less space and generally loads faster. Haven’t touched “All Programs” in ages.
April 23, 2008 at 5:35 am
Ditto here, moreover, I’ve written a tutorial on it:
http://johnbokma.com/windows/quick-launch.html
April 24, 2008 at 12:04 am
The detailed procedure describe by John Bokma is likely to be of value to some folks.
It’s not at all what I’m looking for, though. ‘
I don’t have to manually find programs and create shortcuts and move them around to find them in the Start Programs menu.
All normal conventionally behaved installed applications are in the Start Programs list with no effort on my part.
I could make a system of folders and subfolders but that’s exactly what I don’t want. I want one continuous list of applications so that I can start at the top and work my way to the bottom and see what I have. I have a lot of programs.
The Add and Remove Programs function in Control Panel has some interesting aspects. It lists support websites for many applications.
That would be nice to have.
A display with columns for application name, application website, a description of what the program does, that would be nice.
When I want to use Corel Draw, for example, I don’t want to have to remember that I put it in a Graphics subfolder.