Vista Start Menu Pro
http://www.vistastartmenu.com
Reviewed February 2007
What’s it do?
This program provides an alternative to Windows' Start Menu. It is
compatible with Windows NT, 2000, 2003, XP, or Vista, and Vista is not
required for the program to operate. It provides one-click program
launching and customization of the order, adding, deleting, number of tabs
from any menu item, renaming, right-click uninstall, search without
opening browser, search local computer from start menu command line, easy
roll back to old menu or uninstall. It does not modify system files or
settings.
Does it do what it promises?
Reviewer 1: Yes, Vista Start Menu Pro offers a more flexible,
easier-to-use alternative to the normal Windows Start menu.
Reviewer 2: Yes. Vista Start Menu replaces or serves as an adjunct
to the standard XP start menu, adding additional functionality.
Reviewer 3: I had previously spent time customizing my Start Menu
within the constraints provided by Microsoft. I had settled for the best
that I could do, but was still bothered by cluttering up my space with
items such as "My Documents", "My Photos", and other System items that I
never use. With Vista Start Menu, I was able to remove them from the new
Start Menu with ease. In short, Vista Start Menu promises a better way to
display and organize the Start Menu, and it delivers.
Reviewer 4: For a long time now, I have found the Start Menu to be
irritating and very frustrating. No matter how much time I spend trying to
organize it, it does not seem to follow any particular logic, and it
constantly changes itself around. So I pretty much avoid it, and get
around it by creating different folders, icons and shortcuts scattered
here and there on my computer. This leaves me with no main index which
would give me access to all parts of my computer in a logical and coherent
manner. Vista Start Menu does exactly that. Now I have a central place
where I can access not only the programs that I have installed but just
about all the other major functions and activities that I may have need to
access in the Windows Operating System as well.
Reviewer 5: Vista Start Menu does what it promises. It will replace
your traditional start button with a more complete, all-in-one resource.
Reviewer 6: Exactly. The program menu retains its order even after
programs are added and deleted and it provides identifying icons for each
of the programs, unlike the regular program menu. The screen is all
arranged in such a way that even though quite similar to the old, it is
more effectively laid out and more functional.
Was it easy to install?
Reviewer 1: Yes. I downloaded the installation file from the Vista
Web site, clicked on it, and it installed quickly and with no unpleasant
surprises. I had to respond to a few questions about how I wanted it
configured (e.g., do I want it to run at startup, do I want it to replace
the normal Start menu, etc.), but it turned out that I could change any of
my answers afterward: the software has a "Configure" button that revisits
all the questions.
Reviewer 2: This tiny 923kb downloaded installed quickly and
easily.
Reviewer 3: Installation was simple and the license agreement
contained no onerous terms. When I was customizing the menu to
automatically search for programs to be included in the "One Click"
section, that program simply quit. However, it reappeared when I rebooted,
seemed none the worse, and has functioned well since then.
Reviewer 4: Yes. Installation is normal and takes about a minute.
The registration screen comes up immediately and works simply and cleanly.
Vista Start Menu installs itself as a startup program.
Reviewer 5: Yes. Installation is easy. I had no installation
difficulties.
Reviewer 6: Yes. Vista Start Menu is a small download and quick
installation Very direct and easy, as are the other functions of the
program
Good points.
Reviewer 1: Vista Start Menu makes it possible to access more of my
computer's folders, programs, and features more easily than with the
normal Windows Start menu. Vista shows me all my programs as soon as I
click on it; by contrast, with the normal Start menu I click on Start,
then move up to Programs, and then click on a double-arrow that opens a
display of all programs. Similarly, with the normal Start menu, I have to
remember that to access Control Panel, I have to go first to Settings, but
in Vista, Control Panel is one of the main listings (like Programs) in the
left-hand column. Vista also seems more configurable than the normal Start
menu. I want rapid access to the screen for setting or using Restore
Points. With the normal Start menu, I click on Start, then on Help and
Support, and then the link on that page to System Restore. At first, Vista
Start Menu's path seemed more cumbersome (Start ' Accessories ' System
Tools ' System Restore), but I soon realized that I could move the entry
for System Restore to the main Program menu, so that it is instantly
visible and accessible as soon as I click on Start. Another attractive
feature of Vista Start Menu is that all navigation can be performed from
the keyboard, from Start (hit the Windows key) to shutting down the
computer (F8). Even programs buried several levels down can be accessed
easily via the keyboard. You don't have to use the mouse unless you want
to. Another plus with Vista is that you can uninstall any program simply
by right-clicking on it and selecting Uninstall. This is somewhat faster
than going to Control Panel ' Add/Remove Programs, waiting for the entire
list of programs to appear, and then selecting the one you want to
uninstall. And, of course, the feature is especially useful for those
programs that for some reason do not appear on the Add/Remove Programs
listing. The Vista Start Menu's main window has a link called "Contact
Support." Clicking on this will launch your email program with a message
addressed to their Support. I made use of this feature several times, and
I received prompt and helpful responses from the developer.
Reviewer 2: None.
