#Windows 10 clear start menu shortcut windows 10#
#Windows 10 clear start menu shortcut software#

If you’re creating a shortcut to a program which doesn’t come with Windows, you’ll need to know the path to its executable file first (usually a “.exe” file).

Press OK and open the Start Menu – you should see your shortcut appear! On the next screen, type “About Windows” to name your shortcut. Right-click File Explorer’s background and choose “New > Shortcut.” In the prompt which appears, type “winver” and press OK. Open your Start menu folder (we’ll use “%appdata%”, since we don’t want other user accounts to see our shortcut). We’ll name our link “About Windows” in the Start menu. In this example, we’ll add a link to the “winver” utility which displays the “About Windows” version prompt. You might also want to add new shortcuts to the menu. Use File Explorer to copy, paste and delete shortcuts and folders as you see fit. You could try moving desktop apps out of individual folders, or creating your own custom folders to collect different kinds of app. With the Start Menu storage system exposed, you should now be able to tidy up your apps list.

Generally, software installed for every user of your PC will add its shortcuts to “%programdata%,” whereas programs installed for your profile only will be in “%appdata%.” Every shortcut and folder you add to the “%programdata%” location will show in the Start menu for all user accounts on your PC. These locations are nothing more than regular directories, the contents of which are automatically displayed in the Start menu. Under the hood, Windows relies on the same Start menu shortcut storage system as all older releases.Īpp list entries are located in one of two folders on your PC. You can manually move, create and delete Start menu shortcuts to restore some order to your PC. Over time, you might find it harder to locate an app, and you’ll also see unwanted shortcuts showing up in Windows Search. Desktop apps in particular have a tendency to create a new folder for themselves and include a plethora of uninstallation, settings and website links. Apps are able to add whichever shortcuts they like to the menu, and there’s little consistency between programs. Windows also includes a few folders, such as “Windows Accessories,” to group together less frequently-used utilities.Īs you add more apps to your PC, your apps list can quickly start to lose its structure. Most apps, particularly UWP ones from the Store, are displayed at the root of the menu.

On a fresh Windows 10 install, the Start menu’s apps list is fairly tidy.

#Windows 10 clear start menu shortcut software#

#Windows 10 clear start menu shortcut windows 10#