To Long Program List

I am using Windows 98. I have a large list of installed programs. When I click on the Windows Program icon my programs list appear in single column which I have to scroll down to find many of my programs.

I can't use the Page Down or Page UP keys. My desktop would get way to cluttered if I tried to maintain desktop icons.

Is there any way to have the single long column to appear across the screen in in two or thee columns? Could they be sorted in some fashion?

If restricted to a single column is there a way to get the Page Up and Page Down key buttons to work?

Cluttered in the USA

 

I am not aware of being able to show more than 1 column but, if you go to start, programs and right click. The popout box does give you the option to "Sort by name" near the bottom.

SeeYa

 

It can be changed with a reg hack...below is the key to change and value it should be........
If you are familiar with regedit no further instruction are necessary...if you are NOT I'm not gonna be the one to send you there with qusi-instructions....
If you need to see REGISTRY TUTORIAL

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Advanced> add or change the value named StartMenuScrollPrograms, changing its current data of FALSE

 

Instead of manually going to the registry, you can download the attached TXT file, change the extension from TXT to REG, then double click to add it to the registry.

It adds an option to Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View Tab called "Multi-Column Start Menu" that allows you to turn the option on or off.

What you should also do is rearrange (categorize) all the items in Start Programs.
From Explorer or My Computer, browse to \Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Here you will find all the shortcuts that appear when you do Start > Programs

In this folder, create new folders that categorize the programs, such as Games, Graphics, etc.

Then, drag all the shortcuts related to these categories, into the new folders.

Now when you do Start > Programs, you will see the list of Categories first, instead of the long list of programs. And, when you open one of these folders, you then see the list of programs (which, if you install the REG file, will appear in a multicolumn window)

 

Hats off to "WhitPhil" for a most excellent solution. I followed the directions and rebooted. What an elegant solution! Just seeing all the programs in one visual field made program cleanups, updates and deletions so much easier. For my many projects I have had to try many shareware programs to find what I needed.
I would end up with three or four similar programs but I only wanted to retain "best of the breed" in case I needed to buy or to refer to it much later.

 

Does this technique work with Win98SE? I downloaded and installed the file; it did add the "multi-column start" option. However, even if this option is checked, I still have a programs-menu with one-column with up/down scrolling.
If this file is NOT supposed to work with SE, could you point me in the right direction for something that will.
Thanks.