Howto re-enable start-menus to remember recently-used programs?

[David H. Cook]

On my Win-XP system (SP2 + latest patches), the system has somehow
FORGOTTEN how to display the 'abbreviated' list of just
recently-launched
programs. Once upon a time, when I navigated from
Start->Programs->Games,
it would display just an abbreviated list of recently-launched games,
and display a little '>>' that I could hover onto if I wanted the full
list.
(Ditto for all other menu-ing in the start-menus.)

Now, it ONLY shows the FULL menu contents by default. How do
I get the earlier abbreviated-menu display mechanism back?

TIA...

Dave

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Try this.

Right click the Start button | Properties |
Start Menu tab | Customize button | Advanced tab |
Check: Highlight newly installed programs |
Click OK | Click Apply | Click OK

Highlight newly installed programs
[[Specifies that a new program installed on the computer is highlighted with
a different color in the All Programs list.]]

How to Disable or Enable the 'Highlighted Newly Installed Programs' Feature
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304699

With the Classic Start Menu, both of these need to be UNChecked.
XP Start Menu doesn't have Use Personalized Menus option.

XP Start Menu >>
Right click the Start button | Properties |
Start Menu tab | Customize button | Advanced tab |
Scroll down to and UNCheck:
Scroll Programs * |
Click OK | Click Apply | Click OK

Classic Start Menu >>
Right click the Start button | Properties |
Start Menu tab | Customize button |
Scroll down to and UNCheck both of these:
Scroll Programs * |
Use Personalized Menus **
Click OK | Click Apply | Click OK

[*Specifies whether to display the items on the Programs menu as one long
scrolling menu or as horizontal pages. Depending on your screen resolution,
if you have more than 29 or 38 programs installed, and you select to have
one long scrolling menu, you can access the programs you don’t see
by clicking the arrow at each end of the list of programs.]

[**Specifies whether to turn on Personalized Menus.
Personalized Menus keeps the Programs menu clean by hiding items you haven't
used recently, while still keeping other programs easily accessible. You
can gain access to hidden programs by clicking the down arrow at the bottom
of the Programs menu.]
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In