Wanna be startin' somethin': a history of the Windows Start menu Microsoft's most identifiable product has had 20 years of ups and downs By Tom Warren | Illustrations by T.C. Sottek

Microsoft’s Start menu is a big deal. It’s the first thing many people think of when they think of Windows, or even Microsoft. The simple Start menu has existed for more than 20 years now. It started off as a way to make Windows easier to use, and now it’s the center of how we interact with Windows on a daily basis. Whether it’s launching apps, searching for documents, or simply shutting down your PC, you probably use the Start menu more than you think. Microsoft’s Start menu made its first appearance with Windows 95. It quickly became the go-to menu to find everything you needed from your PC, and it changed very little until the blue-and-green theme of Windows XP. The Start menu became so intertwined with the identity of Windows that users freaked out when it disappeared in Windows 8. It didn’t take long for Microsoft to reverse course: the Start menu was brought back to life with Windows 10. Microsoft has tried a variety of different Start menus over the years, but the Windows 10 version is the best combination of the modern ideas the company has attempted and the classic menu. The Start menu is iconic, and it’s the identity of Windows. As long as Microsoft doesn’t have any crazy ideas, it’s probably here to stay for many, many more years. Twenty years is a long time for any software, so let’s take a look at how exactly the Start menu, and by extension, Windows itself, has changed since Windows 95.

Start me up Windows 95 Back in 1995, people lined up at midnight to get Microsoft’s latest release of Windows, and it was the first version, alongside the enterprise-focused Windows NT 4, to introduce the Start menu. It was designed to make Windows easier to use, and group or organize applications in a list. Before it arrived, Windows users could access apps through Program Manager. It was largely a basic list of apps, with no real organization. While Program Manager did have smaller menus, most Windows users simply launched apps and used it as a list. Windows needed an overhaul. The Start menu was just that overhaul to bring Windows into the next era of computing. Windows 95’s Start menu arrived alongside the taskbar. The taskbar offered quick access to volume options, the time and date, and even an indication of network activity. Any apps that you launched in Windows 95 would sit neatly on the taskbar, making them easy to leave open and access repeatedly, and you’d find most of them from the new Start menu. Microsoft kept the idea of a list of apps in its new menu, but it was laid out into categories and neatly organized and you could simply drag and drop apps into place. The menu itself became the default way to launch apps from a simple click of the Start button. The combination of Start button and menu meant you always activated the menu from the lower left-hand side. Even when other apps were used, the Start button was always visible and ready to be used to access additional apps or folders. It negated the need to use Command Prompt for the vast majority of users, and became familiar as the first place you’d check to find documents, help, settings, or just the ability to turn your PC off. It kickstarted a trend in Windows that has lasted more than 20 years, and made it easy for people new to computers to easily navigate around. The Start menu was also an efficient way to store and organize a lot of quick shortcuts in one place.

Windows 98 - 2000 At first glance, the Windows 98 Start menu doesn’t look very different to the original. A new log off option to support 98’s new multi-user interface was added alongside the same iconography, layout, and basic functions as the Windows 95 version. Beyond that, Windows 98’s Start menu ushered in the internet era. Microsoft added a favorites folder on the Start menu to complement the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows 98. Most of the internet-related features were designed for the active desktop with widgets, but the Windows 98 Start menu played a small, but important role in making Windows a little more internet friendly. The internet age was helped along by Windows 98's Start menu The taskbar saw bigger changes. Microsoft introduced a new Quick Launch section that let Windows 98 users pin their favorite apps. Quick Launch also included the "show desktop" option to quickly check the desktop and minimize open apps, even when apps were maximized to take up the entire screen. As the desktop contained widgets and Windows users love to save documents to the desktop, the show desktop feature became a useful option to complement the taskbar, desktop, and Start menu. Windows ME might have been full of bugs and issues (it didn’t earn its nickname "Windows Mistake Edition" for nothing), but the Start menu remained a consistent and stable feature. Little changed from the Windows 98 version, but Microsoft decided to place the full Windows ME branding along the side of the menu. That made it look a little ugly, but it was the last time we’d see this type of layout and design for the default version of the Start menu. Windows 2000 was designed for professionals, but the Start menu was almost identical to Windows ME. Microsoft made some minor changes to pin Windows Update and set program access and defaults to the top of the Start menu. It was a quicker way to access settings to uninstall apps or change default apps, and the Windows Update shortcut was designed to provide quicker access to all important security updates. Just like Windows ME, the taskbar in Windows 2000 remained relatively unchanged from Windows 98. This is the last time we’ll see the traditional gray interface as the default setting for the Start menu.

New experiences Windows XP - Windows 7 Windows XP gave us the first significant visual overhaul to the Start menu since Windows 95. It looked radically different. Microsoft picked a blue-and-green theme for XP’s Start menu, and many were quick to criticize its "Fisher Price" look at the time. The blue theme extended into the entire taskbar, and Microsoft began tweaking the system tray to hide unused icons by default. It was easy to get them back and drop them into the full system tray, but it helped keep the system tray under control at a time when many app developers started taking advantage of it. The actual Start menu itself split into two panes, with regularly used or pinned apps on the left and quick access to documents, settings, help, and search on the right. It was familiar, but also very different. The traditional application list on the Start menu was accessible from the All Programs link, and if you really wanted the old Start menu back then you could enable a classic theme. At the time, a lot of third-party skinners produced a variety of themes to customize the Start menu and overall look of Windows XP. Windows Vista's Start menu put search front and center Microsoft took its Windows XP Start menu changes and tweaked them even further with Windows Vista. While the Start menu looked similar, there were some fundamental changes that alienated longtime Windows users. Microsoft switched to a transparent menu as part of its futuristic-looking "Aero Glass" theme. It was a visual look that many enjoyed, but the translucent effects were also distracting and irritating at times, not to mention taxing for a lot of older and lower-end PCs. Microsoft extended this theme throughout the Start menu, app windows, taskbar, and even in a new sidebar that contained live gadgets. The Start menu itself changed to a darker look and feel, with simple icons in the taskbar for the Show desktop option and a new 3D flip interface that tiled apps together. Vista’s Start menu lacked any visual cues for links to documents, the control panel, or other settings, which made it difficult to scan quickly and access these options. It was a long list of text on the right-hand side, and frequent or pinned apps on the left. Microsoft’s biggest change to the Vista Start menu came with built-in search. In Vista you could simply hit the Windows key and start typing for what you wanted to search for. The importance of the Windows key or Windows logo permeated throughout Microsoft’s keyboards and mice, and a new "ultimate" keyboard shipped with the Windows key in the center to quickly access search or the Start menu. Microsoft also removed the "start" branding from the Vista Start menu, and replaced it with a Windows orb to further push the Windows branding in Vista. Continuing the trend of tweaks over the years, Microsoft made very few changes to the Start menu with Windows 7. The shutdown button became more prominent and easy to spot, but Microsoft kept the lack of visual elements and flat text for shortcuts. Microsoft tweaked its search feature for the Windows 7 Start menu, with better performance and faster queries for documents and settings. Most of the Windows 7 interface changes were found in the taskbar or the way apps interacted with each other. Microsoft introduced Aero Snap to let Windows 7 users snap apps side by side. Aero Shake also appeared and allowed users to shake their mouse to initiate the Show desktop command. Microsoft even moved the traditional Show desktop shortcut from the Quick Launch area to the right-hand side of the taskbar.