[stantley]

Here's a registry change that will speed up the time for the start menu to appear. Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop MenuShowDelay

The Windows default is 400, so change this to a smaller value with 0 being the fastest. For some people this can be too fast, so you could try 50 or 100.

As usual, be sure to backup your registry before making any changes.

[JohnWill]

One problem with this is that it also speeds up all the menu popups, and you may want some delay before they pop up when you mouse over them.

[GoJoAGoGo]

stantley:

Good tweak, I'm not sure where you found that tweak but this site has that same Start Menu tweak plus a lot more useful Windows tweaks:
http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/