[UPDATE:] Automatic start menu categoriser for those who want it

[metamorphosis]

[UPDATE: See this post for the download, or click here.]

Trying to make an automatic start menu categoriser/organiser,
as there's nothing adequate on the market (there's smoz but it's default template covers about 30 apps or something).
Either I'll create a monolithic template for smoz or (most likely) create my own standalone app for doing it.

What I need your help with is getting all the apps categorised - this requires no effort on your behalf, and all I need you to do is run a short batch file and send me the resultant "startmenulist.txt". I will compile these together, resolve the differences and average down to the most common categories amongst all users, making this an automatic process for future categorisation.
The batch file is HERE.
Email the text file to me here: soulstudios@orcon.net.nz

You can read it, there's nothing sinister in the batch file.
To those who will probably ask, yes - I am aware of the 'search' box in win7. I just think it's a crap workaround for a big problem.
Cheers,
M@

[fallen_dragon]

I dont get it, who looks at their start menu?

[TaroT]

http://www.nirmaltv.com/2010/09/22/o...dy-start-menu/

like this

[metamorphosis]

Originally Posted by TaroT

http://www.nirmaltv.com/2010/09/22/o...dy-start-menu/

like this

Yeah, like that,
except not replacing the start menu,
and also working.
Cause that one misses at least half the applications I have in my start menu.

[CalBoy890]

FYI. I'm nearly 100% sure that .bat file isn't going to work for Win7 users as that folder no long exists.

I think you'll find on Windows 7 that you'll need to look in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"

Apologies if this isn't your attended audience, either way I thought I would let you know.

CalBoy.

[metamorphosis]

Originally Posted by CalBoy890

FYI. I'm nearly 100% sure that .bat file isn't going to work for Win7 users as that folder no long exists.

I think you'll find on Windows 7 that you'll need to look in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"

Apologies if this isn't your attended audience, either way I thought I would let you know.

CalBoy.

I think you'll find that if you actually read the batch file, it references the environment variable, not a static address.
Der.

[FLB]

Your batch does not work on Win 7 as intended.

Originally Posted by metamorphosis

I think you'll find that if you actually read the batch file, it references the environment variable, not a static address.

Yes you use environment variables but have failed to realise they don't fully point to the location you actually want.

e.g.

ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\ProgramData
USERPROFILE=C:\Users\UserName

For your batch to work you need -

dir "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\microsoft\windows\Start Menu\*.lnk" /s /b>FileList.txt

dir "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\*.lnk" /s /b>FileList2.txt

Originally Posted by metamorphosis

Der.

Indeed :P

[metamorphosis]

Originally Posted by FLB

Your batch does not work on Win 7 as intended.



Yes you use environment variables but have failed to realise they don't fully point to the location you actually want.

e.g.

ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\ProgramData
USERPROFILE=C:\Users\UserName

For your batch to work you need -

dir "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\microsoft\windows\Start Menu\*.lnk" /s /b>FileList.txt

dir "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\*.lnk" /s /b>FileList2.txt

Indeed :P

Gotcha -
not worth updating as noone's bothered to do it anyway.

[Mau1wurf1977]

Since Vista / W7 I don't navigate the start menu at all anymore...

[broccoli]

I organize my start menu, but I don't have much stuff on my computers. What is it you want to know? Can I just tell you?

[metamorphosis]

FINISHED:
==========

sMoz is an open-source tool for sorting and categorising your start menu - you can work manually, or with the help of a template, automatically.
I recently did some work increasing the size and strength of the automatic template, so that it now covers the majority of the major apps, games, system, graphics, media and audio softwares.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/smoz...p.exe/download

For windows only - if you're running Windows XP, you'll need the .NET 2.0 framework installed if you don't have it already:
Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86)

Simply run the installer, run smoz, then go Tools->Apply Template. It'll sort the majority of your apps into categories and show you the results. To finalise the results, hit Tools->Apply Changes. You're done.
You can also use the Smoz interface to make any additional changes you want to app location, start menu folders, etc.
Enjoy-