Tweaking the Folders That Appear on Windows 10’s Start Menu

Have you ever explored deeper into the settings and tweaks that you can do to the new Start Menu in Windows 10? If you haven’t done it yet then you need to do so because this resurrected feature has some pretty awesome innovations which are not available in the Start Menu that used to be found in older Windows editions such as Vista and Windows 7!

Yes! There are plenty of settings, options and tweaks to experiment with and if you really want to maximize the use of this new and improved feature in Windows 10 then we’ll help you learn even more about it and this time, we will be doing some tweaks on the folders and links that appear on its left hand portion. But before anything else, let us first get oriented with the overall layout of the Start Menu in your newly upgraded Windows 10 computer.

A Better Tool for the New Breed of Windows OS

If you can remember back in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, the Start Menu was replaced by the Start Screen which is nowhere closer than the real thing that it is supposed to have replaced. The Start Screen only contained the tiles that represent the modern apps that are built-in with Windows 8/8.1 and as well as those that are installed from the Windows Store. If you’d like to add a shortcut for a Desktop program to it then you would need to do so manually which was a big hassle especially if you’re the busy type of user.

Thankfully, Microsoft  has listened to all the complaints of their loyal customers and with the help of all the feedback that they were able to collect through the Windows Insider Program, the company was able to come up with the new Start Menu that us not just focused on the Modern environment but also gives enough attention to the traditional Desktop OS platform. As a result, the new Start Menu now looks like the one that is shown on the screenshot below.

WindowsTechies_564

As you can see, the new and improved Start Menu now has 2 major parts which equally represent both the Desktop and Mobile environments. Now this is a very welcome improvement from the Start Screen which seem to be more inclined only towards the Mobile side of Microsoft’s new breed of operating system. If you have upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 then there’s really not much to talk about regarding the right portion of the new Start Menu since it works exactly like the Start Screen.

WindowsTechies_716

For instance, you can still resize tiles, move them wherever you want within this right portion of the Start Menu and as well as group and name them when you want to. You can also pin and unpin items from this section in the same way as how it was done back in Windows 8/8.1. To learn more tweaks that you can do to the appearance of the Start Menu, you can read our previous two part tutorial series that demonstrates everything in great detail.

What About the Items on the Left

Now, let’s shift over to the  left side of the new Start Menu and you will see some items in it that are actually similar to the stuff that you see in the old Start Menu that is found in older Windows editions like XP, Vista and Windows 7. This section features a list of your most used programs and apps on top and as well as the ones that you have recently installed/added into your computer. At the bottom most portion of this left side of the Start Menu are links that are most useful to any user which are labeled as “File Explorer”, “Settings”, “Power” and “All apps”.

WindowsTechies_717

However, these 4 links at the bottom of the left-hand portion of the Start Menu are not the only ones that can be displayed. Yes! You can still add even more links to this list like “Documents”, “Downloads”, “Music”, “Pictures” and many others and if you do this, you’re actually bringing back the old Start Menu to its fullest sense into your Windows 10 machine. To start doing this tweak, you will simply need to open the modern “Settings” Window by clicking on the “Settings” link which is found at the bottom-left portion of the Start Menu as highlighted on the screenshot below.

WindowsTechies_718

After the “Settings” link is clicked, the modern Settings Window will open and from here, you will simply need to click on the category link that is labeled “Personalization” as shown below. This is where the tweaks to Windows 10’s initial appearance are found.

WindowsTechies_720

Now, once the “Personalization” section of the modern Settings Window opens, you will need to put your attention to the items that are found on the navigation pane at the left portion of the screen and from here, you will need to click on the item that says “Start”.

WindowsTechies_706

After the “Start” link is clicked from the left navigation pane, you will now be taken to the section where all available tweaks for the new Start Menu are displayed. What’s awesome about the tweaks in Windows 10 is that they only have On/Off switches so you will simply need to flick a certain switch to the “On” position by clicking on it if you want to turn the feature on or flick it “Off” if you want to disable it. In this way, you won’t be doing too much clicking or you won’t even need to be staying so long on a certain Window just to do some tweaks.

WindowsTechies_723

Now, since we are trying to add even more links to important system locations, libraries and folders to the bottom-left portion of the Start Menu, we would now need to click on the link that is located at the bottom of the “Start” section which says “Choose which folders appear on Start” as highlighted on the screenshot above. After doing so, you will now be taken to a list of all available items that can be displayed on this section of the Start Menu and you will notice that “File Explorer” and “Settings” are the only ones that are currently turned on hence, they are the only ones that are displayed at the bottom-left portion of the Start Menu aside from “Power” and “All apps” which are permanently enabled.

WindowsTechies_715

From this list, all you need to do is click on each of the switch for the items that you want to be displayed at the bottom-left portion of the Start Menu and after doing so, each of the items that you have enabled or turned on should now appear at the bottom-left portion of the Start Menu as you can see on the screenshot below.

WindowsTechies_725

As you can see, you can easily tweak the new Start Menu according to your liking and what’s awesome about it is that all of the items that can be added are all useful and can offer quick and easy access to different sections within the Windows operating system. Windows 10 and the Start Menu in it are indeed improved and made even better so what are you waiting for? Get your FREE Windows 10 Upgrade now and enjoy these great features that are offered by Microsoft’s latest operating system edition dubbed as “the best one yet”!