12.10grub2
I use a shared computer, so I need to make it user friendly for my-less-than-computer-knowledgable friend
currently have Ubuntu 12.10 installed
I would like to change the GRUB menu so that Windows 7 is at the top of the list (thus allowing the automatic timeout to automatically select it on startup) and Ubuntu down below
I've already used the information used at { How do I change the GRUB boot order? } and that didn't work.
Download/Install the grub-customizer latest version.
This PPA contains the latest release of Grub Customizer.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer
After installation launch 'Grub Customizer' from Dash and as you see in screenshot you will see this window(I unexpanded "Advanced options for Ubuntu")
Then lets Start to answer the How to questions.
If you want to rename menu entries, under "List configuration" tab, first select the entry and right-click on it and select "Rename" from context menu. Then type new name and hit enter.
Now we renamed both "Ubuntu > Lubuntu 14.04.1" and "Windows Boot Manager (on /dev/sda1) to just "Windows 8.1".
To reordering menu entries, do like above, first select entry and right-click on it and select "Move up/Move down" from context menu to move the entry to up/down. (Also you can use Up/Down arrow from tool-bar 
)
Now after renaming and reordering the entries we will have this list.
After changing order of the menu entries, First entry will be as default entry. In this case your Windows 8.1 will be default OS if you moved it to up and it's the first entry of the list. Or you can use "General settings" tab and select your "Windows 8.1" from default entry list box. see the screenshot:
That's it. After you finished changes press "Save" (the icon under main menu) to save the changes.
Best Answer
You can change the default boot by editing the grub config:
Change the line *GRUB_DEFAULT=0* so that it reflects which grub boot line is the one you want to boot off: eg *GRUB_DEFAULT=2* etc.
You will then need to update the grub boot menu so that this change takes effect:
Having to select the correct OS from a men is hardly unfriendly, but if you really have to...