ValliStart

A custom start menu to replace the default one.
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About

ValliStart is a start menu replacement for Windows, with full customizability, interchangeable modules and more.

Features

• Flawless Animations
• Full-fledged Control Center
• Custom Pinned Shortcuts
• Intergrated Media Controls
• Customizable Hotkeys
• Additional Modules like Weather Status

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rainmeter v4.5 or newer. Rainmeter can be installed by downloading the .exe file from Rainmeter's official website.

Installation

Assuming you successfully downloaded and installed Rainmeter as well as JaxCore, you can now proceed to install ValliStart by following the steps below.

1. Download and run the .rmskin file for ValliStart from the official JaxCore site to install ValliStart.
2. Leave the installation settings at their defaults and click Install.
3. When the installation is finished, a startup pop-up should appear. Follow through the pop-up to finish installing ValliStart.

Note: If you find that the JaxCore option is red on the startup pop-up, please press the red button and Core will be installed automatically. Perchance this fails, you can manually install Core by downloading the .rmskin file from JaxCore's official website.

Customization

ValliStart includes 6 color scheme presets. You enable them by just selecting them within the Color Scheme tab. Furthermore, ValliStart also comes with 4 layout presets. You can enable them by just selecting them within the Layout tab:

Activation

ValliStart can be activated in multiple ways:

Replacing the native windows button and key

You can launch ValliStart just like the start menu with the Win Key. Additionally, you can replace the windows button by:

• Creating a pseudo start button with core

1. Navigate to JaxCore -> ValliStart -> General -> Setting: Customize how to activate ValliStart and turn on override start button.
2. Select a start orb name. The default is Win11. You can choose another one / add your own one in the orbs directory, and entering another start orb name.
3. Press the Create button above
4. Core should popup the explorer with shortcut ValliStart.lnk inside
5. Drag the shortcut to the taskbar
6. Now you have a pseudo start button on the taskbar!
7. If you want to remove the stock start button: You can use StartKiller for Win10. There are no known ways of doing so on Windows 11.

• Using ValliStart's winblock function to create an overlay which overlaps the start button on your taskbar

1. Navigate to JaxCore -> ValliStart -> General -> Setting: Customize how to activate ValliStart and turn on override start button.
2. Toggle Setting: Display WinBlock element (legacy) on
3. Switch Setting: Win block behavior to edit
4. Drag the winblocker to desired location
5. Switch Setting: Win block behavior to functional

Using a separate hotkey

You can also launch ValliStart with the hotkey of your choice. This does not support overriding the displayed window button on your taskbar.

1. Navigate to JaxCore -> ValliStart -> General -> Setting: How should ValliStart behave? and switch the option to Separate module
2. Change Setting: Activation Hotkeyto your desired hotkey

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Modules Setup

Now that you've installed and setup ValliStart, let's begin setting up some modules it comes with!

Pinned Shortcuts

Choosing a module preset

If your ValliStart layout preset does not have the pinned shortcuts module enabled by default, follow the steps outlined below to enable it. However, if it is already enabled/selected, you can skip to configuring it.

1. Open Core and head over to the Modules section.
2. Select ValliStart from the list and proceed to the Modules tab.
3. Scroll all way to the bottom, find the module labelled None and click Change. Alternatively, you can also replace any other pre-existing module with the shortcut module.
4. Go to the Shortcut Modules tab and select a preset you like. You can choose from three presets; WinRow11, DoubleRow, and SingleRow.

   

Configuring the preset

1. Open Core and head over to the Modules section.
2. Select ValliStart from the list and proceed to the Modules tab.
3. Open the settings for your currently enabled shortcuts module.
4. Click on one of the pre-existing shortcut's name.
5. Select the shortcut for the application to be pinned.

That's all there is to it. Your shortcuts will now be visible in the pinned applications section.

Weather

1. Open Core and head over to the Modules section.

2. Select ValliStart from the list and proceed to the Modules tab.

3. Open the settings for the Weather module.

4. Click the green redirect button next to the Configure weather settings in core's global settings text.

   

5. Once the Global Variables configuration window opens, change the weather location to the location you want the weather status of.

   

6. Refresh ValliStart by deactivating and activating again using the toggle on the bottom left.

Note: You can also alter other options like the temperature unit, the language the weather is shown in, and the time format when configuring the weather location on Step 5. Also, if you're not sure what the API key is for, don't change or edit it.

Media Controls

For Spotify

For media controls to work with Spotify, you will have to setup and install Spicetify. Follow the steps below to do so.

1. Open Powershell (Windows 10) or Windows Terminal (Windows 11) and run the commands that follow:

     Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/khanhas/spicetify-cli/master/install.ps1" | Invoke-Expression
   
     spicetify
   
     spicetify config extensions webnowplaying.js
   

   If you only want to install webnowplaying.js without the custom themes, use the following command:

     spicetify config inject_css 0 replace_colors 0
   

2. And finally, run the following command to save and apply all your changes:

     spicetify backup apply
   

You can now proceed to configure media controls for Spotify. Simply follow the steps outlined below:

1. Open Core and head over to the Modules section.
2. Select ValliStart from the list and proceed to the Modules tab.
3. Click the Music module to enable it and your media controls for Spotify should work.

For Web Players

For media controls to work with a website playing audio in your browser, you will have to install the WebNowPlaying Companion extension for your browser.

Once you've installed the extension, you can now proceed to configure media controls for Web Players. Simply follow the steps outlined below:

1. Open Core and head over to the Modules section.
2. Select ValliStart from the list and proceed to the Modules tab.
3. Select the Music module to enable it and your media controls for any website should work.

The other modules, on the other hand, do not necessitate the installation of any additional applications or extensions. So, you can simply enable them using the same method as described above for the Music module.

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Help and Credits

• Spicetify installation guide by khanhas.

• Join the Core Community Discord Server for more help.

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