You can open group policy editor (gpedit.msc) and go to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar and set a variety of preferences for your startmenu. Or if You want You can open registry editor and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and enable/disable various parameters by changing 1 to 0 and viceversa. I am doing a cut/paste of list available at Microsoft site. Visit the site to get details on these registry valuesRegistry Value:"NoSimpleStartMenu"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuPinnedList" Registry Value:"NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuMorePrograms" Registry Value:"NoCommonGroups" Registry Value:"GreyMSIAds" Registry Value:"NoWindowsUpdate"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuMyMusic", "NoSMMyPictures","NoFavoritesMenu","NoRecentDocsMenu"
Registry Value:"DisableMyPicturesDirChange", "DisableMyMusicDirChange", "DisableFavoritesDirChange".Registry Value:"NoSMMyDocs"Registry Value:"DisablePersonalDirChange" Registry Value:"NoRecentDocsMenu" Registry Value:"MaxRecentDocs" Registry Value:"ClearRecentDocsOnExit" Registry Value:"NoFavoritesMenu" Registry Value:"{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}" under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\NonEnum. Registry Value:"NoNetworkConnections" Registry Value:"NoStartMenuNetworkPlaces" Registry Value:"NoRecentDocsNetHood" Registry Value:"NoSMHelp" Registry Value:"NoFind" Registry Value:"NoRun" Registry Value:"MemCheckBoxInRunDlg" Registry Value:"NoResolveSearch" Registry Value:"NoResolveTrack" Registry Value:"ForceStartMenuLogoff" Registry Value:"StartMenuLogoff" Registry Value:"NoClose" Registry Value:"NoStartMenuEjectPC" Registry Value:"NoChangeStartMenu" Registry Value:"NoSetTaskbar" Registry Value:"NoInstrumentation" Registry Value:"NoUserNameInStartMenu"