Reviewer 3: This program gives extensive control over the layout
and contents of the start menu. The ability to enlarge or reduce the font
size is nice. All of the shut down/log-off options are shown with large
single-click buttons. If there is one that is not used, it can be deleted
in the Customize section. It is a pleasant change from the Windows Start
menu to find all of the Start Folders listed alphabetically. Windows
seemed to order them with the most recently added programs at the end.
While this was convenient to find the program you just installed, it
became more difficult to find older programs. The only time it is
difficult to find a program with Vista Start Menu is when the company name
on the folder is different from the software program name. There are
separate tabs for "all programs", "quick start" items, and "autorun"
items. Vista Start Menu automatically analyzes one's system and
automatically fills in the appropriate items accurately.
Reviewer 4: As you register the program, it opens to the main
screen. You can check for updates immediately. The left side of the window
is a pane with different options and settings. It is useful to go through
this, as it provides you with the option of selecting quick access to
common functions (Network Connections, My Computer, My Recent Documents,
etc), choice of tabs, and one-click startup of programs. The support from
Dennis Nazarenko, the developer of the Vista Start Menu, is excellent. I
have sent him several questions concerning the program. He has always
responded very quickly, and been helpful in each case -- sometimes going
beyond what I have actually asked about to try to help. In one particular
case, I was inquiring about a method of pointing "My Favorites" towards
Firefox or Opera instead of IE. Although it cannot be done directly at
present, he has said that he will develop a "plug-in" so that Firefox or
Opera Bookmarks could be linked to directly from Vista Start Menu. In
another instance, I found a small bug that he said he will address
immediately in the next update of the program.
Reviewer 5: I dislike clutter. My desktop screen is clear of all
but three icons, and my quick launch toolbar includes only the essential
icons. Everything else can be found in Vista Start Menu. This is the
biggest plus. You can put as much or as little as you want in the Vista
Start Menu. It took very little brain power to figure out how to use it. I
am a tinkerer, so I spend a good bit of time customizing. The ability to
totally personalize the start button is another high point for me.
Reviewer 6: This is a very simple program to understand and use.
You may set up the program to be invoked from the tool bar, enabling
clicking back and forth between start menus; run not at all (unless you go
to the program menu) or to auto start instead of the normal Start menu
display Most menu items have several options (program, help, uninstall,
etc) that appear in an adjacent drop-down menu when hovering over or
clicking on them. A simple click on the menu item will directly open the
program without need to make another selection and click, seemingly a
small issue, but one I appreciate. Unless you actually click the main menu
item, you'll still get the same drop-down menu as before so you can select
an alternative. Further, a small icon on the same line representing each
program precedes the program itself. enabling quicker identification of
the item. Another feature prominently mentioned is that of the program
listing maintaining its original physical arrangement even after you
delete or add programs: as an example, should you uninstall a program, its
space will be reserved as a blank entry maintaining its position, to be
subsequently filled with a program installed at a later time.. On-screen
hints are available, but as with many programs, can get annoying after a
time. The user determines whether hints are wanted or not by entering the
start menu either from the mouse or the keyboard. The layout of the
program menu is quite similar to that of the standard Windows start menu.
The left side of the Start Screen has more renovation and improvement. The
most-used features are displayed in a single menu, speeding access, each
with its own sub-menu as needed. Of particular note are direct links to
the administrative menu and online favorites. In the latter instance,
simply click the chosen item in the Favorites drop-down menu. .This
program for all it does, uses very little memory or CPU resources. My
machine was not slowed to any perceptible degree. I also had no program
conflicts. The color scheme is a refreshing change. Customer service is an
important factor in my evaluation of a program. Among others, I posed a
weekend question by email, and got a response four hours later from the
developer himself.
Weak points.
Reviewer 1: Vista Start Menu's main weakness is its rather thin
documentation. There is no Help link, no User's Manual, not even an
extensive FAQ on the website. The website does provide some information,
but not enough. Offsetting this a bit, the developer responds promptly to
questions sent via email. Another weak point is that in the current
version the Find feature does not work. The developer acknowledged that
this is a bug he expects to fix by the next version.
Reviewer 2: This program installed a keylogger ("Logger.Delf.eq")
during installation. This was detected by AVG Antispyware 7.5,
ZeroSpyware, and A Squared antispyware. This was confirmed by removing the
software, recleaning my PC, rescanning, and reinstalling the software.
This was done three times and each time a keylogger was identified upon
installation of the program.
Reviewer 3: The only feature I miss is the ability to "Pin an icon
to the Start Menu" by right clicking on the icon and either dragging the
item to the Start button or selecting this option from the right-click
menu. An item pinned to the Start menu appears as a free standing icon on
the left menu and can be found and started quickly and easily.
Reviewer 4: Although much of the way that the program functions is
easy to understand and use, a help file would be an excellent addition.
There are some things that are not obvious, nor are they addressed in the
Knowledge Base on the Web site; for example, one method to have quick
"hot-key" access to the Start Menu is Ctrl-Esc.
