Besides the main Start menu, you can also customize the icons on the All Programs menu and submenus to suit the way you work. Using the techniques I discuss in this section, you can perform the following Start menu productivity boosts:
. Move important features closer to the beginning of the All Programs menu hierarchy.
. Remove features you don’t use.
. Add new commands for features not currently available on the All Programs menu
(such as the Registry Editor).
Windows 7 offers three methods for adding and removing Start menu shortcuts, and I
explain each of them in the next three sections.
Dragging and Dropping onto the Start Button
The quickest way to add a shortcut is to drag an executable file from Windows Explorer
and then do either of the following:
. Drop it on the Start button—This pins the shortcut to the Start menu.
. Hover over the Start button—After a second or two, the main Start menu appears.
Now hover the file over All Programs until the menu appears, and then drop the file
where you want the shortcut to appear.
Working with the Start Menu Folder
The All Programs shortcuts are stored in two places:
. %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs—Shortcuts in this
subfolder appear only in the current user’s Start menu. Here, %AppData% is
%SystemDrive%\Users\user\AppData\Roaming, where user is the name of the
current user.
. %AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs—The All
Users\Start Menu\Programs subfolder. Shortcuts in this folder appear to all user
accounts defined on the computer. Here, %AllUsersProfile% is
%SystemDrive%\ProgramData.
TIP
A quick way to get to the current user’s Start Menu folder is to right-click the Start but-
ton and then click Explore.
By working with these folders, you get the most control over not only where your Start
menu shortcuts appear, but also the names of those shortcuts. Here’s a summary of the
techniques you can use:
. Within the Programs folder and its subfolders, you can drag existing shortcuts from
one folder to another.
. To create a new shortcut, drag the executable file and drop it inside the folder you
want to use. Remember that if you want to create a shortcut for a document or other
nonexecutable file, right-drag the file and then select Create Shortcuts Here when
you drop the file.
. You can create your own folders within the Programs folder hierarchy and they’ll
appear as submenus within the All Programs menu.
. You can rename a shortcut the same way you rename any file.
. You can delete a shortcut the same way you delete any file.
Working with All Programs Menu Shortcuts Directly
Many of the chores listed in the previous section are more easily performed by working
directly within the All Programs menu itself. That is, you open the All Programs menu,
find the shortcut you want to work with, and then use any of these techniques:
. Drag the shortcut to another section of its current menu.
. Drag the shortcut to another menu or to the Recycle Bin.
. Right-click the shortcut and then select a command (such as Delete) from the con-
text menu.
The right side of the Start menu contains a number of built-in Windows 7 features, which are set up as links. That is, you click an item and a window or a program runs in response.
That’s fine for items such as Search or Default Programs, but it’s not very efficient for an item such as the Control Panel, where you’re usually looking to launch a specific icon. It seems wasteful to have to open the Control Panel window, launch the icon, and then close the Control Panel. A better approach is to convert a link into a menu of items that would normally display in
a separate window. For example, the Control Panel item could display a menu of its icons.
One of the nicer features in Windows 7 is that it’s easy to convert many of the Start menu links into menus. Here are the required steps:
1. Right-click the Start button and then click Properties. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears with the Start Menu tab displayed.
2. Click Customize to open the Customize Start Menu dialog box.
3. In the list of Start menu items, find the following items and activate the Display as a
Menu option:
Computer
Control Panel
Documents
Games
Music
Personal Libraries (your username)
Pictures
Recorded TV
Videos
4. Activate the Favorites Menu check box to add a menu of your Internet Explorer favorites to the Start menu.
5. Activate the Recent Items check box. This adds the Recent Items menu to the Start menu, which displays the last 15 documents that you’ve worked with.
6. In the Start Menu Items group, find the System Administrative Tools item and activate the Display on the All Programs Menu and the Start Menu option. This gives
you an Administrative Tools menu that offers shortcuts to features such as
Computer Management, Device Manager, System Configuration, and the Local
Security Policy editor.
7. Click OK to return to the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.
8. Make sure that the Store and Display a List of Recently Opened Files check box is activated. This ensures that Windows 7 populates the Recent Items list.
9. Click OK.
You can modify Windows 7 to use other programs as the default for activities such as web browsing, email, instant messaging, and media playing. This enables you to have your favorite programs available in more convenient locations and to have those programs launch automatically in certain situations.
Your version of Windows 7 is most likely set up to use Internet Explorer, Windows Mail, Windows Messenger, and Windows Media Player as the default programs for web browsing, email, instant messaging, and media playing, respectively. This means that these programs launch automatically in response to certain events. For example, when you right-click a media file and then click Play, the media plays in Windows Media Player.
You can set up as defaults any other programs you have installed for web browsing, email, instant messaging, and media playing. You can also disable access to programs so that other users cannot launch them on your computer. Here are the steps to follow:
1. Select Start, Default Programs to display the Default Programs window.
2. Click Set Program Access and Computer Defaults. Windows 7 displays the Set
Program Access and Computer Defaults dialog box.
3. Click the configuration you want to start with:
. Computer Manufacturer—This configuration appears only if your computer
vendor defined its own program defaults.
. Microsoft Windows—This configuration is the Windows default as defined by
Microsoft.
. Non-Microsoft—This configuration is generated by Windows 7 if you have
one or more non-Microsoft programs available in any of the categories (such as
a web browser or email program).
. Custom—Use this item to configure your own default programs.
4. If you activated the Custom configuration, you see options similar to those shown
. You can do two things with this configuration:
. Activate the option buttons of the programs you prefer to use as the system
defaults.
. Deactivate the Enable Access to This Program check box for any program that
you don’t want other users to have access to.
5. Click OK to put the new defaults into effect.
