If you use any Microsoft Office application such as Excel frequently, you can make its program option a permanent part of the Windows Start menu. To do this, you pin the program option to the Start menu. This method works for Windows XP and Windows Vista:

1. Start Excel from the Windows Start menu.
2. After launching Excel, Windows adds Microsoft Office 2007 to the recently used portion on the left side of the Windows Start menu.
3. Click the Start menu and then right-click Microsoft Excel 2007 on the Start menu to open its shortcut menu.
4. Click Pin to Start menu on the shortcut menu.

After pinning Excel in this manner, the Microsoft Office Excel 2007 option always appears in the upper section of the left-hand column of the Start menu and you can then launch Excel simply by clicking the Start button and then click this option.