Start Menu Resets Back To Alphabetical Order

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sabre24
  • Start date Start date
S

Sabre24

I like to place the programs listed in the start menu in a certain order.
Windows Vista will allow me to rearrange the order, however if I re-start
the PC, install something new or install an update, the start menu order goes
back to alphabetical. The setting for alphabetical listing remains
un-ticked. I am running Windows Home Premium 32 Bit with all updates
applied. Can someone help me get the start menu back in order?
 
Hi, I get the same problem, but with normal files in folders (ie The Games
Folder)
I like to keep my games oragnised by "Last Played" and the icons size set to
"Large", however it just resets it's self to any random size and it resets
it's self back to alphabetical order. Also, the default size for new files I
make (or any other file that I haven't already reset) of the file icons is
small, however I prefer medium. How do I change the default sizes?
 
Yes, I am talking about the folder/program order after you click Start->All
Programs. Like Games, System Tools, Accessories, etc....
 
Well, if you can't get your changes to stick, one thing you might try is
renaming each item with a number in front of it. Like "Tools" becomes "1
Tools." The folder "Games" becomes "2 Games" etc. I haven't tried it with
Vista but something like that used to work with XP and win9X.
When it puts things in alphabetical order, is should start with the numbers
first. So whatever you number with 1 (as in the "1 Tools" example) would be
at the top of the list. Now, the problem with this is that it only works
well up to the number 9. When you get to 10, 11, 12, etc, it may put all of
those after the item listed as 1. So it would group the items as 1, 10, 11,
12, before it got to the item numbered 2, 3, etc.
At least I think that's how it will work.
Not the best solution to what you want, but at least your menu items are
ordered the way you want them to be.
 
DP said:
Well, if you can't get your changes to stick, one thing you might
try is renaming each item with a number in front of it. Like
"Tools" becomes "1 Tools." The folder "Games" becomes "2 Games"
etc. I haven't tried it with Vista but something like that used to
work with XP and win9X. When it puts things in alphabetical order,
is should start with the numbers first. So whatever you number
with 1 (as in the "1 Tools" example) would be at the top of the
list. Now, the problem with this is that it only works well up to
the number 9. When you get to 10, 11, 12, etc, it may put all of
those after the item listed as 1. So it would group the items as
1, 10, 11, 12, before it got to the item numbered 2, 3, etc.
At least I think that's how it will work.
Click to expand...

The default sort order in Vista is to treat numbers as numbers, not as
strings of characters, so it shouldn't group things by the first digit.
If all else fails, you could name them 01, 02, 03, etc.

The new sort order drove me crazy until I figured out how to change it,
since I was expecting things to be in string order. I think it first
came in with XP.
 
Ray said:
The default sort order in Vista is to treat numbers as numbers, not as
strings of characters, so it shouldn't group things by the first digit.
If all else fails, you could name them 01, 02, 03, etc.
Click to expand...

Or, "a Tools," "b Games," "c Accessories." etc.
 
Hi, Ray, DP - and all.

See this KB article:
The sort order for files and folders whose names contain numerals is
different in Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 than it is
in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319827

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
 
Hi, Sabre24.

A partial solution might be to "pin" your favorite programs to the Start
menu. These will appear above the divider line in the left part of the
Start menu. You can drag'n'drop these apps into the order that you like and
they will stay in that order.

Trouble is, the space for this area is limited, so you can't put very many
items in it. You can use Start | Properties | Start Menu | Customize to
indirectly manage the size of this area by changing the Number of recent
programs to display, but you still probably won't want more than a dozen or
so programs in your "pinned" list. On my 1280 x 1024 monitor, I have 5
programs pinned (E-mail, Internet, Windows Update, Notepad and Command
Prompt) plus 15 in my recent programs list.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
 
Back
Top