Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
8. Have the control panel Display as a Menu from the Start Menu
I am always in the Control Panel and navigating to exactly what I need from the start menu saves a lot of time.
- Right Click on the Start Menu
- Select Properties
- Select the Start Menu Tab
- Click the Customize button
- Select the Radial for Display as menu under Control Panel
- Press OK
Thanks Joe, I never noticed the option to use check boxes for selecting! This goes great with my setting for Single-Click to open/Point to Select. (It's 12:20am and I just learned something new. I guess I can take the rest of the day off now.)
Rather than disabling Search Indexing, you'd be better off adjusting what locations are indexed. Without search indexing, the power of the Vista/Windows 7-style Start Menu is significantly reduced, because it's all about searching now. By default, indexing is configured only for the Start Menu, Users folders, IE history, and email. If you're really seeing that much churn, it's probably email-related or you're creating a lot of indexable files in your User directory. You can remove those from the Indexing Options, while leaving Start Menu as part of the indexer. That way, the only time you're likely to see indexing kick in is when you install a new application that writes to the Start Menu and you'll still be able to quickly use the search bar in the Start Menu.
Excellent tip.
Not to mention if you turn off Windows Search you can't search the guide in Media Center, if you use it.
I have updated the article to reflect my initial intention. On OLD systems with older processors, limited ram, possibly aging hard drives, disabling search indexing can positively effect performance. If you have a newer system, capable of running Aero and the like, this need not apply.