Windows 7: Increase Start Menu Size (w/o recently opened programs)

Hello,

I'd like to make my Start Menu bigger (increase its height, to be specific). I've seen someone post a screenshot here: http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/Build-a-Monster-Windows-7-Start-M... Unfortunately, he didn't talk about how to achieve this.



I know that I can go into the Start Menu and Taskbar Properties menu > Customize > Start menu size and then and increase the number of recent programs to display, however, I really do not like to display recently opened programs (sorry to seem difficult). Is there any way to make the start menu size bigger without displaying recently opened programs?

Thank you,
Vic

That screenshot hides the "trick".

In Start Menu properties, enable display of all the sub-menus/links (User, Photos, Control Panel, et cetera).

Thanks for replying, Antman. Similar to my disliking of displaying recently opened items, I'd really not like to display sub-menus - such as Downloads, Downloads, and Recorded TV - that I do not ever click on.

Is there any way to just make the Start Menu bigger and not change anything about what shows up there?

Thanks.

Other than changing DPI or resolution, no - not natively. The menu is dynamic.

You could try a replacement menu like Vista Start Menu – Convenient alternative to Start menu - highly customizable. Don't be thrown off by it's default config.

Thanks again, Antman. Knowing that the menu is dynamic is very helpful.

VistaStartMenu looks like an awesome program, but I do not have that many programs to actually want to use it. But really, I looked through all the features of VistaStartMenu, watched all the flash demos, and am very, very impressed. As a person who has a bachelor's in psychology, I really liked the cognitive thinking that went into creating the program. Maybe I'll use it someday (if I get fed up the the Windows 7 Start Menu). Thank you for recommending this!

I will keep on trying to figure out if I can increase the size of the Start Menu without adding unnecessary things to it. If I do, I'll be sure to post here in the future.

Vic

Off-Topic Note: I just saw your signature about you being offline for "an indeterminate amount of time." Whatever the reason for it, I hope it's for something good and that whatever you will be doing is pleasant. Take care.

Use what? The cognitive thinking or the app?

The Antman has a tendency to walk through all open doors.

We're relocating and I am trying to be lazy enough that my beautiful wife will let me hire a moving company.

haha I was talking about the application - the cognitive thinking I've already applied to my own life in various ways.

Best of luck with the relocating! I just spent some time helping my girlfriend relocate recently, so I kind of know what it's like.

After hours of tinkering with the Start Menu, I believe I finally arrived at a perfect solution to my issue!

I wrote a quick tutorial to describe what I did. I've tried this method on two different computers running Windows 7 and was able to duplicate the results over and over.

Tutorial: Change the Height of the Start Menu

Let me know what you think, if possible,
Vic

Welcome aboard.

I've been lurking on this forum for a good while, getting advise, information and help, so it's appropriate that my first post is a thank you.
Thanks Vic for the tutorial, it helped me arrange the start menu in a way that I like. This wasn't even on my radar screen until I played around with your tutorial out of curiosity and found that I liked the finished setup, no scrolling very nice.