Classic Start Menu

sparky, if you follow unawave's info it creates the full menu from your taskbar.
Or the way I found on another site that gives you the full menu through the Documents on the right hand side of the default menu.
I've got both set up and it's so much easier to have all of the menu items open when you mouse over them.
The beauty of both methods is that it doesn't alter the default menu setup at all, but gives you a menu listing that shows ALL items, rather than having to click through them.

To your question, both of these methods leave the default menu intact.
I unticked the remember opened programs in start menu options and I use the white bar to pin frequently opened programs.

Thought I'd post a response to those saying 'why not just type <app name> in 'Search',...

People, 'Search' works by creating an index, and continually updating that index.
(Ever noticed the pause or refresh just after opening a new folder? That's the indexing at work)
To do this, it's using up processor time and memory, and both of those are resources I'd prefer having available to the applications rather than then 'features'.

Same with XP, Vista, and 7's default desktop, they're all using up resources that I'd prefer having available to the applications, especially where is comes to GPU operations, where eye-candy slows down preview render windows in the 3D content creation software I use every day.

(side example: Daz Studio is in Beta for Ver3, it's being lauded for it's performance improvements. I installed it on XP Pro with classic desktop, created a new scene, moved about the scene with super smooth window panning, and rendered it out fast. swapped out C:\ for a spare hdd, installed 7 and Studio Beta, created same scene - so the only changes were the hdd and the OS - Window panning sucked bigtime under 7, and render time increased.)

And just while I'm mentioning 3D creation - Professional 3D app's don't use pretty interfaces, they use functional ones, which is why they are laid out like '98 apps, even on the latest releases.

In the pursuit of application and rendering performace, the true classic desktop wins because it wastes less resources on itself.

The other thing with Search, and with many of the in vogue methods for finding and using your files, is that they build bad end-user habits, as user's leave files all over the place that they can only find using search, rather than actually creating a set of My Docs subfolders that are easy to navigate, with meaningful names.
Not only does this lead to slower performing systems that have to waste CPU, GPU and memory on finding files, it also makes sucessfully backing up a system one heck of a lot harder.

I'll admit it took me awhile to get used to '95 when it came out - I've been using 'puter's since the time of coding your own apps on z-80 based machines with a couple of kilobytes of ram,....
But once I got used to it, it was logical and straight forward.

XP, Vista, and 7's default look are far from logical, or conveinient, they're just 'pretty'.

Think of it like an episode of Beauty and the Geek, sure, the Beauty's are pretty, but the don't make anywhere near as much sense at the female Geek,...

Ive got so used to typing in shortcuts to files or programs that navigating XPM today was slow and a real pain.

and you need other resources to list the start menu items, b/c the same way that it indexes the menu system for the smart start bar is the same way it *scans* it every time you use the All Programs interface.

Don't think that's right - The Classic Menu is a set of shortcuts - there's no searching involved in running it.
Which brings me back to why I want it in 7, so I can turn off the eye candy and dedicate resources to rendering.
As for how many clicks, I create shortcuts for the programs I'm always using, so the menu doesn't get a heap of use anyway.

For mine it comes down this way. If I can't turn the eye candy off, I've got no reason to migrate from XP Pro x64.

sparky said:

how did you get rid of the left white panel, when classic start menu is created ?

Well, I think I've read the same thread as you... from everestultimate

I've tried to follow his solution, and just like you I was stuck with the white left pane that I couldn't get rid of

I'm afraid his post was some kind of (bad) joke... he detailled every step until that one, when he just said "now get rid of the left panel"

I think he just edited the picture because he wasn't able to do so

I anyone knows a way to hide the left column of the "modern" start menu, then I'd be delighted to read how to

Is possible to auto-show All programs when open the Start menu?

Classic Start Menu is customizable, you could customize it, you could customize it, you could customize it. Non-power users, same to you.