Edit (clean up the trash) the All Apps menu?

Wisewiz · Mar 19, 2024

Has anyone (pleez) found a way to eliminate the dross from the All Apps list? I have these I'd give a pretty penny (or lots more) to get rid of, so that using the All Apps menu would be more efficient:

Get Started - OK, we've all tried, and it's there to stay.
Microsoft Store - OK, I use it from time to time.

So, the junk:

Notepad - I call it from File Explorer.
Paint - I call it from graphics programs.
Settings - It's in the Win X menu.
Snipping Tool - I call it from the keyboard.
Terminal - It's in the Win X menu.
Windows Backup - Don't and won't use it.
Windows Security - I call it from the tray icon.

Anybody know of ways to eliminate these useless space-takers?

Bree · Mar 19, 2024

Wisewiz said:
Has anyone (pleez) found a way to eliminate the dross from the All Apps list? I have these I'd give a pretty penny (or lots more) to get rid of, so that using the All Apps menu would be more efficient....

For efficiency I avoid the All Apps list entirely, in fact I can't remember the last time I looked at it. I far prefer to customise the Start Menu and shape it to my needs.

You can pin anything you need to Start, remove anything you don't want by right-clicking on it, rearrange the positions of icons by click-and-drag, and even drag one icon and drop it onto another to create a Group, which you can then name. You can also reduce Recommended to just one line in Personalization > Start to give you more room to work with. My Start now looks nothing like the default one it came with 'out of the box'.

Edwin · Mar 19, 2024

Wisewiz said:
Anybody know of ways to eliminate these useless space-takers?

Consider a 3rd party Start Menu. Seriously.

Taliseian · Mar 19, 2024

Personally, I would be very hesitant about uninstalling base Windows components. I would remove them from the Start Menu as shown above.

However if you wish to remove them, I would look at either Geek Uninstaller or Bulk Crap Uninstaller. Use CAUTION when removing anything with those apps, as while they will remove the entire app it will be very difficult to get it back if you run into any issues. In most cases, not even a Windows Restore Point will get you back to where you were -- you will need to reinstall Windows.

Again....Use With Caution should you choose to do so. If you do, then if anything goes wrong with your Windows install is on you.

Sqrly · Mar 20, 2024

Answer: No

Also I've been looking at all the 3rd party start menu programs, they come with headaches I do not want.

The only one that appears to be stable enough to not make my head explode is "Power Start Menu" from the Microsoft store but it doesn't do alot.

Stardock has Windowblinds, and they update regularly but still you have the headaches.

IanMosley · Mar 20, 2024

Wisewiz said:
Anybody know of ways to eliminate these useless space-takers?

Revo Uninstaller Free / Pro

Edwin · Mar 20, 2024

Edwin said:
Consider a 3rd party Start Menu. Seriously.

First of all, I dislike the W11 Start Menu, for the following reasons:
- I do not like the size and shape of it, it's too short and wide, and, you cannot expand it to near the top of the screen like you could in W10.
- I don't want to do tiles, I prefer to go to All Apps right away. I prefer a condensed list of programs on the left, nothing more, with as little scrolling as possible.
- The alphabet categories are a waste of space as well, anyone can visually see alpha-numerical sorting, however, I often prefer to sort by frequency of use.
- I try to use no UWP apps. The UWP apps that can't be un-installed must, unfortunately, remain at the bottom, you cannot alert the names of them!
- I certainly don't need recommendations in the Start Menu!

So, here's what I do:
- I add Alt prefixes to all the shortcuts so they will all fall within the & alpha-category, whether it be a Bullet, (Alt+7), or an invisible character, (Alt+255), your choice!
- I hide everything else that I don't want to see, including folders full of 'help me' files, etc...

... so I end up with this... (the scrolling should not be necessary!)

This, however, is the ideal Menu..., they should have left it this way!

ThrashZone · Mar 20, 2024

Hi,
Yep Edwin's is a bit of work but it is the only way to unclutter the start menu hehe

Winuser · Mar 20, 2024

IanMosley said:
Revo Uninstaller Free / Pro

I don't think that @Wisewiz wants to uninstall them. He just wants to remove them from the All Apps menu.

Wisewiz · Mar 20, 2024

Winuser said:
I don't think that @Wisewiz wants to uninstall them. He just wants to remove them from the All Apps menu.

You got that right. I actually use six of the apps whose shortcuts are in my Junk list. I just want to simplify the list, not reduce my options.

ThrashZone · Mar 20, 2024

Wisewiz said:
You got that right. I actually use six of the apps whose shortcuts are in my Junk list. I just want to simplify the list, not reduce my options.

Hi,
Edwin's the only way I've read.
Time consuming though.

Winuser · Mar 20, 2024

Wisewiz said:
You got that right. I actually use six of the apps whose shortcuts are in my Junk list. I just want to simplify the list, not reduce my options.

I did see on your list the one program you won't use.

Wisewiz · Mar 20, 2024

Bree said:
You can pin anything you need to Start, remove anything you don't want by right-clicking on it, rearrange the positions of icons by click-and-drag, and even drag one icon and drop it onto another to create a Group, which you can then name. You can also reduce Recommended to just one line in Personalization > Start to give you more room to work with. My Start now looks nothing like the default one it came with 'out of the box'.

Yep. Know all that, and use it all. But I just eliminate the Recommended section and the Search bar with Power Start Menu from the Store, and mine looks nothing like the OOB version as well:

But my preference is to keep the dozen or so apps I use most frequently on my Start menu (the others are shortcuts to folders of one sort or another) and to keep shortcuts to all the rest in All Apps, many of them in group-folders. Those Utilities folders have seven or eight apps in them, and the other folders have at least three things in each of them. It's just the unnecessary clutter that I'm objecting to.

Edwin · Mar 20, 2024

The alpha-categories are also about 40px tall, each..., about as much as a normal Taskbar! Waste!

Edwin · Mar 20, 2024

And..., on Canary, they have to say System underneath..., another unnecessary eyesore!
Thankfully I only have 4, which remain at the bottom!

Edwin · Mar 20, 2024

ThrashZone said:
Time consuming though.

Only have to do it once, and, perhaps with a program update.

Wisewiz · Mar 20, 2024

My rationale for choosing to have the Start menu I now have (post #13) and the All Apps list I now have (preferably without the unnecessary things I either access without All Apps or don't use at all) is that I can't think of another six apps or folders I'd like to add to my present Start menu. The apps I use frequently are there. The folders I access frequently are there. And there's no unnecessary stuff in All Apps except the stuff MS put there.