By default (normal) behaviour the programs and folders on the ALL PROGRAMS Programs List and the programs on the Pinned-To Programs List of the Start menu are automatically organized into Alphabetically order, even when you remove a program from those lists. So this side of organizing the Start menu is taken care of for you. However, arranging the Start menu is not. For example. If you want to move the program called Wordpad from the Accessories folder into the ALL PROGRAMS Programs List or into another folder such as the Ease Of Use folder you have to do this yourself.

In the following example I have already clicked on the START button, ALL PROGRAMS, opened (clicked on) the ACCESSORIES folder and then opened (clicked on) the EASE OF USE FOLDER. At this point I can see the programs that are inside both folders (Fig 4.0 below). From there I moved the mouse pointer over the program called Wordpad, inside the ACCESSORIES folder, so that it was highlighted. And it is at this point that you can follow the example.

Highlight the program called Wordpad, in the same way as described above, and then left click on it but do not let go of the left mouse button. With the left mouse button held down move (drag) the mouse pointer upwards towards the next program (in this example towards the program called Windows Mobility Center).

As the mouse pointer moves over a program in the ALL PROGRAMS Programs List that program becomes highlighted, and when the mouse pointer is moved away from a program it becomes un-highlighted (because the next program is then highlighted), but at all times Wordpad (the program you are currently moving/dragging) stays highlighted to let you know that it is the program you are moving/dragging (arranging). If you keep moving the mouse pointer upwards until it goes past/above the ACCESSORIES folder (Fig 4.1) the Red Prohibited Sign underneath the mouse pointer (as shown in Fig 4.0) will change into a Black Line (Fig 4.1).

The black line means you can place Wordpad inside the current folder (the folder the mouse is currently hovering over - ALL PROGRAMS), when you let go of the left mouse button, but the red prohibited sign means you cannot place Wordpad inside the current folder simply because Wordpad is already inside that folder (Fig 4.0). So in this example, letting go of the left mouse button when the mouse pointer is above the ACCESSORIES folder would mean Wordpad is moved out of the ACCESSORIES folder and into the ALL PROGRAMS folder (Fig 4.1).

Fig 4.0  Move the mouse pointer up/down, towards another folder.

Fig 4.1  The black line indicates you are inside another folder.

In this example though Wordpad is going to be moved into the EASE OF ACCESS folder instead. So instead of going upwards with the mouse pointer you now need to be going downwards with the mouse pointer, towards the EASE OF ACCESS folder, with the left mouse button still held down.

Fig 4.2  Move the mouse pointer downwards, into the EASE OF ACCESS folder.

When the mouse pointer has gone past (out of) the ACCESSORIES folder and underneath (inside) the EASE OF ACCESS folder (Fig 4.2 above) let go of the left mouse button. A message requester will then appear (Fig 4.3 below) informing you that you will need to provide Administrator Permission in order to move Wordpad out of the ACCESSORIES folder and into the EASE OF ACCESS folder - Simply left click on the CONTINUE button to continue. Basically, Windows 7 will check that you have Administrative Rights to carry out this file-move (moving of a program file) operation - ignore these technicals!

Fig 4.3  Click on the CONTINUE button, using the left mouse button, to continue.

User Account Control (UAC) is a feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7 that helps to prevent unauthorized changes to the computer, such as moving a system file (program file) like Wordpad into another folder. When this file-moving action is attempted UAC automatically blocks that action and then displays a message requester or a series of message requesters whose instructions need following.

In Fig 4.3 above you are informed that you have been denied access to the destination, system, folder EASE OF ACCESS because UAC will first need your permission (administrative permission) before allowing the file-move action to go ahead. By clicking on CONTINUE you are telling UAC "I know what I am doing by allowing this action to go ahead and I agree to continue with that action".

Fig 4.4  Left click on the CONTINUE button if this UAC security requester appears

After clicking on the CONTINUE button (Fig 4.3 above) the screen might fade out (go dark) whereby you might then be presented with the actual UAC message requester that permits the file-move to go ahead (Fig 4.4 above). This is more of a Windows Vista requirement than a Windows 7 requirement. Anyway, if it appears simply click on its CONTINUE button to continue.

After clicking on the CONTINUE button the screen will then fade-in (become clear/normal again) and another message requester, with a green progress-guage on it, will appear (Fig 4.5 below) showing you that the file-move is taking place. When the file (program file - Wordpad) has been moved it will be viewable from its destination folder (EASE OF ACCESS). The file (program file - Wordpad) will be positioned in its alphabetical order. So Wordpad will be at the bottom of the EASE OF ACCESS folder (Fig 4.6) because it begins with a W of course.

