>>>Believe me, after all these years (and under linux, whose filesystem is actually simpler) I have one folder with about a dozen batch files (ok, bash files) to launch my favorite apps. Those that aren't on the toolbar. And that folder is always at hand (second tab on the left pane of DoubleCommander).
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>>>* in orthodox christianity, the wall behind the altar, where the ikons are hung; on a PC that'd be the desktop
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>>So you use a NC clones pre-menu navigation system you are used to? And thirty odd programs at hand - that is not short-cut. That's overkill or windows start menu.
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>Windows start menu is useless, as apps are not listed by category (as they are in linux) but by manufacturer. I've had cases when within a week or month after I install an app I can't find it, because it was under some no-name hodge-podge of buzzwords of a manufacturer. Rang no bells at all.
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>And there are two kinds of navigation, mind you. One is „where is the app I want to launch“ - we're long past the point where one would locate the executable's directory, go there and launch it on the spot. It's done via some kind of shortcut, and nowadays one actually doesn't even know where the exe is. The other kind is filesystem navigation, mostly concerning your own files, your texts, code, photos, sounds, videos, whatnot. These may take only a single-digit percentage of all the filenames on your system, and maybe about 20% of space (perhaps more in my case, I have a couple of hundred thousand photos I made). Now either you know what you're doing and leave them in places you can memorize, or you rely on some piece of software which organizes them into albums, catalogs etc, basically adding complexity in an attempt to reduce it. That's a separate story.
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>Now launching apps... I've found that the best solution is a MRU/MFU command line, which will find it not just by its filename (which is often cryptic, anyway), but to any words mentioned in its title, description, shortcut's filename. The best one under windowses was Launchy, because it had a limited scope - you told it which folders and which file specs to scan, so it wouldn't bring any of the thousands of unrelated executables, or documents which came with various apps etc, only what you wanted. The app launcher in Mint (and some flavors of Ubuntu) is the next best thing - it's the system menu, with categories listed on the left, entries in the selected category on the run, and an autofill combo (the MRU/MFU list, basically) on top. Most of the time, to launch an app, I just press the win key to open that, then type 3-4 characters and the app I wanted is there. Press enter, done. In the rare cases when it doesn't find it (perhaps I opened it with cyrillic active and the app I look for doesn't have any text attached in that script), navigation through categories takes a dozen seconds max. I remember the times in windowses where I would spend minutes in the menu, looking for something and not finding it - forgot the name of its maker, and would eventually find it under accessories or some other ill-defined category. Even worse, I'd get lost in the menu of just Word alone.

Ever since I'd stumbled across the toolbars feature of the taskbar, it's a feature that I've been using as it's been a very useful tool for organizing access to files and programs. I've not yet migrated to Windows 11 as of yet (will need to purchase new computer for it -- current rig doesn't meet requirements), but the one thing that'll likely annoy me is that the toolbar feature appears to be missing in Windows 11.