Menu Utilities for DOS
(program launchers) Also see File Management section for other shells.

Ratings: [* fair] to [* * * * * excellent]

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DougMenu- Rock-solid, mouse and keyboard-driven DOS command menu.

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DougMenu is not for everyone but it is a smartly designed and simple to use menu...once you get it up and running. The small chore is getting it up and running. Like RVMS, this involves creating a properly formatted text file with all of the commands you wish to launch from the menu. People who are constantly changing their menu will definitely find this tedious and should opt for a menu program who's configuration is more user-friendly. However, once configured DougMenu is simple to use. Just click to access menus and submenus. Commands can also be assigned to function keys. Includes time/date display, built-in screen saver, and menu password feature. Best of all, DougMenu is fast and it's memory usage is next to nothing.

download dmenu177.zip


RVMS- Simple, effective keyboard-only menu.

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The somewhat dated (1993) River View Menu System aims to provide the same degree of functionality as the shareware Magee Automenu program version 3.0 . Although I love mouse driven programs, the mouseless RVMS is still a breeze to use. Menus are navigated with the arrow keys and the Pg keys. The simple menu and submenu structure is defined in text files written by the user. Optional descriptions of each menu entry are displayed on a status line. A clock is available on screen as is a display of free memory. Passwords can be used to restrict access to specific menu items. RVMS is not economical with memory. Use non-resident RVMS commands if possible.

download rvms100.zip


AuMenu- Keyboard-only menu handles large number of menu items.

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AuMenu is a simple, clean looking DOS menu that was developed as a shareware program for UNIX platforms. The DOS version is freeware (though a transient UNIX nag screen still appears on startup). The interface consists of a list of 10 menu items representing commands or submenus. Number of submenus is limited only by memory. Like the similar RVMS, this menu program does not support a mouse and a user-edited text file stores the menu structure. User login and password utilization is possible with the scripting language. No customization of colors is possible. AuMenu requires about 60K RAM after program execution according to my own test, but this may vary with menu size.

download aumenu12.zip (fixed link 7-5-97)


Paradigm - DOS menu with easy configuration.

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A DOS menu with mouse support. Unique features include password protection, a time and date setter, system information, screen blanker, and logging of programs run. Although I prefer DougMenu as a DOS shell, Paradigm's online menu setup is easier. Maximum of 10 main menu items with 26 sub-menu items each. Paradigm requires 15KB of memory when running other programs. Executable file is rather large (190K).

When I find a program like this, it humbles me in my old age- I can't believe Paradigm was written by a sixteen year old. But his credentials are noteworthy (A Netscape intern, a future UC Berkeley student).

Shareware status: This program is designated shareware - and judging from the documentation, it may have been distributed on disk at one time (or was intended to be). But it appears to be donationware at this time, since that is what the author is requesting (on his home page) rather than a fixed amount of money. reviewed 6-28-97

download para240c.zip


X-Starter- Mouse compatible menu system with on-line configuration.

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This is another free DOS menu that is mouse compatible. X-Starter requires a separate file to function (VBDRT10.EXE, included in RUNTIME.EXE archive). Xstarter has a simple, clean text mode interface somewhat reminiscent of Windows. X-Starter probably has the easiest configuration of any of the menus here- you can browse your disk for programs to add to menus. It doesn't include many extras like password protection or a screen saver. It does log all accesses to menu items in a history file with time stamps. German interface with English help. 20 submenus available with 20 programs each. The program requires no RAM when executing a program (batch file used). Runtime file and configuration files are big (250K, and > 65K).

Note: Xstarter loads very slowly on my 386sx/20 laptop which has a compressed drive- rendering it virtually useless as a menu. Loads fast on my Pentium.

You'll need to download both of the following self-extracting archives:

download RUNTIME.EXE (155K)
download X-STARTE.EXE


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(c)1997 Richard L. Green