Accessing the START menu
Normally you will see the START button on the bottom left side of yourscreen. If, however, you cannot see it and have need to access the STARTMenu quickly, use the Windows key(s) with the wavy icon found near thespacebar or the keyboard’s CTRL-ESC. 

Organizing the START menu
Most new computers come with pre-installed software that takes spaceon the START Menu. You may want to bring some order to these START Menuicons. With Windows 98 and Internet Explorer (IE) 4.0 or updated versions,you can drag these icons around the START Menu. For Windows 95, again usingIE 4.0 or higher, you can arrange them by frequency of use or group theminto categories. Select START, Programs to display the ProgramsList, right-mouse click an item to be relocated on the START Menu,drag it up or down the list until the horizontal black line appears inthe desired location, let go of it, and the item should slide right intoplace. Repeat these steps until the list is ordered to your preference.You can follow this same procedure to reorder any submenu within the STARTMenu. 

To rename and then organize the icons, right-click the START buttonand choose Explorer. In the right pane of the Explorer window, findand right-click the program you want to appear at the top of your STARTmenu. Choose Rename from the shortcut menu; press Home, typethe letter A, type a space, and then press Enter. Find and right-clickthe program to follow the aforementioned one; press Home, type theletter B, type a space, and then press Enter. Repeat this procedurefor all other desired programs on the menu and close Explorer. 

If IE 4.0 is not installed on your computer, you can also use the followingsimilar steps to accomplish a reordering of the icons. Right-click theSTART button and select Open. Inside, select the item(s) you wantto appear at the top of the START Menu. Now press F2 for Renameand then place the cursor at the beginning of the name and type the number1. Next, press Enter to keep this change. If you want additionalchanges, place a 2 in front of the item to appear below the aforementionedfirst one and so on until you have them in a desired order. 

Adding/Deleting icons from the START menu
You can add and delete any of the items listed in the Programs groupof the Start menu. In the Start Menu’s Settings option, choose Taskbar,and then click the Start Menu Programs Tab. Now click the Add,Delete or Change buttons and browse for the program on yourhard drive. In Windows Explorer you can also find the folder you want onyour START Menu and then drag it to the START button. 

Deleting from the Document Menu
In the event you want to delete files from the Documents Menu to clearit, choose START, Settings, Taskbar. In the TaskbarProperties dialog box, click on the Start Menu Programs Tab.In the Documents Menu area, click on Clear and then on OK. 

Sizing START menu icons
You can have up to 26 icons on your START Menu. Should there be a largenumber of these icons on your START Menu, you can reduce their size sothey don’t cover your entire desktop screen. To reduce the size of theseicons, right-click any empty area of the START Menu, choose Properties,click the Taskbar Options Tab, select Show Small Icons in STARTMenu, and lastly click OK. 

Hiding START menu items
If there is more than one person using your computer, you may wantto "hide" some of the items on your START Menu. If this is the case, right-clickthe START button, select Open, find the item to be "hidden" fromyour START Menu, right-click that item, choose Properties and inthis dialog box choose Hidden, and lastly click OK. Repeatthese steps for each item to be hidden from the START Menu and then restartWindows 95. (If for some reason the items still appear in the START Menu,in any Explorer window, select View, Options, and on theView Tab, select Hide Files of These Types. If you have IE4 or higher, select View, Folder Options, and on the ViewTab, select Do Not Show Hidden Files.) 

Missing START button
If you want to discourage someone from using your computer, make yourSTART button disappear from the screen. It will disappear by pressing CTRL+ESC,pressing ESC again, holding down the Alt key and pressingthe hyphen key, using the down-arrow key, choosing Closefrom the shortcut menu, and pressing Enter. To get the START buttonback in its place, press Ctrl+Alt+Del, in the Close Programdialog box, select Explorer and click End Task. In the nextdialog box, which asks whether or not you want to shutdown your computer,click NO. Now wait about 10 seconds. When the next dialog box appears,click End Task. 

Disappearing START taskbar
If you have a problem with the START Taskbar disappearing from yourmonitor screen, click the errant window, press Alt plus Spacebar,and the X. Or, you can right-click the errant Window’s button onthe Taskbar and choose Maximize from the shortcut menu. Regardlessof which solution works for you, do not click on the Restore buttonagain until you have resized the window so that it places the title barvisibly on the desktop. If you want to move the Taskbar to the bottom,left, or right of your screen, click on any blank area of the Taskbar andhold down the mouse button. Now drag the bar to the top, left, or rightside of the screen. When you have it positioned to your preferred location,release the mouse button. 

Exercising cautionAlthough changes can be made to the START Menu, it does have some limitations.For example, you cannot add or edit Help, Settings, and Find.If you don’t want to make any mistakes with changes to your START Menuthat could cause serious software failures, "Q-Sort" from Hyper-QSoftware  can alphabetize both the START Menu and your Favoritesgroup for you. With this program, you can set it to automatically keepyour START Menu in alphabetical order.