Fig 4.5  Wordpad is now being moved from the Accessories folder into the Ease Of Access folder




Fig 4.6  Look at the bottom of the EASE OF ACCESS folder for the Wordpad file (program)

In this example I opened the ACCESSORIES folder and EASE OF ACCESS folder beforehand, before moving (dragging) Wordpad from the ACCESSORIES folder and into the EASE OF ACCESS folder. However. You can also move a file (program), such as Wordpad, into its destination folder (i.e. EASE OF ACCESS) without opening the destination folder beforehand - As you move (drag) the file (program) from its opened source folder (i.e. ACCESSORIES) any folder you go over with the mouse pointer will automatically open to become a potential destination folder.

The SEARCH Edit Box on the Start menu (Fig 5.0 below) allows you to quickly search for previously indexed files, amongst other things, by typing one or more characters (letters, numbers and punctuations) into it. An edit box is a box that allows you to edit the text already inside it or type in some new text. See the Edit Box Explained section for more information.

Fig 5.0  The SEARCH Edit Box

The main reason for searching for something is because you have lost/misplaced it of course. So in this example I will pretend I cannot remember where I saved my file called Computer_Lessons.docx, which I created with Microsoft Word 2010. I could open (execute/launch) Microsoft Word 2010 and then use it to find/open the file but sometimes even that would not work if the file was created a long time ago and now has no associated references (history/linkage) with Microsoft Word 2010, perhaps because its associated references were deleted by you, your computer and/or Microsoft Word 2010 itself for whatever reason(s).

Fig 5.1  Click inside the SEARCH Edit Box and then.....

To use SEARCH begin by clicking inside its edit box (Fig 5.1 above) and then type in the first letter of the file name or folder name you are searching for (Fig 5.2 below). So in this example I have typed in the letter "c" because it is the first letter of the file name I am searching for - Computer_Lessons.docx.

After typing the first letter SEARCH always clears the ALL PROGRAMS Pinned-To list, as it uses the pinned-to list to display any search results. Search results are given for each letter (or other character) you type into the SEARCH edit box, as you are actually typing in each letter. For example. Instead of typing Computer_Lessons and then getting the search results for Computer_Lessons, SEARCH gets the search results for each set of letters typed in before Computer_Lessons has been completely typed in. So it gets the results for c, co, com, comp, compu and so on. Fig 5.3 below demonstrates the power of SEARCH - I have only typed in the letter "c" and it has already found my Computer_Lessons.docx file.

Fig 5.2  ....type in the word(s) of the file name or folder name you are searching for.




Fig 5.3  Click on a file to open it or Hover over a file to view its Date Modified details

This fast searching is possible because of the way Windows 7 indexes each file that is added to your computer and created on your computer (by Microsoft Word for example). As I type in more letters the search results become more refined (not shown here). So the clickwise_template.eml e-mail file for example would get thrown out of the results. It was only in there because it bgins with "c" and was a recent file.

One thing to understand is that Windows 7 doesn't just index a file's name, it also indexes the words contained within it. It also indexes folder names. So if I had finished typing in Computer Lessons, files relating to computer lessons would of shown up in the search results. Files that have Computer Lessons as part of their file name and files that contain the words Computer Lessons. As these are common words that could be associated with many files it is sometimes best to use an underscore in a file's name to distinguish it from similarly named files. Hence why I saved my file as Computer_Lessons.docx, so it can be found more easily when using something like SEARCH.

When the file you want has been listed the next step is to click on it to open (execute/launch) it (Fig 5.3 above). In this case clicking on Computer_Lessons.docx opens the file using the program Microsoft Word 2010.

If you have two files the same in two different locations (i.e. one on the Hard Drive and one on a Flash Drive) you can always hover over each file only with the mouse pointer to get the Date Modified details of each file. For example. Hovering over Computer_Lessons.docx tells me the file was last modified on 23/08/2011 at 13:27. Assuming I had another file listed called Computer_Lessons.docx I could hover over that file as well to compare the Date Modified details in order to establish which file was saved last.

Searching for files using SEARCH is okay, but if you want to see more search results click on the SEE MORE RESULTS link (above the SEARCH edit box). It allows you to see the related files in more detail (Fig 5.5 below) whereby you can double click on them to open them. You can even save your search results and then look at them later - They are listed underneath Recent Places in any system folder's folder pane.

Fig 5.4  Click on the MORE RESULTS link to see better search results




Fig 5.5  These files relate to Computer Lessons in some way

In the above search example I have just shown you the basics of SEARCH, whereby you don't need to know too much about folders and files in general. However, ideally you should read the Folders & Files category so that you know how to locate folders and files manually and get a better experience of the computer as a whole.

Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.  As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.