How to remove duplicate items from the Start Bar

[theonlyrick]

Hi,

I have set up shortcuts on the Start menu to certain applications that
I use a lot (Word, Outlook, Internet Explorer, Notepad etc). As I
have prefixed the shortcuts with numbers, the top half of my Start
menu looks like this:

1 - Word
2 - Outlook
3 - IE
4 - Notepad
5 - etc etc

This means that I can start my most commonly used applications simply
by pressing the Windows button, and then the corresponding number on
the keyboard.


However, Windows *tries* to help me out, by putting shortcuts in the
bottom half of the menu of my most commonly-used apps. This means
that when I press the Windows button and 1, it doesn't automatically
select '1 - Word', as there are two menu entries that say '1 - Word'.

This is a bit annoying. So, my question is: Can I prevent XP from
adding the MRU list of apps in the bottom half of the Start menu?

Thanks,

TheOnlyRick

 

[Guest]

I forget to mention that you can apply shortcuts in easy way, so you don't
have to set all those programs in Start Menu and you will not require to
remove MRU list as well.

To do this, right-click on program's shortcut like Notepad and choose
Properties. From the Shortcut tab, click inside "Shortcut Key: None" box and
press the shortcut you want for that particular program like Winkey+1 and
press OK. Next time, you just have to press WinKey+1 together. Doesn't matter
where your program is located.

Hope this help, let us know!

 

[Guest]

Right-click on Start button and choose Properties. Under Start Menu tab click
Customize button and set the "Number of programs on Start Menu" to 0.

Hope this help, let us know!

 

[theonlyrick]

Hi Raj - Thanks for replying.

Ooops - I should have made this clear in my post:
There is one problem with disabling the MRU applications list: If I
set MRU to 0, then I will only have easy access to those few programs
I have created shortcuts for. Start menu entries for the apps that I
use less often would be buried inside the Start Menu. I would still
like to easily access those other programs, even if I haven't created
a shortcuts for them.

Which is why:
I really like the idea of adding WinKey shortcuts!

That's a great idea - thank you - I'll get to it this morning! (And
I'll keep the list in the Start Menu as a visual reminder as to what
the shortcuts are.)

Thanks very much for your help,


Richard