The improvement which I'd like to suggest is to change the behaviour of the recently used programs part of the Start Menu so that it doesn't include any programs which are already pinned. I have several programs pinned because I use them so often - Word, Excel, Outlook Express etc - so it's pointless and irritating to have them appear twice on the menu because they are on the recent programs list under the pinned list too. This is even more irritating when, as occasionally happens, it is a program which has a unique initial
letter which I use to quickly start the program. For example on my Start Menu, Notepad is the only pinned item starting with N, and so I can press "Start, N" to run it. Unfortunately sometimes Notepad ends up in the recently used list, and then because there are two programs beginning with N, my shortcut no longer works.
One point worth noting perhaps, seeing as I've just tried this and it didn't seem to happen ... it only happens at bootup, if you do anything to modify the Start Menu - such as pinning a different item - then all duplicates get removed. And they won't reappear if you use the program again. However as soon as you do a restart, they reappear in the menu, and stay until they are forcibly removed, such as by pinning something else.
In XP, I like to disable including recent items on my start menu, and instead pinning all my most-used programs. But I have alot, and it can get confusing rather quickly, but I found a way to include seperators to organize my data on the start menu.The first thing to do is create a new shortcut on the desktop. Select any file for the target, and under the name of the shortcut, use the trick to add a blank space for the filename (ALT+0160 on the keypad -- making sure NUMLOCK is on). Then click finish.
I want to "sort by name" the PINNED items in the XP start menu. I know I can rearrange by dragging, but this is cumbersome. How can i quickly sort them?
I recently restored my OS (Windows XP, SP2) and now the following happens;I "pin" items to the Start Menu, but when I reboot, they're no longer there (also, those items I removed from the Start Menu reappear) The Start Menu appears "open" everytime I reboot! It's as if I clicked "Start" and the menu gets opened.
I am using windows xp sp2 and i have an item in the start menu called "reboot computer into safe mode". I don't know how it got there and i want to remove it because its useless and it doesn't work.when i click on it a message pops up "windows cannot find ........... click the start button then click search." yes, I've tried removing it by right clicking on the taskbar and clicking the "taskbar and start menu properties" but there's not option to remove it there. So how do I remove it from the start menu.I know how to reg edit.
I recently purchases a Toshiba Satellite laptop. I use an older version of Magic Tweak, and tweaked most everything I want. One this I can't get rid of is an item on the Start Menu "Buy From Toshiba Direct". It's located directly above the shutdown dialogue in it's own little category, below the Run button. There's no options I can find to remove this.
When I get to the welcome screen and put in my password, windows starts to load my settings, then once it reaches the desktop, it logs off. It acts as if there's a log off command pinned to start up. I did have a spyware/adware problem right before this started. I scanned and had the spyware program (Spyware Doctor) clean the disk. Things after were running fine and had even rebooted both hard and soft a couple of times without any problem. I turned off the computer before leaving home for a few hours, came back, turned on the computer and the behavior described above started. I called a tech in town and he suggested to try booting in under the last known configuration used and if that didn't work, to try booting in safe mode. If that didn't work, then he'll need to see the computer. Unfortunately, neither worked and they aren't open again until Monday. I'm using a friend's laptop to find tech support between now and Monday morning, hoping to save a trip.
The computer I have doesn't have a familiar brand name like Compaq or Dell and I cannot remember the name. However, it is a typical IMB compatible like Compaq with Windows XP Home Edition, has a Pentium 4 processor and 1.something gigs of memory.
I have accidentally deleted something from my registry resulting in missing "add new item" link in all the menu windows (ie. my computer, desktop menu, file directory menu).
Is there a way to select the color of text and icons in a deselected item. The stuff in the appearance tab permits color selection of the text in a selectedbutton -- one that will do something it clicked, but I can find no way to select the color of the text in a button that WILL NOT cause an action if clicked.
Usually when I double-click a folder icon, the same window is used to open it, which is exactly the way I want it (I have set the folder options to do this) But occasionaly, it is desirable to open the folder contents in a new window. For this one has to start again from 'My Computer Is there a registry hack that will add a 'Open in a new window' item to the folder context menu ?
Like to change the bold item on the right click menu, how do I do that? For jpg images I want the double click behavior to be Preview which opens the Picture and Fax viewer, and not the Open item.
Running XP with 'CLASSIC' style menus. When I display PROGRAMS in the START menu, it only displays 3 or 4 items and then it has two Down Arrorws at the bottom of the menu, which I have to click to get the full menu. Is there some setting causing this to happen?
