Windows 10: Add or Remove Items for All Apps in Start menu in Windows 10

Be careful. If a mistake is made, it will break live tiles on Start or Start itself.

 

Indeed. Thanks for the word of caution.

Happily this seems to have been fixed in Build 10586.11.

 

Hi Brink,
You are clearly the expert here.
I am having the Start menu problem with my usual user account after upgrading from 8.1, and so I have opened another account. I would like to transfer my old user profile to it, but this post from you and others I have seen suggest it is not as easy as it it might seem and there are folders/files that should not be copied across.
Any advice on this would be appreciated. I can't find a tutorial.

 

I'm afraid that I've found that to be to unstable to recommend or create a tutorial for so far. *Sad

 

Fair enough. Then what would be your advice for fixing or getting around the start menu problem?

 

I find that only adding shortcuts in only the Programs folder like in the tutorial works best, and don't add any folders.

For your issue, I'd say using a new account instead would be best, or refresh or reset Windows to try and fix the original account.

 

I would like to remove Contact Support, Cortana, Microsoft Edge, and Windows Feedback from the All Apps menu. Is it possible to do this?

 

Hello vijer,

I'm afraid that removing Windows apps (modern) from the All apps screen is not possible. *Sad

 

Thank you Brink for your tutorial.

I reworked my "All Apps Start Menu" using your option three, I found the following few do's and dont's after a few false starts.

1 Empty folders created in the Programs folder will not show in the "All Apps in Start Menu" until at least one shortcut is added to the new folder.

2 Shortcut names must not contain the ".exe" extension as this is ignored by Windows and will not show in the "All Apps Start Menu".

3 Move shortcuts by cutting and pasting not copy and paste

4 Some shortcuts do not work when moved to a new location, to overcome this, open the folder that the shortcut is pointing to and right click the App and select "Create shortcut", this will create a new shortcut on the "Desktop", rename the new shortcut to remove the ".exe" extension, delete the non working shortcut and cut the new shortcut and paste into the relevant start menus folder.

5 I found that sub-folders are transparent in the "All Apps in Start Menu" which shows the contents of the sub-folder but not the sub-folder itself.

This what I found when re-arranging my Windows 10 "All Apps in Start Menu".

 

Anleck you are the man! I have been bothered by this Windows 10 bug for several hours until I saw your message. You are right. Indeed this problem only happens if the shortcut is created onto Start Menu first. We must create the shortcut elsewhere, outside Program Files (which will put the shortcut directly onto Start), and outside the All App folder. For example, we better create the shortcut in a temp folder, then move the shortcut into the All App folder.

For the programs that are already registered by Windows 10 on the tile view, it will always show up on the tile view no matter how we change the shortcut. I finally found an easier get around. Using Autoruns.exe as an example, I renamed it to "Autoruns2.exe" then create a shortcut in the temp folder (outside Program Files). Then move this shortcut to the All App list. This finally allows me to see Autoruns on the All App list.

Thanks again Anleck. I just registered on this forum to say thank you and to share another get around *Wink

 

On Windows 7 we could make subfolders, but I can't work it out on Win 10.

I used to rearrange the folders created by their install programs to subfolders under the Programs folder named according to their kind.

For example, on Start Menu, under the Programs folder I had a folder named Accessories. Under this Accessories folder I had subfolders, each for a different program, like "Better File Rename", "Mail Washer", "7-Zip" or "WinRar", as created by their respective installations.

Now, this Win10 Start menu does not respect the install programs and just puts the shortcuts in alphabetic order. The subfolders under Programs\Accsessories (as the example above) are not respected, do not appear and I get everything mixed up on All apps in Start menu. Most often, I don't even know to which program which shortcut belongs.

Is there a way to solve this Russian salad, please?


Edit - I upgraded from Windows 7. Then, I had too many issues and reinstalled Windows 10 on top, keeping everything. The issues were gone.

 

Hello Neophile, *Smile

I've noticed that it only seems to work well when you add folders in the "Programs" folder, and not in any other folder.

 

Thanks for trying to help, Brink.
Then, if it is not possible to separate the programs, this menu is completely useless. In that case, what would you recommend to replace it, please?

 

Amen, Neophile. I have a couple early posts in this thread and came to the same conclusion.

Try Classic Shell. Free. It sure beats the daylights out of what Redmond decided we would like. I have mine set up to look pretty much like W7. And if you like to use tiles for a few items it allows you to switch back and forth at will.

Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements

 

You should be able to separate them by adding a new folder (A) in "Programs", then adding the app shortcut in the new folder (A). Another option is to only add the app shortcut in "Programs" instead.

It only seems to be an issue if you add another new folder (B) in the new folder (A), and add the app shortcut in new folder (B).