I think you can learn a lot about a person from their Start Menu. It summarizes the things that people do most often with their computers, and as computers become increasingly important tools for people's daily lives, it thus summarizes what people do with their time. I can't think of any better indicator you can get from a person's computer by pushing just one button.

So here's mine. From it you can tell many things:

1) I'm on Vista. I'm not curious enough to try Windows 7 (because of the time involved in re-installing all my software and fixing all my settings), and I'm not whiny internet faux-nerd enough to stick with XP.

2) This is a furry laptop! My user name, icon and background (you can barely see a topless blue folf with a collar through the menu :3) are all furry-related. So I'm not a deeply closeted fur who uses non-furry user names and such. See also: Sardonis.

3) I care about utility and aesthetics. My Start Menu isn't filled with all the fluff that it ships with by default. Help and Support? Default Programs? Run? Connect To? Unnecessary, and the functionality is often offered with just a few keystrokes.

4) The primary uses of this laptop are internet browsing and chatting. I even took the time to pin applications for those up at the top so they're always available.

5) Secondary uses for this laptop are tracking my FA userpage stats (Excel), saving quick memos to myself (Notepad), editing images (GIMP), composing documents (Word), programming (Visual Studio), a couple games (Steam), and manually checking for updates and file fragmentation levels.

6) Although I have Chrome, it isn't my primary browser. I still have issues with it, and until they're resolved, it will remain used only for Gmail and other Google sites I keep open/open frequently.

7) I use a lot of "official" software, stuff which is legitimately purchased and isn't open source and/or third party. Yahoo! and AIM, not GAIM or Trillian or whatever fake chat clients are popular these days. Excel and Word rather than OpenOffice.org. Steam, which implies that stuff is actually paid for.

8) I'm too poor/stubborn for Photoshop. It's expensive and I can't justify the cost or time it would take to learn new tools and keyboard shortcuts.

9) I care about my software! A lot of it is in the newest editions, and given that a lot of it is Microsoft-made and I have Windows Update in my Start Menu, it's all patched too.

10) I'm picky about my file defragmenting. I don't trust any program that won't let me visualize the spatial layout of my files and their fragmentation status, i.e. Windows Disk Defragmenter.



SO! If you're bored, take a screenshot of your Start Menu, upload it to Photobucket or some other site (not FA, it isn't allowed), link to it in a comment and tell me what it says about you. Or let me look at it and tell you what I think it says ;3