I am using Windows XP/SP2 a newish computer and some things changed from how it used to be.From the *Start* Button, there is the further button *Programs*. This then has the fly-out menu which used to open only the most recently accessed programs. Typically, after a boot it would show the items which opened in *Start-Up*, the rest were accessible only by hovering the mouse cursor over a button showing downward pointing arrows (more chevron like). This would then open the entire sub menu of programs to choose from. However, in the past week it now opens in that expanded view all the time. There is no sign of the little arrows anymore, and I always end up with a screen full of program lists whenever I go to Start/Programs.
can i create folders to put specific types of progs inside them as my all programs from the start menu is too long and needs tidying up i.e put photographic applications all together in one folder.
Is there a way to have the "favorites" menu in the start menu? Not just a shortcut to the "favorites" folder, but an actual menu that pops up and closes by itself, like in windows 98?
I have experienced a sudden problem starting programs. The computer boots correctly, and all desktop icons appear correctly. But when I double click a desktop icon, or start a program from the start menu, I get a popup window displaying a list of programs and asking me which program I want to use to start the application. I select the correct program (or browse to the appropriate .exe file), but still the application doesn't start. This includes IE and Windows Messenger. My virus scanner was about the only thing that I could start up, and I did a system scan with Panda Anti-Virus, but it didn't show anything substantial (just some cookies).Using my WinXP set up disk,I've tried to do a repair (I guess reinstallation without reformatting the hard disk), but after I entered the License Key, the computer did a reboot and then stopped. It is stuck on the XP splash screen and won't go any further (I once let it run over night, but it was still frozen on the splash screen). I even tried to repeat the repair process, but that didn't work.Automatic updates did download an update just before this problem started (I think it was the day before the problems began). I don't know what this update was and I'm not sure it was SP3 (system does have SP2 installed).Considering that the computer freezes now when booting up, is there anything that I can do short of reformatting the Hard Drive? I also have another hard drive that I can use to install XP onto. Is there any way that I can rescue the data from the old Hard Drive and transfer to new drive?
I'm having a problem with my explorer.exe. When i start the computer, explorer.exe doesn't start up. I have to manually go into task manager and run it from the new task tab.
The computer was fine friday night. Last thing i did was run it in safe mode and run my Norton anti-virus software, since it takes a few hours to run. But when i restarted the computer on saturday, it greeted me with an empty desktop. I did a few preliminary things such as run some spyware programs (spybot), ran the Norton antivirus again, and did a system restore from a week a go, but to no avail.
I would very much like to get this fix. Im about to start writing my thesis for school, and i need my computer to be at its best behavior. Can't lose a 100 page document few months before its due. Im including the HJT log in case there is some valuable information. I kinda know what should be running in my computer, but maybe you guys can see something different in it.
I'm using XP Pro SP2, and am trying to run a trace log to see which processes are starting/stopping and when. However, I get the following when I try to start the log:an't start trace log from Windows Kernel Trace provider event process creations/deletions). Error "The LOG_NAME log or alert has not started. Refresh the log or alert list to view current status, or see the application event log for any errors. Some logs and alerts might require a few minutes to start, especially if they include many counters."
Turn the computer on, it starts to boot, I see the compaq splash screen then the blue windows is starting. Then it just restarts the process over. I have tried to repair windows: The F8 to last known good config & F8 safe and it just restarts from both of those as well. Win XP SP3 Currently doing this: You can boot from the cd and press R to go to the recovery console. Your best bet is to try running Checkdisk. So once in the recovery console, type chkdsk /r and press enter. It could take from 20 minutes to a couple of hours, depending on the repairs it needs to make
I have a new Toshiba satellite A105-S4084, with an Intel centrino duo. I want to remove a "Buy toshiba.com" icon from the start menu. How can I do this? It's easier to remove windows icons.
I can't get to "search" or "run." I changed the icon size to "small" in the properties>start menu>customize, but that isn't helping at all. In my other accounts the start menu text is fine.
I would like to add several folders under the Run command on the right of the START menu. I used this tweak (below) of Kelly's to add one folder there. But If I run this tweak again it replaces the first folder with the new one.I thought I might be able to make the changes by hand so I tried to understand the code of the tweak.
I only have a backround nothing else, the only way i was able to get online was by following the link in the error report, the error report was about my computer crashing, which it happens alot and i have to reinstall the computer many times a week. I updated my computer just now with the windows updates, and i dont know what to do now.
Windows XP- I get a message I have to many things in my start up menu and all can't be show. I need to take some out or choose a smaller icon. I don't know what to remove.
Everything in the start menu all programs is gone. I can't find things like Paint anywhere. The recycle bin has disappered off my desktop. All I did was uninstall yahoo! mail, yahoo! toolbar, dell media experience, yahoo! extras, and mtv optimizer off my computer. And I tried to uninstall the sims 2, but it didn't uninstall and i can't figure out how to do that. Then i noticed that the recycle bin had disappered off my desktop. And so had everything in "all programs" on the start menu.
