Press ⌘Space, type the first letters of an app's name, press Return. That is Spotlight, and it is the Start menu, the search box and the Run dialog in one. It also finds files by name or content, does arithmetic ("18% of 240"), converts units and currencies, and defines words.
For a list of everything installed:
- Open Finder, click Applications in the sidebar. Every app is a file in that folder.
- Drag the Applications folder from the sidebar to the right side of the Dock, next to the Trash. Click it and you get a grid of every app, the closest thing to All Programs.
- Launchpad, the full-screen grid of icons, was removed in macOS 26 in favour of Spotlight's apps view (⌘Space, then ⌘1).
Apps you use daily belong in the Dock: open the app, right-click its icon, Options → Keep in Dock.