CloudingClarity

Custom Start Menu

Posted on 06. Oct, 2008 by Eric in Convenience, Imaging

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Have you ever wanted to speed up your Windows XP or Vista classic start menu? Perhaps eliminate some entries that you do not use such as recent Documents, Search and Help and Support. These start menu tweaks are easy to accomplish and they can definitely speed things up. For each of the steps below, you will first need to open your start menu and then click on “Run.” Then type in “regedit.” Before making any changes to your computer’s registry, it is a good practice to back it up first. Learn how to backup your registry here.

Speed up start menu:
1. In the registry, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
2. Open “MenuShowDelay” and change the value from “400″ to “50″

Remove recent “Documents” from start menu:
1. In the registry, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
2. Right click and select a new REG_DWORD
3. Name it “NoRecentDocsMenu”
4. Double click on the new entry and set the value for “1″ (display) instead of “0″ (remove)

Remove “Search” from start menu:
1. In the registry, navigate to: KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
2. Right click and select a new REG_DWORD
3. Name it “NoFind”
4. Double click on the new entry and set the value for “1″ instead of “0″

Remove “Help and Support” from start menu:
1. In the registry, navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USE \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
2. Right click and select a new REG_DWORD
3. Name it “NoStartMenuHelp”
4. Double click on the new entry and set the value for “1″ instead of “0″

Once you have completed one or all of these registry edits, close the “regedit” window and log off of your profile. Once you log back on, your new changes will take effect.

Tags: Customer Start Menu