SyMenu: Portable Start Menu Launcher and Replacement for Windows

SyMenu is a free portable Start Menu Launcher and Replacement tool for Windows PCs that lets you organize your portable applications easily and automatically links any application installed on the host computer.

Suppose you are working on something, like, say, a Word document, and in the middle of your work, you feel like playing your favorite song. Unless you have a shortcut pinned to your taskbar, you need to go through several steps, like – open This PC, then the respective folder, and then go to the particular music file. SyMenu will generate a Start menu wherever you want it!

Start Menu Launcher and Replacement

Features of SyMenu

You can quickly access any of your files or applications without actually going to a particular file location. Here are some more features of SyMenu that are unique as well as beneficial.

• Whenever you launch SyMenu, all the applications installed on the host PC are automatically linked. Hence, you don’t have to worry about remembering all your applications and linking them to this portable menu launcher.
• You can customize the menu generated by SyMenu. The items linked to this tool are known as the SyItems. These items, as well as the indexed applications, can be organized in a hierarchical structure. You can use colorful folders, separators, and labels to separate them.
• The applications that are not displayed in the menu; but are present on your PC can be found using the internal search.
• You can also link portable programs, documents, Windows commands, folders, and URLs with the SyMenu tool.
• Adding new files to the SyMenu application is easy. Drag and drop the file from your PC to the SyItems. You can also use the mass importer tool to add these files.
• Whether they are from the USB device or the host PC, the linked items can stay at the exact location as SyMenu supports the absolute path, such as C:\Windows\Explorer.exe.
• SyMenu supports several languages such as Chinese Traditional, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and Swedish.
• And last but not least: the SyMenu tool is available for free of charge.

Here is a list of basic functionalities of the SyMenu

• Start Search bar
• Windows Start Menu wrapper
• Extension Manager
• Autoexec
• Execution modes
• Batch Import
• Plug-in support
• SPS program suite

How to install and use SyMenu

Installing and using this Start menu replacement tool is relatively easy. Follow these steps to launch the app and use it:

• Download the app from the SyMenu website. A zipped folder is downloaded within no time. You need to extract the ZIP contents to a folder by right-clicking the file and selecting Extract All.
• Open ‘SyMenu’ from the extracted files. When you click on it, a ‘Sy’ button appears on the desktop.

• Click on the ‘Sy’ button to open the new and portable ‘Start Menu’.
• Now, go to ‘This PC’. Using SyItems, you can see all the host programs, drives, and sub-menu within the drives.

• If you want to add any software or application from your USB drive to the SyMenu app, you need to go to Tools and Configuration.

• Now click on Item Manager > Add Program and press the three-dot menu button next to the ‘Path’ box. This will create an item in SyItems by clicking which you can launch the software from the USB port

• To customize the SyMenu, you need to click on Advanced and then Options. This opens the SyMenu-Options window. This is where you can change the theme of the app.

• You can also assign keyboard shortcuts for opening the Start menu.

It looks like a helpful tool – something some of you want to check out. Download it here. Works on Windows 11/10 too.

How Do I Restore the Old Start Menu in Windows 11?

While you cannot change the look and feel, you can change the alignment of the Windows 11 Start Menu to left from center-aligned. The option is available in Windows Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors> Taskbar alignment and change it to the left.

Can I hide recently installed apps in the Start Menu?

Yes, you can. Go to Settings > Personalization > Start and toggle off the option Show recently added apps. You can also hide recently opened items and most-used apps from the same section.