XP Start Menu

In XP you have the start menu. You add programs to the left of it by right clicking / 'pin to start menu', & remove by right clicking /'remove from this list'.

OK know what I'm on about?

After having clicked 'remove from this list' is there a way to stop the same program appearing in that list?

I have programs I use but don't want on the list. I have to keep removing them.

 

What kind of program?

You mean, you delete a program in Start menu--program, but then its still coming back?

 

Bummer. It's a right pain having things show up that are not needed in there. I use keyboard/desktop shortcuts & they keep showing up in the list. Ah well.

 

What if, if you will restore your start menu?
Maybe its corrupt...

 

Everything is OK with the start menu. That's how MS made it to work. I'm using the XP style not classic.

I'm actually trying to break it. Although it looks like I'll have to live with it.

 

Hipster,
so you are having trouble with items appearing on the left side ( comonly used apps or files) or the right side (Folders installed into the 'start menu' folder)?
If the right side, you can try signing in as admin and removing them manually or by going into (drive):\documents and settings\name\start menu\

If it's the left side... I think I could be wrong, but the power tweak had a setting to reverse this operation from happening. I seem to remember this being a rememdy to a couple customers complaints over the same issue.

Will research/respond!

Randy O.

 

Have you got a link to that power tweak. Might give it a go & see if it is what I'm looking for. I want some, not all, programs from appearing there. O it's the left side.

 

I think one option is if you're willing to place an application icon on your taskbar, when you open and then close the app...it won't wind up on the start menu left side. Correct me someone if I'm wrong. However apps loaded from your Quick Launch will appear there.

 

Yep, Power Toys TweakUI does it!

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe

It's under the "Taskbar and Start Menu">Start menu group.
Just deselect all of the programs that you don't want to be displayed in frequently used programs (EX- the left side)

Enjoy!
Randy O.

(edited for spelling)

 

P.s. I will try to find a more permanent solution.

 

w00t w00t that's it gone2tokyo. and I've have tweakui installed for years. So simple.

That will get rid of some of them anyway.

Didn't want it set to 0. Only wanted to stop certain programs.

 

Hi Hipster!
When you take things out of the menu at the "Start" button, does it also remove them from loading at start-up in the first place? I have programs I don't want loading at all. When I go to run/msconfig and uncheck them under the start menu, the computer doesn't like that. It keeps asking me to go back to "normal". Does the tweak do more than make things invisible that are still loaded?
thanks!
abri

 

No it doesn't work like that. It only stops them appearing in the start menu.

Have a look over here for a startup list. Compare that with your msconfig.

Any problems let us know.

 

Thanks. This tells me what I have in the Msconfig, but it doesn't tell me how to get things out of the startup sequence . (does it?) If I go to documents&settings / my part of the computer / start menu ... can I just delete the links (1 kb) under this and by doing this prevent them from loading at startup? Like real player as an example. I don't really need it to load.
abri

 

>> Windows Defender ~ Click Tools > Software Explorer > in the dropdown box Startups > you can highlight and disable or delete from their. Halo <<

Halo, (and anyone else) serious question here:

Has anyone ever discovered anything "adware" or "spyware" related using Windows Defender? The reason I ask is that I had it installed for a while; as well as the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool and neither ever found anything.

I finally uninstalled "defender" because it was using to many resources (memory, I mean) and I would have trouble getting it to "update" correctly just about every other day or so. I still have the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool installed somewhere on my computer here but hardly ever use it.

I'm not implying either of these are "faulty" but in my case neither found anything at all. Thanks in advance.

Good Luck!

 

thanks

 

>> NO it hasnt but neither has Ad-Aware or any other malware apps on my PCs.. so I guess I have taken acceptable precautions to combat malware infections upto now.Not really noticed WD taking up too much memory or slowing anything down while running in the background tho.<<

Thanks for the reply Halo,

The reason that I asked this was partly because I never have found anything 'new' which was adware or spyware related using these two particular MS tools; as well as the fact that I've hardly ever seen them discussed or (‘rated’ good or bad) in many computer-related forums on the web.

Additionally, sometimes the "real time protection" used by programs like Windows Defender would interfere with other malware progrem cleaning procedures so I’d have to always remember to disable Windows Defender's Real Time Protection before running them (see chaslang’s post regarding this).

I finally entirely removed Defender because I got tiresome of getting an updates available message that I can’t connect to or receive and I could never seem to find anything about it on the Microsoft support site or MS MVP Groups that was very helpful.

In any case, thanks again for your insightful reply, Halo!

Good Luck!

 

>> I think if I followed that doctrine then I would be removing Ad-Aware and A2, but I do see your point as its not as aggressive with cookies as some other malware apps are and being so may seem as if its not working, it's just not a proven app yet. <<

The freeware Ad-Aware SE FREE edition is quite sufficient for users who never (or rarely) download anything new on their computers and/or do not mind having to find out later on that they have spyware or adware installed. Also, I believe the more "vicious" kinds of spyware are far less relevant these days than they were pre-2000 when spyware and adware was far more prevalent. This would likely account for the lesser numbers of detection hits that most folks have using free utilities like Ad-Aware SE free.

I test new and new versions of shareware and freeware apps all the time; as a hobby so consequently, I probably detect, find and remove Ad-Aware and spyware far more often than most users out there. Therefore I use Ad-Aware SE Professional Edition in order to block registry modifications and malware installation attempts in "real time." If any program has 'spyware' detected on it I really don't have the time to devote (read: waste) to testing it; so the Ad-Aware pro "real time" detection saves me from having to find this fact out later on down the line.

I actually use a particular 'test machine' that I specifically use only for testing new software; both freeware and shareware, as well. This computer has no important files or other things on it; just the basic OS and other testing software that I'm trying; as well as a few well-known 'threatening' programs (like obvious adware and low level spyware) to "test out" newer spyware detection programs that are periodically released.

Regarding Windows Defender, the "slow computer while scanning" part was very frustrating. Defender seemed to take an awful long time to entirely run and about every other day or so it would suddenly stop and the ICON always warning would flash that it required an 'update' I'd be constantly getting that annoying Defender update alert.

For instance; very often; whenever I enabled Defender on screen I'd be warned that it has not been updated for XX number of days. Then when I attempted to click the 'Check for updates' button; I'd get a message telling me that Windows defender is up-to-date with engine and definition upgrades.

Good Luck!

 

All you do is untick the program you don't want starting up.