help please, organise 'all programs' list

[KRK]

Hello,

I need to reduce the number of entries in the 'All Programs' list on the
start button, as I cannot find anything. I want to reorganise the entries
into new folders etc, to make it more logical.

Can someone advise me please where are the 'All Programs' lists kept on the
system?

Thanks

KK

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Right click the Start button > click Open All Users > open the 'Programs'
directory and you can organize your applications and folders from there.

 

[KRK]

Thanks for your help, but the folder does not seem to show all the programs
in my start button list. Are some of them kept elsewhere ?

Thanks again

K

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Hmm, are you logged as an Administrator? Make sure you are in the right
location:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

 

[Richard Urban]

Some programs may be installed under "All Users" - others may installed
under YOUR user account. Therefore, you have to organize in both places.

If, for instance, you have applets in both locations that you wish to
categorize as "Utilities - create a folder called Utilities in each of these
accounts and move there what you wish. When you go to "All
Programs/Utilities" they will all show up in the single folder - Utilities.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Adam Albright]

Right click the Start button > click Open All Users > open the 'Programs'
directory and you can organize your applications and folders from there.
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry

If you please, where are these items located? [attached] the Firefox and
Windows Mail entries, for THIS menu when you first hit the Start button.
McG.

In Typical Microsoft fashion it tries to help you and in the process
makes it more difficult.

Left click, not right click on the Start button. Left click on 'all
programs' which is likely at the bottom to begin with. It might jump
higher and out of sight. Doesn't matter. Right click on whatever is
highlighted at the bottom of the list, NOW right click and you should
see the 'open all users' option.

Double click on the Programs Folder to expand. You should now see a
list of folders and shortcuts not in folders.

Now lets try a practical example. Say right now your have a listing
for 'Audacity', a little audio file editor and you want to put it in a
folder called audio tools.

1. Right click on the Programs folder, then 'new', then 'folder' then
once it is made rename to Audio Tools. Expect a nag screen if
UAC is on.

2. Find the shortcut for Audacity under the Programs folder, click it,
and cut. Again you'll probably see the annoying UAC nag screen.
Paste into the Audio Tools folder you made in the earlier step.

Repeat as many times as you need to make as many folders you want. If
you have a lot of things to move it probably goes faster if you create
all the new folders you'll need in one step, then all you got to do is
walk you way down the list cut shortcuts you want to move to the
folders you just created. If there are things in folders you wish to
move to other folders, just open them first to see the contents.

While you're at it you may want to clean up your desktop of clutter
also. I have a totally empty desktop, yet have over a hundreds
shortcuts. How it that possible? Easy.

1. Click on a blank space of your Task Bar, (the big bar at the bottom
of your desktop. Pick Toolbars, then Desktop.

2. Click on all the shortcuts on your desktop. Its a all or nothing
approach. You can't pick and choose. So once you have all the
desktop icons selected, cut, then paste into the Desktop Tool bar.

Now you'll have a new link on the Task Bar called Desktop. Anytime you
need a shortcut that used to be scatters all over your desktop, just
click on the link and you'll get a nice lists of all the shortcuts.
Just click as you would normally to launch whatever the shortcut is
linked to. You can do the same thing for links to your favorite web
sites.

 

[McG.]

Right click the Start button > click Open All Users > open the
'Programs'
directory and you can organize your applications and folders from there.
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry
Hello,

I need to reduce the number of entries in the 'All Programs' list on
the
start button, as I cannot find anything. I want to reorganise the
entries
into new folders etc, to make it more logical.

Can someone advise me please where are the 'All Programs' lists kept on
the system?

Thanks

KK

If you please, where are these items located? [attached] the Firefox and
Windows Mail entries, for THIS menu when you first hit the Start button.
McG.

In Typical Microsoft fashion it tries to help you and in the process
makes it more difficult.

Left click, not right click on the Start button. Left click on 'all
programs' which is likely at the bottom to begin with. It might jump
higher and out of sight. Doesn't matter. Right click on whatever is
highlighted at the bottom of the list, NOW right click and you should
see the 'open all users' option.

Double click on the Programs Folder to expand. You should now see a
list of folders and shortcuts not in folders.

Now lets try a practical example. Say right now your have a listing
for 'Audacity', a little audio file editor and you want to put it in a
folder called audio tools.

1. Right click on the Programs folder, then 'new', then 'folder' then
once it is made rename to Audio Tools. Expect a nag screen if
UAC is on.

2. Find the shortcut for Audacity under the Programs folder, click it,
and cut. Again you'll probably see the annoying UAC nag screen.
Paste into the Audio Tools folder you made in the earlier step.

Repeat as many times as you need to make as many folders you want. If
you have a lot of things to move it probably goes faster if you create
all the new folders you'll need in one step, then all you got to do is
walk you way down the list cut shortcuts you want to move to the
folders you just created. If there are things in folders you wish to
move to other folders, just open them first to see the contents.

While you're at it you may want to clean up your desktop of clutter
also. I have a totally empty desktop, yet have over a hundreds
shortcuts. How it that possible? Easy.

1. Click on a blank space of your Task Bar, (the big bar at the bottom
of your desktop. Pick Toolbars, then Desktop.

2. Click on all the shortcuts on your desktop. Its a all or nothing
approach. You can't pick and choose. So once you have all the
desktop icons selected, cut, then paste into the Desktop Tool bar.

Now you'll have a new link on the Task Bar called Desktop. Anytime you
need a shortcut that used to be scatters all over your desktop, just
click on the link and you'll get a nice lists of all the shortcuts.
Just click as you would normally to launch whatever the shortcut is
linked to. You can do the same thing for links to your favorite web
sites.

Ok, believe it or not I'd already done all that. BUT, those two entries are
shown upon left clicking on the Start button, and nothing else. Those two
entries will show up in a place by themselves. I haven't found that one
place.
McG.

 

[ordinarysoft]

Hi,

I have two solutions -
http://www.TidyStartMenu.com/
and
http://www.VistaStartMenu.com/

The second more powerful, both freeware with PRO version.

 

[Charlie42]

Hi,

I have two solutions -
http://www.TidyStartMenu.com/
and
http://www.VistaStartMenu.com/

The second more powerful, both freeware with PRO version.

The Start Menu listing lives in the following two folders. The first
folder contains the program shortcuts visible to all users, the second
contains those visible only to the specific user account.

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
C:\Users\%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs

Editing both folders is pretty straight forward, but you need
administrator privileges to edit the all users Start Menu. Use the
UserProfile Start Menu if you need to keep a shortcut visible to a
specific user only, otherways it is best to use the folder in
C:\ProgramData\...

Charlie42