Lowell Shearer

A: There are fixes, but they require Internet Explorer 5 (go to StartòWindows Update). Once you have IE 5 installed, to alphabetise any Start submenu right-click the submenu and select Sort by Name.

Making long menus display in multiple columns is tougher. In fact, it requires editing the Registry. Before you do this, see "Protect Yourself Against Catastrophic Installs" (p.124, June PC World) for instructions on backing up the Registry.

Once your Registry is safely backed up, select StartòRun, type Regedit, and press <Enter>. In the Registry Editor, navigate the left pane, as you would in Windows Explorer, to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. Once there, right-click a blank spot in the right-hand pane and select NewòString Value. Name your new value StartMenuScrollPrograms. Press <Enter> once to save the name and again to bring up the Edit String dialog box. In that box's 'Value data' field, type false. Press <Enter>, then close the Registry Editor and reboot. For more on the Start menu, see below.