The Start menu is a user interface element used in Microsoft Windows operating systems since Windows 95 and in some X window managers. It provides a central launching point for application and tasks. Depending on the operating system or window manager, the menu might have different names, such as Kickoff Application Launcher in KDE, Start screen in Windows 8 or LX Panel in LXDE.
Traditionally, the Start menu provided a customizable nested list of programs for the user to launch, as well as a list of most recently opened documents, a way to find files and get help, and access to the system settings. Later enhancements via Windows Desktop Update included access to special folders like "My Documents" and "Favorites" (browser bookmarks). Windows XP's Start menu was expanded to encompass various My Documents folders (including My Music and My Pictures), and transplanted other items like My Computer and My Network Places from the Windows desktop. Until Windows Vista, the Start menu was constantly expanded across the screen as the user navigated through its cascading sub-menus. As of Windows Vista, the Start menu covers a fixed portion of the screen. As of Windows Server 2012, the Start menu (known as "Start screen") covers the entire screen.
Read more about Start Menu: Microsoft Windows, Linux
Famous quotes containing the words start and/or menu:
“There the traveler meets, aghast,
Sheeted memories of the past—
Shrouded forms that start and sigh
As they pass the wanderer by—
White-robed forms of friends long given,
In agony, to the earth—and heaven.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“The menu was stewed liver and rice, fricassee of bones, and shredded dog biscuit. The dinner was greatly appreciated; the guests ate until they could eat no more, and Elisha Dyer’s dachshund so overtaxed its capacities that it fell unconscious by its plate and had to be carried home.”
—For the State of Rhode Island, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)