Reviewer 5: It's a fairly new program. That's the only weakness I
encountered. Admittedly, this is a preconceived notion of mine, and I
prefer what is already proven to work and work well.
Reviewer 6: No help or instructions are provided. The very short
FAQ page gives very little information. In fairness though, not much is
needed due to one's familiarity with the standard Windows start menu. .
The feature I didn't like is one of personal preference, reserving the
space that a newly-removed program once used, leaving a white blank space.
I like just continuous and contiguous alphabetical order. In fairness, the
order can easily be manually changed and after a little experimentation, I
was able to get rid of the white space simply by a right-click and delete.
Other comments.
Reviewer 1: Vista Start Menu can replace the normal Start menu (so
that when you click on Start, Vista Start Menu will appear); or, you can
have both menus available, accessing the normal menu by clicking on Start
and accessing Vista Start Menu by clicking on a Quick Launch button or a
desktop icon. I was at first reluctant to replace the normal Start menu,
but the more I used this program, the more I preferred it. I now use it as
my sole Start menu.
Reviewer 2: I am aware of the disclaimer on the developer's Web
site claiming that there is spyware being misidentified "by some
firewalls" and that it is, in reality, a system hook that is a necessary
part of "a special library named VistaStartMenu.dll." The keylogger
identified on my PC was not misidentified by "some firewalls" but by three
out of three well known antispyware applications. Is it possible that this
is, in fact, a case of mistaken identity as the developer claims? Anything
is possible; however, any software that is found and confirmed by this
reviewer to contain malware will not be further reviewed and cannot
receive a recommendation. If this is truly a case of mistaken identity as
the developer claims then it is incumbent upon him, in this instance, to
correct this problem in his code. An attempt to contact the developer for
further clarification went unanswered.
Reviewer 3: This is a highly customizable and well thought out
interface. It is a refreshing change from the traditional Windows Start
Menu found in Windows XP and before.
Reviewer 4: This program is apparently quite "young" and will only
improve as it matures. The developer seems to be really interested in
having feedback and suggestions. This indicates that he is committed to
making improvements and to continue to adapt the program to the needs of
its users.
Reviewer 5: None.
Reviewer 6: Don't let the title scare you off. You do not have to
buy Microsoft's latest offering to use this. "Vista" only refers o the
fact that it is a good alternative to that of Vista (and to Windows NT,
2000, 2003, and XP.) I certainly would recommend that a basic manual or
help section be developed for newer users. Given the developer's
responsiveness and interest, I expect we'll not only have something like
that, but that the program will continue to improve, and not to a stage
where it becomes another bloatware product. The developer seems to have
found a nice niche and I hope he remains with the idea.
Will you continue to use it?
Reviewer 1: Yes.
Reviewer 2: No.
Reviewer 3: Yes.
Reviewer 4: Yes. It has moved from my "test" environment to the
"main" computer. My desktop is already much improved as Vista Start Menu
takes over the functions of many of the shortcuts that clutter up the
screen.
Reviewer 5: Yes, most definitely.
Reviewer 6: Yes. I find it convenient and efficient and was easy to
learn. It has replaced the standard Start menu on my machines.
OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, Home, Media Center Edition, 2000
Dennis Nazarenko, Vista
Start Menu's developer, replied as follows (slight editing changes
have been made at Mr. Nazarenko's request since English is not native for
him.)
I want to thank all reviewers who found time to test this program. You
correctly noted that the program is quite "young". I continue to develop
it and have already fixed the more commonly occurring bugs; so, when you
read this review, you may download and get the program without bugs. If
you find any bug, please let me know. The next main direction of
development is Help and Skin support. I want to create Help with a Flash
demo. It will increase installation size to 5-7 MB but I don't think
that's a problem. Skins are a difficult part of development, so it takes
more time.
Please note I answer all email. If you don't get an answer, it may be
because spam filters are blocking them. In this case, please try
contacting me from different email (I recommend Gmail.)
Sometimes I get messages from users about spyware or keyloggers. I don't
use any spyware or other harmful piece of code. For integration in the
start menu I use VistaStartMenu.dll. This DLL waits until the user hits
the Win key and notifies about this main application. Spyware and viruses
work the same way, so some anti-virus programs thing that Vista Start
Menu.dll is also a virus or keylogger. Please note that I have developed
this program for more than a year and don't want to waste all this time by
cheap tricks with spyware. I make money by selling the PRO version of the
program.
I contacted AVG and got the following answer dated January 10, 2007
(G#0701689364):
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, the previous virus database might
have detected the virus on some legitimate applications. We can confirm
that it was a false alarm. We will immediately release a new virus
database update and we will remove the mentioned file detection as a
virus. Please, wait until the new virus database update is released. Then,
please, update your AVG and check your files again.
If you need to restore deleted files from the AVG Virus Vault, you can do
it this way: open AVG Virus Vault (Start>Programs>AVG Antivirus>AVG Virus
Vault. Locate the file that was removed, right click on it, and choose the
"Restore File(s) option.
We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Best regards,
Petr Gottlinger AVG Tech Support
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