There are some people who prefer the Windows XP "Classic" Start menu.... (OK, the new menu takes some time getting used too, but once you are used to it, it has some advantages)....

To change to the "Classic" Start menu, right-click Start, and click Properties. Click the radio button in front of Classic Start menu, click Apply and OK.

One thing to remember: the "Classic" Start menu has the ability to use "Personalized Menus", which is enabled by default. Some of you might have had previous encounters with this after installing Internet Explorer 6 on other OS versions. If not, what "Personalized Menus" does is hide menu items that you don't use frequently. You can access these by clicking the "down" arrow which will display at the bottom of menus which have "hidden" items.

To disable the use of Personalized Menus, right-click Start, click Properties > Customize, and at the bottom of the Advanced Start menu options box, uncheck Use Personalized Menus

Note: "Personalized Menus" is not available when using the new style Windows XP Start menu.