We have previously mentioned many different types of Start Menu alternatives for Windows 8 and 8.1, for example, Classic Shell, StartW8, Gigabyte Smart Switch, Start Menu Reviver, IObit Start Menu 8 and many more. All of these Start Menu alternatives have their own advantages and disadvantages. Some of them mimic the original Start Menu from Windows 7 and some of them imitate the behavior of the classic Windows XP Start Menu. But if you are looking for a Start Menu that allows you to categorize the programs and apps in your own custom way, then you should take a look at the Handy Start Menu – another Start Menu replacement for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.
Handy Start Menu is developed by ChemTable Software and is available in form of an installer. After the installation, you can double-click on its desktop icon to launch it. This would show the software’s About window with options to enable or disable the Handy Start Menu and change the menu settings. It will attempt to update the applications category database from the Internet. This will also place a Windows 7 style Start Menu icon in the lower-left corner of your desktop window.
After the application categories update is complete, you can proceed and click on the Change the Menu Settings button to customize the categories in which it places your applications. It can automatically choose the categories for most of your applications, but if some of your programs remain Without Category, then you can manually assign a category for them. To do so, just select one of the category-less program and then choose one of the categories from the right-side panel.
When you click on the Start Menu button placed in the left-most corner of your Windows taskbar, it will show up a Start Menu displaying all your programs in different categories. You can also search for programs from within the Start Menu (just like in the Windows 7 Start Menu), open the Handy Start Menu settings, adjust the scale of the menu and find the available updates for your installed software.
Conclusion: Handy Start Menu is lightweight, fast and basic Start Menu alternative for Windows 8 and 8.1. It automatically categorizes all of your programs based on their type and shows a hybrid XP and Windows 7 style categorized Start Menu. It also has option to find the updates for your installed software.
You can download Handy Start Menu from http://www.handystartmenu.com/.