Windows 10: Organising Start->All Apps-> to a structure I prefer and recognise

I'm used to installing software, and then having my program shortcuts nice and neat in folders - Oftentimes I'll use a generic folder, call it Utilities and throw in there a bunch of program shortcuts which are just that, Utilities.Now that I've moved to Windows 11 I find that whole Start->All Apps list of stuff an absolute waste of my time because it serves no purpose for me, it is just a long list of stuff in alphabetical order - I don't want that - I want folders which I can organize myself.I cannot see anywhere how to do this, can someone help get me started?I looked under AppData>Ro

:)

 

Organising the Windows 10 Start Menu - Cannot move (or delete) Groove Music icon

On my new Windows 10 (v1803) PC there are a bunch of strange pre-installed applications, like Groove Music. These clutter up the Start Menu > All Apps list with no hierarchy, just all on the same level. I'd like to organise these icons into separate, logical folders on the Start Menu.





Searching online I've found several articles describing how you can (attempt to) uninstall these Windows Store applications, but nothing about how to move or remove the icons. I'm not (yet!) looking to uninstall the app, just to organise the Start Menu into something more logical and less cluttered.

In previous versions of Windows, a user could create a folder called (say) Windows Stuff in the appropriate path. Then you could drag the icons into this folder. After acknowledging the UAC prompt the icon has moved. Great! With these new Windows 10 "Universal" applications, however, I can't seem to do anything with them.

Things I have tried:

• Navigated to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. No icons or .lnk files for these Windows metro apps are visible.
  
• Navigated to C:\Users\[ME]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. Likewise, none of these metro apps appear.
  
• Used WIN+R and then shell:AppsFolder to actually view installed applications. Here I can see the ZuneMusic application (see below), but I can neither delete, uninstall or move it.
  

• Tried grabbing the icon directly in the Start Menu and dragging it...but a No Entry symbol appears and the icon cannot be moved or removed.
  
• If you right-click the icon there is no option to Move or Delete the icon (nor even to Uninstall the application, although this is not what I'm looking to do).
  

How do you get control over the Start Menu in Windows 10 (in a similar way to Windows 7 or Windows XP)?

Update

After many different searches, I stumbled on this old article which suggests organising these strange "Universal" Windows Store apps may not be possible.

The article is ~3 years old and from an earlier version of Windows 10 so hopefully (a) Microsoft have fixed this in v1803 and/or (b) any reader knows the technical steps required to organise these applications that the original author did not.

 

Displaying Folder structure in the start menu All Apps

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

To make sure I understand correctly, are you referring to expanding a folder in the start menu to view the extended folders?

If so, I would suggest you to try the steps below and check if it helps:

1. After clicking "app apps", locate the folder from the list.

2. Check if you see a small arrow like icon pointing downward near the folder.

3. If so, click on it. This will expand all the folders and items included in that particular folder.

Let us know if this helps.

We will be glad to help if you need further assistance.

 

Windows Keeps resetting app preferences

Hi DanielGibbons,

We understand that you are having issues with your Windows app preferences. Please answer the questions below so we can assist you further:

• What specific update was applied on your Windows 10?
• Did it also reset your PC settings configuration, or just the app preferences specifically for videos and picture files?
• Did you make any changes prior to this issue?
• What troubleshooting steps have you done so far?

In the meantime, you can also try the steps below and check if it will work:

1. Perform a clean boot.
It will start Windows by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. Also, it helps eliminate software conflicts that occur when you install a program, or an update, or when you run a program in Windows.

2. Once done, try to set again your preferences for videos and picture files.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,