Member Avatar for ashikkalam123

The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but it can be fixed by editing a Registry Key. Open up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay

By default, the value is 400. It can be given a smaller value, such as 0, to speed up.

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Nice tip — thanks to for starting the thread and to and for confirming the effect. What the earlier posts demonstrate is that the tweak changes the built‑in pause before menus appear and still makes many classic (Win32) menus feel much snappier. That said, this is primarily a UI timing tweak — it improves perceived responsiveness, not raw CPU, disk, or memory performance. Windows Central guide. (windowscentral.com)

Important compatibility note for readers on newer Windows builds: parts of the modern shell (including the Start experience in recent releases) are implemented with newer UI frameworks and may ignore the registry timing tweak used in older Windows. To speed the modern Start/menu surfaces, use the OS accessibility/visual‑effects controls to reduce or disable animations instead — that affects the newer shell directly. Microsoft: turn off animations / accessibility settings. (windowsforum.com)

A few safety and troubleshooting points tied to what people in the thread experienced (for example ’s negative‑value joke and ’s memory note): don’t use undocumented or extreme values — negative numbers are unsupported and extreme settings can create accidental submenu pop‑ups. If free memory looks different after trying the tweak, it’s almost certainly incidental; the change controls only menu timing, so investigate background processes, Explorer behavior, or startup items in Task Manager instead. Community testing and measurement are recommended before wide adoption. (superuser.com)

Practical, low‑risk workflow: create a System Restore point first and export any registry key you plan to edit; change one setting at a time; then sign out/sign back in (or reboot) to test. If a managed (corporate) machine is in use, check with IT — policies can override these tweaks. If anything breaks, restore the exported key or the restore point. Microsoft: System Protection / restore points. (support.microsoft.com)

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Member Avatar for flynismo

Nice!

Member Avatar for The Dude

I have mine set to 0 also :)

I did the change with (Best reg cleaner/editor i have ever found)

Member Avatar for ckurtz

Me too. I set my menuShowDelay to 0. It works. hehehe
:cool:

Member Avatar for The Dude

I wonder if setting it UNDER 0 would be even faster!! (-1 for example :D)

Member Avatar for ckurtz

dude: have u tried it? setting it under 0? maybe i should try it for -9.. heheh

Member Avatar for The Dude

Hehehe i suppose its worth a try :D

Member Avatar for georgegrace1987

thanks for the great tip!!! really helped me a lot.. have a lot of items in the start menu..

Member Avatar for A_member

well mine is the default speed i think coz the entry doesn't exist but my start menu always pops up pretty fast.

Member Avatar for m610

Won't using a negative number make the start menu open up just before you click it? ;)

There are so many things that one can adjust in Windows that it is a shame that these aren't offered during Windows install, starting with basic things like the desktop style, some explorer settings, default locations for the user's files, alternate location for the "Program Files", and more. I've spend time reading through various books describing various registry settings and found lots of stuff I wanted to change.

Member Avatar for c-tech

pretty cool. gonna try it maself. Thanks

Member Avatar for tiger86

Wow thanks I am going to reboot and see what happens; I made a restore point just in case.

Member Avatar for tiger86

Wow thanks I am going to reboot and see what happens; I made a restore point just in case.

Wow I set it to 0 and it was the fastest reboot I have ever had! Thank you!!

Member Avatar for hollowman1

Nice try. I knew this already.

Member Avatar for tiger86

It seems that with the start menu loading faster I have less memory available. I may be mistakened after all the registry is my worst area.

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