Poor man's Start Menu in Windows 8

Start Menu was introduced in Windows 95, it has been in use by many versions of Windows for many years. Now it is gone in Windows 8, at least in Release Preview. As a keyboard guy, I am used to directly type the app name partially since Vista, so it is not a big deal to say bye bye to Start Menu. But sometimes I do want to see the hierarchical list of apps instead of sorting them alphabetically, particularly when there are duplicated names. Here is the quick way to have a poor man’s start menu without using any app (in fact it’s a folder toolbar).

1. Right click the task bar, and choose Toolbars -> New toolbar.

2. Browse to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu, and click “Select Folder” button. Note that C:\ProgramData is a hidden directory, so you have to manually enter the location.

3. Enjoy the brand new poor man’s Start Menu!