Customizing the Windows Vista Interface : Customizing the Start Menu for Easier Program and Document Launching (part 1)

The whole purpose of the Start menu is, as its name implies, to start things, particularly programs and documents. Yes, you can also launch these objects via shortcut icons on the desktop, but that’s not a great alternative because windows cover the desktop most of the time. So, if you want to get something going in Windows Vista, the vast majority of the time you’re going to have to do it via the Start menu. The good news is that Windows Vista’s Start menu is wonderfully flexible and geared, in fact, to launching objects with as few mouse clicks or keystrokes as possible. To get to that state, however, you have to work with a few relatively obscure options and settings, which you’ll learn about in the next few sections.

Getting More Favorite Programs on the Start Menu

The Start menu is divided vertically into two sections, as shown in Figure 1

Figure 1. The Start menu lists favorite programs on the left and built-in icons for Vista features on the right.

Favorite programs— This is the left side of the Start menu, which appears by default with a white background. This side includes the fixed Internet and E-mail icons at the top, and below them are shortcut icons for the nine programs that you’ve used most frequently.

Built-in features— This is the right side of the Start menu, which appears by default with a black or gray background. It contains icons for various Windows Vista folders and features.

The list of favorite programs is one of the best features in Windows Vista because it ensures that the programs you use most often are always just a couple of mouse clicks away. If there’s a downside to this feature, it’s that it displays only nine icons, so the list omits many frequently used programs. However, if you have enough room, you can tell Windows Vista to display up to 30 icons in this area. Here’s how:

1.	Right-click the Start menu and then click Properties. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears.
2.	Select the Start Menu tab.
3.	Make sure that the Start Menu option is activated and then click the Customize button to its right. The Customize Start Menu dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 2 Figure 2. Use the Customize Start Menu dialog box to set the maximum number of shortcut icons that appear in the Start menu’s list of favorite programs.
4.	Use the Number of Recent Programs to Display spin box to specify the number of favorite programs you want to display.
5.	If you don’t think you have enough screen space to display all the icons, deactivate the Large Icons option (it’s at the bottom of the list of Start menu features). This significantly reduces the amount of space each icon takes up on the Start menu.
6.	Click OK to return to the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.
7.	Click OK.

Tip

To prevent a program from appearing on the Start menu’s frequent programs list, open the Registry Editor and display the following key:

HKCR\Applications\program.exe
							

Here, program.exe is the name of the program’s executable file. (If the key doesn’t exist, create it.) Create a string value called NoStartPage (you don’t need to assign a value to it). Restart Vista to put the new setting into effect.

Clearing the Recent Programs List

Windows Vista allows you to clear the Start menu list of recent programs. Why would you want to do this? You might want to start over with an empty list of frequent programs so that you can populate it with the programs you will use over the next few days. Alternatively, you might want to keep the list cleared for privacy reasons if other people have access to your computer. Follow these steps to clear the list:

1.	Right-click the Start menu and then click Properties. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears.
2.	Select the Start Menu tab.
3.	Deactivate the Store and Display a List of Recently Opened Programs check box.
4.	Click Apply. Windows Vista clears the list.
5.	If you want to start a new list, activate the Store and Display a List of Recently Opened Programs check box.
6.	Click OK.

Tip

If you need to get rid of only one or two icons from the Start menu’s frequent programs list, click Start, right-click an icon you want to delete, and then click Remove from This List.

Customizing the Internet and E-mail Icons

Above the Start menu’s favorite programs list is the pinned programs list (pointed out in Figure 1), which contains two icons that appear permanently on the Start menu:

Internet— By default, this icon launches the Internet Explorer web browser.

E-mail— By default, this icon launches the Windows Mail email client.

Note

If your computer’s manufacturer or reseller preinstalled Windows Vista, you might notice that the manufacturer or reseller altered the default Internet and email programs to support other software packaged with your computer. Similarly, third-party programs might mess with these icons. Microsoft Office, for example, will associate Outlook with the E-mail icon. However, you should be able to modify the defaults further to reflect your own preferences.

If you have multiple web browsers or email clients installed on your computer, you can customize these icons to launch a different program. Here are the steps to follow:

1.	Right-click the Start menu and then click Properties to display the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.
2.	Select the Start Menu tab, make sure that the Start Menu option is activated, and then click the Customize button to its right to open the Customize Start Menu dialog box.
3.	If you want the Internet icon to appear on the Start menu, leave the Internet Link check box activated; otherwise, deactivate it and continue with step 5.
4.	If the Internet Link check box is activated, use the list to its right to choose the web browser you want associated with the icon.
5.	If you want the E-mail icon to appear on the Start menu, leave the E-mail Link check box activated; otherwise, deactivate it and continue with step 7.
6.	If the E-mail Link check box is activated, use the list to its right to choose the email client you want associated with the icon.
7.	Click OK.

It’s also possible to change the text and icon used for the Internet item on the Start menu. You do this by first displaying the following key in the Registry Editor:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\client\

Here, client is the name of the executable file of the program associated with the icon (such as Iexplorer.exe for Internet Explorer). The (Default) setting controls the icon text, and the (Default) setting of the DefaultIcon subkey controls the icon.

Customizing the text and icon for the email item is similar. You’ll find the necessary settings here:

HKLM\Software\Clients\Mail\client\

Here client is the name of the program associated with the icon (such as Windows Mail). The (Default) setting controls the icon text, and the (Default) setting of the DefaultIcon subkey controls the icon. Note that you might have to create this subkey.