Making the Start Menu More Efficient

The whole purpose of the Start menu is, as its name implies, to start things, particularly programs and documents. Yes, you can also launch these objects via shortcut icons on the desktop, but that’s not a great alternative because the desktop is covered most of the time by windows. So, if you want to get something going in Windows Home Server, the vast majority of the time you’re going to have to do it via the Start menu. The good news is that Windows Home Server’s Start menu is wonderfully flexible and is geared, in fact, to launching objects with as few mouse clicks or keystrokes as possible. To get to that state, however, you have to work with a few relatively obscure options and settings, which you’ll learn about in the next few sections.

Activating the Frequent Programs List

In other versions of Windows, the Start menu includes a section called the frequent programs list, which is a collection of shortcuts that represent the programs you’ve used most often. As you work, Windows Home Server tracks program usage, so it knows those programs that you’ve started most often.