how to re-order or delete Program Menu?

[Aaron B]

We are using Vista Ultimate in my Dell computer.
We have set all my Vista to run in Classic menu.

Can you tell us how to re-order the appearance of programs Menu?
I can drag the program menu folders and shortcuts into the order I want. But
after re-boot, the program menu order goes back to alphabet descending
order. I click the customized program menu (advance), but I cannot removed
the sort function at all.

Another problem is some program menu short cut we have moved to another
folder and deleted the original program menu folder location. But, after
re-boot, the same deleted program menu re-appeared back again.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Make sure you are deleting the menu with Administrative Priviledges. Also,
try doing it this way, Right click 'Start menu' > Open All Users > open
'Programs' > select the Program group folder you want to delete and click
delete.

I assume its just not supported in Vista for alphabetization of the Start
menu in default or Classic. It was suggested before as the only way to do
it, but looks like it turned out not to be so.

Try this program suggested by Gigodemon:
Use this program -
http://www.VistaStartMenu.com/

 

[Aaron B]

Thank you for your response Andre.

I right click start menu / open all users / programs
the programs shortcut shown here is different with
left click start / programs /

In fact, the program shortcut I deleted is not in: right click start menu /
open all users / programs. But, these deleted shortcuts are in "left click
start / programs /

What is the difference and how confusing?

I am the only user of this system and am sure I have Administrative
Privileges. How can I be sure to verify it? I also have User Control turn
off.

I am told by my manager not to set all systems in the office program menu to
use other program fix.
But un-able to re-order the Program Menu is VERY POOR Vista feature.
I do not understand why Microsoft MUST sort the program menu?

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Aaron

It can be confusing.

The shortcuts that each user can see in the Start/All Programs menu is a
combination of everything in the logged on users start menu/programs folder,

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

and the All Users/Start menu/programs folder.

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

The difference is that everything that is in the individual users start menu
folder only appears on that particular users start menu and everything in
the all users start menu folder appears on every users start menu.

This is designed so that a single user can install a program and select to
enable every user to have access to that program or just install so that
only that single user can have access to the program.
--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

 

[Aaron B]

Ronnie, thank you for your advise.

I deleted a folder of shortcuts in
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
but this folder of shortcuts keep coming back.

Also, the order of folders and shortcuts in the start menu are ALWAYS
sorted.
Can I turn OFF the sort function in Vista at all?

Thank you, Aaron

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Aaron

What was the name of the folder you deleted? If this is a system created
folder, this could explain why it is being added back to the start menu.

You can remove the sorting by doing the following. Right click the Start
Button and select Properties. Click the Customize Button. Scroll down and
remove the check mark from the 'Sort All Programs menu by name' option.

 

[Aaron B]

Aaron

What was the name of the folder you deleted? If this is a system created
folder, this could explain why it is being added back to the start menu.

You can remove the sorting by doing the following. Right click the Start
Button and select Properties. Click the Customize Button. Scroll down and
remove the check mark from the 'Sort All Programs menu by name' option.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

OK, I found this "Sort All Program menu by name" option.
But this option is missing in the "Classic Menu".

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Aaron

I believe the only option for sorting when the classic menu was the standard
is to drag and drop the items the way you wish them to appear.

 

[Hannes Schmiderer]

No, this is not working. Vista resorts the entries in programs alphabetically
after a reboot. Is the only option to rename the entries by numbers? 01 02 03
....