At this point I've just abandoned the start menu all together. PowerToys Run has effectively become how I launch anything that isn't on the taskbar, tied to one of the buttons on my mouse or a keyboard shortcut. Everything search on a different shortcut replaces the built-in search.
Of course that's just how I cope on my mandatory-Windows 11 work laptop. At home (and I know this is almost a meme at this point), I'm slowly getting myself accustomed to Linux alongside Windows 10 until that's no longer feasible.
Am I misunderstanding something or are you saying you dig into the program files every time you launch a program? I thought the OP was talking about programs not files and folder.
I don't install to program files typically, but yes. I navigate the tree and launch either my bat files or exe files directly. A program is just launched by a 'file' or executable in this case.
I've been a Linux Mint guy for the last ten years.
By default, the Menu is able to explore the file system. I turn that off. I want that for launching applications. I use Nemo, the file manager, for browsing and opening files.
Out of curiosity: How do you start programs? If a program is clearly associated with a file by opening the file from explorer I assume, but there are programs which are not file based (web browser, games, ...). Do you maintain a folder with shortcuts or do you navigate the start menu folder using the explorer?