Via Ed Bott, Dwight Silverman wants to know what's on your start menu.

No, not what programs you have installed. He wants to know what your top 6 programs are that you use - you know, in Windows XP, the left side of the start menu, where it has an MRU program list.

I'm game. Here's my two lists. The first one is on my base machine - where I don't do any development. Here's my list:

1. Excel - This is unfair. I recently had a small project working on an excel sheet. No need for a dedicated VPC just to modify an Excel spreadsheet!
2. I.E. - This list isn't accurate! It only counts programs started from the start menu. I use keyboard shortcuts to start everything I use on a regular basis. By the way, I use Maxthon most of the time.
3. SlickRun - Now, this I use all the time. It's actually where my keyboard shortcuts are stored. I think this is only on my list because it was having a crisis the other day and needed to be put out of it's misery for a little while.
4. VS.NET Command Prompt. No shortcut for this, so I do open this every now and then.
5. Trillian - my IM client of choice!
6. Remote Desktop Connection - I agree with this one.

Ok. Not as useful as I think Dwight had hoped. Here's my top 6 list of programs used, which would be reflected in my start menu if I actually used it on a regular basis.

1. Outlook - that's about all that I use my base machine for anymore. That, and?
2. Trillian - my IM client of choice!
3. OneNote - I spend a fair amount of time in OneNote.
4. Virtual PC - I'm a developer who does all of his development in VPCs. Of course this is on the list.
5. Edit Plus - My notepad replacement. It's used all the time.
6. iPodder - my new podcatcher of choice. It runs all the time.

That looks a little more accurate.

Now, on my development VPCs, here's the list:

1. Visual Studio - Of course. I'm a developer, remember?
2. SQL Enterprise Manager - hard to develop without a database. I'm certified in SQL Server database design. I suppose I should spend some time in there every now and then!
3. Edit Plus - sometimes Visual Studio is just a little bit overkill.
4. Explorer - Yeah, I spend a lot of time in the file system.
5. Remote Desktop Connection - Build servers need my attention!
6. CodeSmith Explorer - I haven't moved to 3.0 yet, but I still use it on at least a weekly basis.

So there you have mine. What's on your MRU list?

Oh yeah. Dwight. I'm subscribed, but I'll unsubscribe if you go back to partial feeds. I agree with Ed, by the way.